Ronnie Shields believes that Jermall Charlo will do just fine at 168
As a fighter it is imperative that you insulate your mind from outside chatter. In-ring critics and political rivals seem to keep something slick and derogatory to say. Allowing these thoughts to puncture your mental focus could be potentially disastrous. The same goes for the fighter’s chief second. Just as the boxer must remain clear-headed and positive, the trainer must also defend themselves from public negativity. Thankfully this comes rather easily to the highly esteemed boxing coach Ronnie Shields.
This ability to filter out the naysayers has proven useful when it comes to his charge Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo (31-0, 22 KO’s). Despite fighting his way to become the WBC World Middleweight champion, the Hit Man garners a great deal of hate. Some will say that it is earned due to the antics that he and brother subject the media too. Others do not care for their frequent emotional outbursts. Regardless of what rubs folks the wrong way about the pugilist, Shields could not care less as he told to Barbershop Conversations.
“Boxing is so funny because when Jermall moved up from 154 to 160 people said, ‘naw you can’t fight at that weight. He’ll never do anything at that weight!’ And now he is champion of the world at 160, but then now people are talking, ‘oh he will never do nothing at 168. He’s too small, he’s this he’s that’. Jermall is a big 160 and he will be a big 168 also. Look, I just don’t pay attention to it because I have seen it too much!”
GETTING BIGGER AND BETTER
Rather than trouble himself with why the curt comments are so freely tossed around, Shields focuses on improvement. When he appraises Charlo as an overall fighter, all he can see is unlimited potential. In fact, Shields is so confident in Charlo’s skillset that he is sure he will be equally dominant at 168 as well.
“Oh yeah, I think the transition to 168 is going to be easy for him. But let me tell you something, this kid he works hard. When I tell you this kid works hard, he works hard! There is no slack in this kid.”
This faith in his skillset is the primary reason that the duo sought the fight with Sergey “The Technician” Derevyanchenko (13-3, 10 KO’s) when they did.
“Let’s look at his last fight with Derevyanchenko. He was number one contender but he wasn’t the mandatory. So we didn’t have to fight him when we fought him but that’s a fight that people kept telling Jermall he couldn’t beat this guy because Derevyanchenko gave Danny Jacobs a hard fight. Because he gave GGG a hard fight, people are telling Jermall, he couldn’t beat this kid blah, blah, blah.”
“But you know we always try to tell him, ‘look don’t worry about what people say, we are just going to choose who we feel is right for you at the time.’ But since this guy was the number one contender, we were going to have to fight him anyway, so let’s go ahead on. We liked the style match-up, I did, I really liked it. When Al [Haymon] called me about it I said, ‘let’s do it, I love this style match-up!”
It will be interesting to see who Jermall Charlo can lock down for his next in-ring assignment.
By: Bakari Simpson
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