Will Jermall Charlo Pull In A Ranked Fighter in his Return Bout?
Having been out of the ring for a little less than a year, two-division champion Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo (33-0, 22 KO’s) has announced his imminent return on December 14. Unfortunately, Charlo neglected to mention who or where he would be fighting. This upcoming duel will mark just his second match in the past three years. The long hiatus has seen Hit Man completely plummet from all the major sanctioning body rankings. For these reasons, he could do worse than challenging Shane Mosley (24-4, 12 KO’s) Jr. or Julian “J-Rock” Williams in December.
When last in the ring, Charlo turned in a sufficient enough performance against Jose Benavidez Jr. Regrettably, the last time that he was in the media, Charlo was making headlines for a traffic infraction that led to his arrest. This all was preceded by a lengthy stint of Charlo wrestling with personal demons outside the ring.
TAKES TWO TO TANGO
Despite the long layoff, given the lingering star power of his name, Charlo should be able to secure a brand name opponent right away. If targeting ranked fighters that make interesting return bouts, Mosley fits the criteria. He is currently ranked #1 (WBA), #3 (WBO), #4 (WBC) and #6 (IBF), and fresh off a career-best July 6 win over Daniel Jacobs.
If he were to beat Mosley, currently on a five-fight win streak, Charlo would seemingly be instantly ranked high with all four sanctioning bodies. Or, perhaps Charlo would like to supply J-Rock a shot at revenge. Similar to Charlo, Williams has been out of action for nearly a year and, at the moment, the #15 (WBC) ranked fighter does not have an opponent on the books.
Having fought and stopped Williams well back on December 10, 2016, this duel would come with an interesting backstory. Both competitors would be shaking off rust and proving to the boxing world that they were still serious threats. Admittedly, this would not be a very likely choice.
In the end though, we will have to wait and see what Charlo has in store for his return bout. Yet, ultimately more so than who he faces, the true question is: how will he perform? Only time will tell.
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