Canelo Alvarez took the boxing world by storm on June 30 when he announced his upcoming fight against Jermell Charlo on social media.
Many suggested that the announcement featured a gross error because, for an extended period of time, all signs pointed to Alvarez fighting Jermell’s twin brother and WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo.
After all, Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) was offered a fight with Jermall last year for $45 million as part of a two-fight pact that would conclude with a contest against Errol Spence Jr. or David Benavidez, but the Mexican star instead opted to take on Dmitry Bivol.
Alvarez has since signed a three-fight deal with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, and the pact kicks off Sept. 30 against Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) in Las Vegas on Showtime pay-per-view in a yet-to-be-named venue.
Charlo said he was always ready to take on the four-division Mexican champion.
"I wasn't surprised [to get the call to fight Alvarez],” Charlo said on Showtime.
“This is nothing new for me. This is something that I knew was going to manifest anyways. It's happening. September 30, I'll be prepared.
"My brother is not capable of fighting right now. So he's not available. When I got the call, aye, I'm down for whatever. I want all the smoke. I'm here for whatever, you know what I'm saying? It only takes a phone call for me to make it happen.”
What made Jermell the surprise pick even more was that he was slated to face Tim Tszyu in a fight that was once announced for Jan. 28 but postponed in December after Charlo suffered a broken left hand.
“I know Tim Tszyu was my [mandatory] challenger. But he does nothing for my career,” said Charlo.
“He still needs to build up himself, build up his career. I’m cool with that. But I was down to fight him anyways. But when we ran into the injury, and now it’s like – we get an opportunity like this, we’re gonna go ahead and take that.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.