NEW YORK – Jermell Charlo was noticeably taller than Canelo Alvarez as they stood face-to-face on a stage Tuesday at Palladium Times Square.

If you didn’t know any better, their faceoff would’ve indicated that Alvarez is the ambitious boxer who is jumping up in weight for their 12-round, 168-pound championship clash. It is Charlo, of course, who will move up two weight classes, a total of 14 pounds, for their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event September 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Boxing’s undisputed 154-pound champion, while at least three inches taller than Alvarez, has never weighed in at more than 155¾ pounds for any of his 37 professional fights and is a significant underdog in part because Alvarez has thrived in higher weight classes than the one in which Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) has competed for the past 13 years. Conversely, Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) knocked out hard-hitting Sergey Kovalev in his lone light heavyweight fight and won the WBO 175-pound championship before he fully unified the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 168-pound championships in 2020 and 2021.

Alvarez obviously has proven that he can take flush punches from taller opponents who outweighed him when they entered the ring for their fights. That’s among the reasons that the four-division champion isn’t the least bit concerned about Charlo’s significant height advantage.

“He’s bigger than me,” Alvarez acknowledged after a press conference Tuesday. “Everybody’s bigger than me. I’m a smaller fighter in these weight classes. So, I’m a smaller fighter, but I’m cabron.”

Loosely translated, Alvarez meant that he’s a badass, an indisputable description based on his history in the ring.

Charlo, meanwhile, is looking forward to not having to spend the next month-plus squeezing his body down to 154 pounds. He intends to come in at the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds when he steps on the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s scale September 29, and expects to feel fresher than ever when he squares off against Alvarez.

The 33-year-old Charlo dismissed skeptics concerned that this steep step up in weight will lead to his downfall even versus a version of Alvarez that has been criticized for slipping in his past few fights.

“I ain’t worried about it,” Charlo said. “Like we both gotta weigh in at 168, so it is what it is. He gotta be 168. He ain’t 168 today. I ain’t 168 today, so I like all of that talk because that confuses the world. Just like, you know, they gonna follow what they follow. And that’s what help keep you guys going, because y’all create y’all own narrative.”

Derrick James, Charlo’s trainer, previously stated that he would like Charlo to weigh in at 164 pounds for this 168-pound title fight. Charlo clarified Tuesday that he won’t do that.

“I’mma come in at ’68,” Charlo said. “I’mma feel good. I know I’mma feel good. I know I’mma have fluid on my brain and we’ll  be able to – no, not fluid in a bad way, fluid, not dehydrated. Fluid on the brain is a bad thing.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.