Jermall Charlo hasn’t always been the most active fighter around. But the Houston native would routinely step through the ropes and proudly defend his WBC middleweight title. But, despite taking care of business against Juan Macias Montiel in 2021 for his fourth title defense, Charlo has spent his time sitting sequestered on the sidelines.
The truculent star’s recent stint on the bench hasn’t been shrouded in mystery. Initially, Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) was set to return to the ring in June of 2022. But, unfortunately for Charlo, he was forced to withdraw due to a lingering back injury. Ultimately, the current WBC titlist would take even more time away from the sport to attend to personal matters.
In the meanwhile, with Charlo temporarily out of the picture, Carlos Adames was moved to the front of the line. With four consecutive victories, the latest netting him the WBC middleweight interim crown, Adames is anxious to face Charlo in the ring.
Although the trials and tribulations of Charlo have been well-documented, Adames isn’t buying it. According to the 28-year-old secondary champion, Charlo is simply terrified to swap fists against him.
“Charlo is a chicken, he’s a coward,” said Adames during a recent interview with FightHype.com. “All he does is talk a lot of sh!t. He makes all these excuses that he has all of these injuries and that he’s sick but he doesn’t want to fight with any good fighters.”
Following his protracted time away, Charlo has recently indicated that he’s ready to rock and roll both mentally and physically. While a return date hasn’t been officially announced, Adames (22-1, 17 KOs) will not be first up on his to do list.
Acrimonious over the entire ordeal, Adames will attempt to defend his interim title on June 24th, against former junior middleweight unified champion, Julian Williams. Though he isn’t looking past Williams, Adames is extremely confident that he’ll run through his upcoming foe. In the short term, the Dominican-born fighter is keeping a close eye on Charlo. What Adames wants more than anything is an accelerator button as he grows sick and tired of twiddling his thumbs while waiting for Charlo to pick up the phone and give him a call.
“Just hurry up and fight me already.”