World Boxing Council head is not about to backtrack on his very public support for middleweight titleholder Jermall Charlo.
Houston, Texas’ Charlo returned to action last month for the first time in nearly two-and-a-half years with a 10-round unanimous decision over Jose Benavidez Jr. in a 10-round bout that was set at a contract weight of 163 pounds. (Charlo, however, weighed in at over 166 pounds and was required to negotiate a fee with Benavidez in order for the fight to move forward.)
The embattled Charlo said he went through a series of serious mental health issues during his protracted layoff, which included the contentious falling out with his twin brother, Jermell, the former undisputed 154-pound champion. (Jermell was conspicuously absent ringside for his brother’s comeback fight against Benavidez Jr.) Charlo remained the WBC titlist throughout the period, and received repeated assurance from WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman Jr. that his organization would not strip him of his title.
But many pundits and fans have taken issue with Sulaiman’s leniency because of the way in which he seemed to bend the WBC’s own rules with regards to inactive champions, and how, in the case of Charlo, the top contender in the WBC’s middleweight division, Carlos Adames, suffered as a result.
The situation has appeared farcical to some because Charlo has indicated that he will move up a division for his next fight, to say nothing of Charlo’s apparent disdain for his middleweight belt.
In an interview with various reporters, Sulaiman offered a full-throated defense of Charlo when asked why Charlo was not made a “champion-in-recess” among other measures that conceivably would not have held the division up from proceeding apace.
“It’s easy to evaluate when you look back. Specifically Charlo, he had a fight contracted when he got injured by his hand,” Sulaiman said. “You can take away the whole period, six months, the whole period, because he was going to fight. Then he got injured and then we ordered the interim and then he had this mental breakdown. I will not anyway go against [Charlo].
“I’m very proud of us standing strong with Charlo. We had very private conversations in which he basically said, ‘Don’t take away from me the only thing that is keeping me alive, being the champion.’ In this specific case I do not regret a single moment. We are going to finalize whether he stays at 160 or not, and we will move on.”
As for Adames, Sulaiman said he believes the 29-year-old Dominican, despite being strung along, has been “very happy” nonetheless.
“I understand your point but I think Adames is very happy,” Sulaiman said. “He has made a very good money in this process. He’s in a good position to engage in a very big fight. For the overall, I believe those decisions have been correct.”
Charlo has been rumored to be a potential candidate to face 168-pound division champion Canelo Alvarez in the spring.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.