World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman revealed that WBC middleweight world champion Jermall Charlo’s long stint of inactivity, of almost two years, was caused by a “serious, important mental health episode”.
Charlo last fought on June 19 of 2021, when he defeated Juan Macias Montiel by unanimous decision.
Sulaiman explained the process of how the WBC has handled the situation with the middleweight title in light of Charlo’s absence.
“Basically, in 2021, Charlo was ready for a big fight with Jaime Munguia [that was never finalized],” Sulaiman told Izquierdazo and other reporters.
“Then Munguia didn’t want to fight with [Carlos] Adames in a final elimination fight, and Charlo accepted a fight with [Maciej’ Sulecki, and Adames was ordered to fight [for the interim title] so the title can have activity. Munguia leaves negotiations, and Charlo gets injured.”
While recovering from his injury, Charlo suffered a mental health issue.
“When Charlo was recovering from his injury, he suffered a mental health episode, a serious, important one,” Sulaiman explained.
“If people want to be yelling and kicking because we didn’t strip him from his title for not fighting, that is the reason. We will be supporting him unconditionally. That is why there is an interim title, so there can be activity in the division. But we will always support our champion, and the good times, and even more in the bad times.”
When asked about the WBC’s plans for Charlo’s return, Sulaiman reiterates his total support.
“We want him to fight, to defend his title”, Sulaiman said. “We want him to come back, or in a 10 round fight. We will support him. And then we hope that a fight can be made with Adames [WBC interim champion] to unify the title. Or a fight with Munguia would be amazing. We would approve it, without a doubt”.
Recently, Charlo said that he had a call with Demetrius Andrade, and they want to fight. Jermall even said that he wants to fight Andrade without a tune up fight.
Sulaiman would approve that fight.
“Yes”, Sulaiman replied. “Without a doubt, Andrade has demonstrated that he is a great fighter”.
Sulaiman responded to recent and reiterated criticism from Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya – for not stripping Charlo from the title. De La Hoya suggested that the fight between Munguia and Sergiy Derevyanchenko should have had the vacant WBC title at stake.
“Jaime is a great fighter,” Sulaiman said. “I like him a lot, I respect him. His fight with Charlo was ready. Unfortunately there were problems between the broadcasting platforms that sometimes negotiations stop. Munguia has been fighting above the 160 pound limit, and we have been criticized for keeping him as the number one [contender] in the rankings, but if they [Charlo and Munguia] want the fight, I will keep doing everything that is possible for it to happen.”