Has Jermall Charlo Lost his Focus on Boxing?
On November 25, WBC middleweight champion Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo (32-0, 22 KO’s) will fight on the same card as two-division champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (32-0, 19 KO’s) but versus different opposition. This summer however, it did appear as though the two were going to test their might against one another.
Despite both men saying that they wanted the battle, and had a clear schedule at the time, the duel never came to fruition. When appearing on a recent session of The Last Stand Podcast with Brian Custer, Charlo was told that Andrade had a wisecrack about his drinking in regards to their notorious facetime interaction.
His response was quizzical at best, or troubling at worst.
“I don’t drink at all, actually. Well, you know, if I have a drink, I choose to, with my friends or whatever the situation may be. But it’s not a problem . . . not in camp, not out of camp, that’s not what it is. And I am pretty sure that Andrade has had a few drinks himself! And gone on to talk shit to somebody or whatever!”
“But [when] I get a chance to do it, it’s so fun to me, so sometimes I like to have fun. Like, ‘we going to go have a drink, we gonna go in there and talk shit to all of them, piss them off!’ I guess that’s the only time they [the fans] see me.”
NOT THE FIRST OR THE LAST
To begin, he contradicts himself from literally the first sentence to nearly the very last. Charlo opened saying he doesn’t drink only to end with the insinuation that his fans often see him drunk. That’s problematic. At the end of the day, fighters and athletes in general are free to do whatever they want during their down time.
Adrien Broner, Marcos Maidana, Ricky Hatton, Ricardo Mayorga and even Errol Spence Jr., for example, have all been known to indulge in libation off the clock. Recently, Keyshawn Davis became the unofficial spokesman for unapologetic boxers who smoke marijuana. Therefore, how fighters unwind, and the right and wrong of those methods is nowhere near the point in this case.
TIME FOR SHOW AND TELL
More than two-solid years ago, Jermall Charlo has absconded from the ring to work on his mental and personal health. For the duration of this hiatus, he was allowed to keep the WBC 160-pound title blindfolded and duct taped in the trunk of his car. Now, in his first fight back, in this response and greater interview, Iron Man appears a bit all over the place.
So it begs the question: is Charlo’s head really back in the game? If he is, then ideally for him and his team, Hit Man knocks off some rust and picks up his first quality comeback win. On a bad night, he looks like he’s been away for two years and takes a loss. A terrible night would see him hurt.
Only time will tell what version of Charlo shows up to the ring and how he performs. Let’s just hope that he’s used this extended time away and is a more polished competitor. Luckily, all these questions and more will be answered on November 25!
