Jermell Charlo doesn’t believe the apparent size disparity between him and Canelo Alvarez is as significant a factor as pundits and fans are making it out to be.
The undisputed 154-pound champion from Houston, Texas, simply believes, physically speaking, that he will be on par with the Mexican superstar, when he steps into the ring on Sept. 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to challenge Alvarez for his four 168-pound belts.
In a recent interview, Charlo pointed out that his ability to boil down to the 154-pound limit masks his true size.
“I’m just naturally a big motherf—–,” Charlo said on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast. “Straight up. I’m not a little guy. The world of boxing only see me when I weigh in, when I’m fighting and sh!t.
“They don’t know my real size. Six feet. They don’t know I can fill out and beat a naturally bigger guy in that ring. Like I’m saying, just because I’m super welterweight when I fight, I go down to make that weight.”
Asked what weight he walks around at, Charlo declined to comment but added that it is not uncommon for him to periodically get “heavy.” Charlo believes he will be in optimum shape on fight night because he will not have to undergo drastic weight-cutting procedures.
“I keep that undisclosed,” Charlo said. “I don’t get that big (200 pounds), not at all. I stay in shape, I stay active. But I can range, especially going into a fight like this. I can get big. Sometime coach says, ‘Hey, you looking a little thick, you looking a little heavy.’ But it is what it is.
“In this fight, I put on muscle mass, I put on speed, I’m doing things that work on my agility. I’m good.”
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.