Jermall Charlo continues frivolous boycott of Demetrius Andrade
If being honest, it’s been some time since the boxing fans were excited about WBC World middleweight champion Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo (32-0, 22 KO’s) fighting. Arguably the last time was roughly five years ago when he fought Julian Williams at super welterweight. Since moving up, Hit Man has tangled with no one but uninteresting, no-hopers that no one cared about. Charlo was just recently in an unexpectedly intense skirmish with Juan Montiel in yet another prizefight no one wanted.
Right within his own division however, he has a readymade unification bout against WBO World middleweight champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (30-0, 18 KO’s). Despite the relative ease with which this showdown could put together, Charlo has vowed never to dance with Andrade. The vindictive dedication is in relation to Andrade backing out of a fight with his brother, unified super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo.
PLAYING KEEP AWAY
In many ways it seems foolish to sidestep a fight with Andrade for such a reason. For one, Jermell Charlo is one belt away from being undisputed, Said to say, his career is going fine and not chucking knuckles with Boo Boo has not hampered his career in any way. Two, Andrade represents both a unification and legacy fight for Charlo. Yet, as Ronnie Shields, Charlo’s chief second, told Fight Hub TV, Hit Man would rather boycott than enhance his resume, status as a champion and standing in public opinion.
“Well you know Andrade has a big mouth. He talks a lot and you know it goes back years before when Andrade signed contract to fight his brother Jermell and Andrade was champion. And then Andrade backed out of the fight, so once he did that, they said that they’ll never give him another opportunity to make money ever again with them in the sport of boxing. That’s what it is.”
“…of course everyone wants to see it, but look sometimes when you do things in this sport somethings are unforgivable. To me, that is one of the things. He denied his brother his brother the chance to fight for the world title. For no reason! Well the reason it was, because Jay-Z, he left his promoter and went to Jay-Z and Jay-Z didn’t like the fight so he told him don’t take it, so he didn’t take it. So that’s something that he has to live with the rest of his life.”
SPITING ONES OWN FACE
There is no denying that backing out of a fight is a high charge. Yet Shields only told half the story. Demetrius Andrade did back out the fight but that was due to feeling he was getting short changed monetarily. His promoter at the time, Jay-Z, promised him a greater payday if he withdrew from the Charlo fight. Ultimately Boo Boo didn’t get the fight or payday and ended up both suing and splitting with Jay-Z. Not to mention that this whole incident took place nearly a decade ago.
Again, no one is saying it was a cool thing, but in the sport of boxing, is holding out for more money truly an unforgivable sin? Not to mention, Jermell Charlo is a three belt champion at the moment. It’d be a hard sell to convince folks that Jermell is still losing sleep over that missed fight. Furthermore, Jermall Charlo is in desperate need of quality opponents and greater credibility and Andrade fulfills that need perfectly. Beyond the political nature, what better revenge than to beat up a foe, take his belt and his undefeated record? Hell, Boo Boo is having a tough time getting fights with his WBO belt. Without the strap it would seem near impossible. So if crippling his career was what they really wanted, Charlo should face Andrade and take his title.
Sadly this is not likely to happen. Instead this nonsensical boycott is certain to continue and this great fight and unification bout will go on unrealized. Ideally cooler heads will prevail and this will not be the case. Yet, hoping for otherwise doesn’t seem like a smart bet.
By: Bakari Simpson
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