by David P. Greisman
Jermall Charlo’s title defense against Julian Williams had been delayed when the junior middleweight underwent a procedure to correct his vision. It turns out that Charlo had been having trouble with his eyes for a long time.
“I pretty much won the world title, all the way up through my career … I was legally blind,” Charlo said on a Nov. 9 media conference call, about a month in advance of his fight with Williams on Showtime. “I adjusted myself to be able to fight unclear. Now I got the procedure done. Yeah the fight was supposed to happen in October and I wanted it then. This is for me to be able to clear the medicals, and less stress to go ahead. I’m ready now. Everything happens for a reason. Crystal-clear vision is one of the things that’s helped me make this fight easier.”
The procedure, he said, was in both eyes and had a healing process that lasts a little longer than the usual LASIK procedure.
“I’m 110 percent, crystal clear. I’m good. I’m ready. It makes me a lot more confident,” Charlo said. “Everyone in the world should probably get it. I haven’t fought with crystal clear vision my whole life. Now I’m motivated, I’m eager to get in there and see what this new person is like.”
His twin brother, fellow 154-pound titleholder Jermell Charlo, also went under the laser back in May 2013 after dealing with similar issues.
“I didn’t know what I was going through. I would fight and know this was happening or that was happening, but the doctor told me I was basically fighting blind before," Jermell told Kelsey McCarson of The Sweet Science back at the time.
Williams hadn’t been aware of Charlo’s medical situation until about mid-September, he said.
“I didn’t think he was going to duck. I thought he was putting the fight off for whatever reason, but at the time I didn’t know what the reason was,” Williams said. “All that is under the bridge. It doesn’t even matter no more. The fight is Dec. 10. He’s going to bring his A-game. He’s got 20-20 vision. I’ve had 20-20 vision my whole life. Now we’ll be even. There will be no excuses.”
The show’s co-promoter, former Golden Boy Promotions executive Richard Schaefer, is making his return to boxing alongside TGB Promotions in a doubleheader featuring Al Haymon-advised fighters.
“Yes, they have 20-20 vision, but the name of this card is 50-50,” Schaefer quipped. “And you know why, because these two fights are 50-50 fights.”
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
