Daniel Jacobs and Gennadiy Golovkin both knocked down Sergiy Derevyanchenko in the first round.

Neither Jacobs nor Golovkin could keep the determined Derevyanchenko down, though. The Ukrainian middleweight contender got up from both of those knockdowns to give Golovkin and Jacobs very difficult fights Derevyanchenko ultimately lost on points.

Jermall Charlo thus understands that knocking out Derevyanchenko in their 12-round, 160-pound championship match September 26 would lend credibility to his WBC middleweight championship reign.

“It would definitely deliver a statement to the world of boxing,” Charlo said during a virtual press conference Wednesday, “to let them know that, yeah, the power’s for real and I can get in there with just about anybody.”

The 30-year-old Charlo (30-0, 22 KOs) has knocked out three of his five middleweight opponents, but none of them were considered as dangerous as Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KOs). Only Brooklyn’s Jacobs (36-3, 30 KOs) and Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) have defeated Derevyanchenko, whose spectacular slugfest against Golovkin last October 5 at Madison Square Garden was awarded “Fight of the Year” for 2019 by BoxingScene.com.

A victory over Derevyanchenko would represent Charlo’s best middleweight win since he moved up to the 160-pound division three years ago. The former IBF junior middleweight champion admitted, though, that he might not receive deserved credit for it because Derevyanchenko already lost to Jacobs by split decision and to Golovkin by unanimous decision.

“I mean, [beating Derevyanchenko] lets them know that I’m ready for those big fights, the fights that everyone has asked me about, you know, the Canelo, the GGG fights,” Charlo said. “This guy’s been in there with some tough competition, but he’s lost both times. So, you know, it’s still gonna put out like, you know, numerous questions for people to doubt me. But, you know, it’s part of boxing. It’s a step-up fight for me, I guess, in the eyes of some people. But I’m ready to fight.”

The Houston native’s fight versus Derevyanchenko will be one of two main events Showtime will televise as part of a six-fight pay-per-view broadcast from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Jermall Charlo’s twin brother, Jermell Charlo, will headline the other main event – a 12-round, 154-pound title unification fight against Jeison Rosario.

Jermell Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs) and the Dominican Republic’s Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs) will fight for Charlo’s WBC title and Rosario’s IBF, IBO and WBA belts. The Charlo-Derevyanchenko and Charlo-Rosario bouts will be main events of three-fight afternoon and evening segments that’ll be part of the same six-bout pay-per-view shows.

It hasn’t been determined which Charlo twin will headline the afternoon and evening portions of this pay-per-view event. Regardless, Jermall Charlo expects plenty of action when he encounters Derevyanchenko.

“I feel like we’re gonna both meet in the middle of the ring and we’re gonna let our hands go,” Jermall Charlo said. “Let the best man win. My game plan will be to shut his game plan down, so you know, it’s boxing. We’ll definitely see what goes on the night of the fight.”

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