Jermall Charlo eyeing Canelo Álvarez, thumbs down Benavidez fight

Former WBC super-middleweight champion David Benavidez (23-0, 20 KOs) recently named WBC middleweight titleholder Jermall Charlo among the three boxers he wants to face before he could ‘earn’ himself a fight against Canelo Álvarez.

However, Jermall Charlo sails a different boat, as he completely dismisses Benavidez’s call and wants to face the EBC and WBA (Super) super-middleweight champion Canelo right away.

Speaking to Brian Custer on The Last Stand Podcast, Benavidez said he aims to fight and Billy Joe Saunders, Jermall Charlo, Caleb Plant before squaring off against Canelo.

While the other two are yet to respond, Jermall has decided to thumb down the offer, and the reason behind him deciding to wave off Benavidez is his lackluster performance against Ronald Ellis.

As he locked horns against Ellis on 13th March at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Montville, Connecticut, Benavidez was having the roughest of time against a 31-year-old opponent he tagged ‘east’ before the clash. Ellis exposed Benavidez’s slow hand and feet movement, as well as his lack of proper defense.

Jermall Charlo “trying to fight Canelo”, calls Benavidez fight “stupid as hell”

While the 24-year-old’s hard-earned 11-round TKO still narrowly kept his undefeated record, Benavidez is not in the cards for Jermall, pointing out the mediocrity in how he performed inside the squared circle.

“Did y’all see that last night? You’re only good as your last performance,” Jermall said on social media following Benavidez’s win, “that s*** is crazy. Y’all stupid as hell.”

The 30-year-old revealed the number one pound for pound fighter in the world as his next target.

“I’m trying to fight Canelo Alvarez, alright?” Jermall added.

A former IBF junior middleweight champion, Jermall Charlo clinched the vacant interim green and gold belt back in April 2018 with a swift 2nd round knockout of Hugo Centeno Jr at the Barclays Center in New York City.

After defending the interim belt against Matt Korobov in December the same year, Jermall’s interim status was elevated as the middleweight champion in 2019 after WBC decided to name Canelo the franchise champion at 160.

As the WBC champion, Jermall has defended his belt three times (four times counting the Korobov fight as interim champion), against Brandon Adams in June 2019, Dennis Hogan in December 2019 and his last appearance in the squared circle, a unanimous decision victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in September last year.

Canelo, on the other hand, is coming off of an easy yet controversial title defense against Avni Yıldırım in February and is slated to square off against WBO super-middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders on 8th May to unify the titles at 168.