After nearly two years of inactivity, WBC middleweight world champion Jermall Charlo is ready to make a return to the ring and wants a direct confrontation against Demetrius Andrade on his comeback, without a preparation fight in between.
I would go straight to that fight: Jermall Charlo
The last time “Future of Boxing” fought was on 19th June 2021, defeating Juan Macias Montiel, and has gone almost 23 months without fighting. Now, he directly wants to make his return against Andrade, the former two division world champion.
“Soon, maybe we can get Demetrius Andrade,” Jermall Charlo told several reporters in a recent interview. “He called me the other day. We talked for about an hour, trying to get this (the fight) together.”
When asked if he would have to take a setup fight before the big bout, Charlo said no.
“I would go straight to that fight,” he replied.
Demetrius Andrade, in the meantime, acknowledged that the two indeed got into touch, and that he himself called Charlo to try to make that fight.
“This is the best fight that can be done at 160 pounds right now, today,” Andrade told PUNSH DRUNK BOXING. “It makes a lot of sense”.
During the interview, “Boo Boo” recounted what he talked to the WBC champ.
“I told him I respect what he’s doing in boxing,” Andrade said. “A black man raising his family, making money, it’s not easy. Congratulations on that, first of all. Starting a conversation on the form correct”.
After the formal greeting, Andrade went straight to the point.
“He had the confidence to give me his number when I texted him the other day,” he went on, “I told him that I wanted to speak directly to him, without additional bullshit. It was a Sunday, I called him, and about the hour he called me back. And we talk about the situation, what we want to do, to make that fight happen.When it comes to a fight with Charlo and I, we know it’s Pay Per View, which gets a lot of attention. We help boxing, and we help each other in so many ways.”.
Andrade believes that the best way is for the fighters to start talking directly to each other to arrange the fights, without any interference from intermediaries and promoters.
“It is not the first time that I have called a fighter directly, but it is time for us fighters to control our own narrative,” Andrade added. “We have to stop waiting for someone else to move the chess pieces, and see what we can do ourselves, how we can make things happen. Let the intermediaries continue to do their job, but we (among fighters) do our job, to be on the same page and so that we don’t have disagreements.”
