Jermell Charlo declares his dominance at 154
When WBC world super welterweight champion Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo (33-1, 17 KO’s) suffered his first professional defeat at the hands of Tony “Super Bad” Harrison (28-3, 21 KO’s), he never accepted it. In his mind, cross-eyed judges were to blame for his brief belt-less period. His core sentiment was somewhat validated when almost a year to the day later Iron Man re-matched and stopped Harrison.
NO ONE CAN TAKE THIS HEAT!
So it shouldn’t sound out of place that once again the WBC Super Welterweight champion views himself as the unquestioned ruler of the 154lbs division. In an exclusive interview on the Last Stand Podcast with Brian Custer, Iron Man delved a bit deeper in the subject.
“Well if it aligns the right way, I think everybody is on the Jermell Charlo hit list! They know who the man in the weight division is, I mean what am I supposed to do? I mean, become the lineal champion like Tyson Fury? Since day one of this weight division, my brother before he left, I was already fighting the top ten guys and I been fighting the top ten guys.”
“[Jarrett] Hurd is still available, if he still wants to fight at this weight, I don’t believe so. There’s Erislandy Lara if he’s still available. I got anybody that want Jermell Charlo. I am a different fighter and nobody is on my level and nobody could stand in front of me at 154.”
GROWING PAINS
Even though he does not feel like a defeated fighter in his heart, Iron Man was able to glean a great deal of usefulness from the experience.
“I personally believe my biggest lesson was my surroundings and the people that’s for you that say they for you and how much they are for you. If they not for you, you go to keep moving. Like I said I am a passionate person, I speak that passion very seriously.”
“Taking that loss, it was like, I ain’t lose the fight, but God does everything for a reason and he set me in a position. And then I lost and then I won. I lost in my mind, I lost to these people, I lost to these judges, I had to come back and re-judge the fight. I never once believed that that loss was real, I believed it was a learning lesson and that’s what I learned, I learned so many different things.
“Don’t take nothing for granted while I’m in the ring, everything matters, every movement matters, everything he does matter. And if I visually believe that I am going to stop someone in the later rounds, I’m going to do that. If I feel like I am going to get him out of there, splash him, and I did. I got them out of there, I got Cota out of there early and I got Harrison out of there late. So at the end of the day, I’m punching strong and hard through the whole twelve rounds.”
THE NEXT HURDLE
Next up for Jermell Charlo is an exciting unification bout with IBF and WBA world Super Welterweight champion Jeison “Banana” Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KO’s) on September 26. The victor will hold three of the four recognized belts in the division. The only remaining belt belongs to WBO world super welterweight champion Patrick Teixeira (31-1, 22 KO’s).
Should Iron Man dethrone Rosario, it would become incredibly difficult to not call him the man to beat at 154. Rosario is a rather new character to many in the boxing public. However, he is far from a push-over; it would not be wise to assume that Charlo will topple him easily, if at all. This is why the upcoming unification bout is so exciting!
By: Bakari Simpson
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