Official: Jermall Charlo returning on May 31 PBC card
Mar 26, 2025 • 12:44 PM ET
Former middleweight champion – and still unbeaten – Jermall Charlo is scheduled to return to the ring in a super middleweight bout May 31 in a Premier Boxing Champions on Prime Video card, an individual connected to the negotiations told BoxingScene Wednesday.
The individual was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter because Charlo’s opponent and the card has yet to be finalized, although BoxingScene reported earlier this week that Charlo rival and former IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant is expected to headline the card in a separate bout. Plant, 23-2 (14 KOs), is the WBA interim super-middleweight champion.
The card is expected to land in Las Vegas.
The 34-year-old Charlo, 33-0 (22 KOs), hasn’t fought since his November 25, 2023, unanimous-decision, non-title victory over Jose Benavidez Jnr in Las Vegas.
He was stripped of his WBC middleweight belt in May, one day after his arrest in Pearland, Texas, on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and fleeing the scene of an accident.
Former junior-middleweight champion Charlo won his middleweight belt over Brandon Adams in 2019, defending the belt against Dennis Hogan, Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Juan Macias Montiel (on June 19, 2021) before sidelining himself for mental health reasons, admitting during his 2023 fight week that drugs and alcohol were part of the problem.
It’s unclear who Charlo will fight for now, but placing him on the card with Plant furthers their rivalry that peaked when Plant punched Charlo in the face during the July 2023 Terence Crawford-Errol Spence Jnr fight week in Las Vegas.
The super middleweight field will be busy in May, starting with Canelo Alvarez and William Scull squaring off for the undisputed championship May 3 in Saudi Arabia on a card that includes contender Jaime Munguia meeting Bruno Surace in a rematch of Surace’s December upset knockout victory.
Also, another recent Alvarez challenger, Edgar Berlanga, says he wants to fight Plant, Charlo or Munguia next following his March 15 knockout victory in Florida that ended his Matchroom contract.
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
