By Peter Lim
In preparation for the third defense of his junior middleweight title against Julian Williams on Dec. 10, Jermall Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs) is not making any major overhauls to the engine that has fast-tracked him from relative obscurity to high visibility in the last two years. Instead, he is fine-tuning his skill set to meet his latest challenge.
Against Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs), Charlo faces a young, determined version of himself 15 months ago when he, also at 22-0, rose to the occasion to capture a world title. Charlo has since successfully defended the title twice on national TV. Charlo and Williams, both 26, had extensive amateur careers but never crossed paths before either at amateur tournaments or sparring sessions.
"We've never crossed before," Charlo said. "We signed to the same management but we knew one day we'd fight each other and make a nice real good fight. He's an undefeated guy, I'm undefeated, I've taken a hard ride up and I don't feel like he's done what I did to this point so it's my job to exploit those mistakes that he makes."
"We don't change the game plan," Charlo added. "You've seen me fight and destroy and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to make sure that I'm on top of my A-game out there with the best jab that I have and box him and see what he has to offer. I'll make adjustments if I have to."
Under the guidance of veteran guru Ronnie Shields at the Plex Gym in Houston, Charlo has been sparring with Steed Woodall (13-0, 10 KOs), Luis Arias (16-0, 8 KOs), Cecil McCalla (20-3, 7 KOs). Shields has been impressed by Williams' abilities but said it nevertheless falls a notch or two short of Charlo's. Asked what Charlo's keys to victory will be against Williams, Shields simply replied: "Height, skills and strength."
Besides perfecting his skills in the gym, Charlo also recently underwent noninvasive surgery to fix a minor imperfection.
"I just corrected my vision. I went from bad vision to 20-15, crystal clear," Charlo said. "To me it's just another enhancement to put me on my A-game. I went from winning a world title with my vision not being 20-15 and I've done everything up to this point without having crystal clear vision. But now that I have crystal clear vision it's just like it's something that takes me to the next level."
Earlier this year, Charlo and his sibling Jermell Charlo made boxing history by becoming the first twins to concurrently hold world titles in the same weight division. Jermall successfully defended his title against Austin Trout, while Jermell stopped John Jackson for the vacant version of a different title on the same May 21 card.
