by David P. Greisman

Jermall Charlo has been at or around junior middleweight pretty much his entire career as a pro. He debuted at 18 and is now 26, a world titleholder about to defend his belt for the third time, this time against contender Julian Williams on Dec. 10 in Los Angeles.

And this could be the last we’ll see of Charlo at 154. Middleweight will likely be next, according to his trainer, Ronnie Shields.

“He’ll probably have to go up after this fight. It’s just getting too hard for him,” Shields told BoxingScene.com. “Jermall is not a small junior middleweight. He’s a really big junior middleweight. It’s going to be tough for him to make this weight, but we’re in the process of doing it. We’re going to do it the right way. He has to work hard. I give him so much credit. He knows it’s tough, but he does all the right things.”

It’s not yet impossible, though, for a boxer Shields says walks around at about 175 pounds.

“I think for him, he knows that of push came to shove and another big fight came, could he make it again? Yes, absolutely,” Shields said. “But I just think right now, this’ll probably be the last fight at 154.”

This is a big fight for Williams, who is coming off a unanimous decision over Austin Trout. Shields said this bout was worth cutting down to junior middleweight one more time.

“Because Jermall’s a young fighter and so is Julian. People always talk about fighting and people always say you need to fight this guy, that guy. A lot of people view Julian as one of the top 154-pounders in the world,” Shields said. “Jermall said he wants to fight the best out there. This is why instead of going to 160, he wants to stay down and fight Julian at 154 to prove that he’s better than him.”

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