According to World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo submitted a request to make a voluntary defense against WBA "regular" junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara.

The WBA's super champion at 154-pounds is Jeison Rosario, who recently upset Julian Williams to capture the title.

Charlo and Lara are former training and sparring partners, when the two boxers trained side by side under the tutelage of veteran trainer Ronnie Shields. Charlo would eventually leave Shields and hook up with Derrick James.

When or where the fight will take place is another story, as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has canceled all events in March and April, and Premier Boxing Champions - who handles Charlo and Lara - canceled all of their planned cards in May.

Lara (26-3-3, 15 KOs) is 1-1-1- in his last three fights.

He had a Fight of The Year war with Jarrett Hurd in April of 2018, and lost a very close twelve round split decision. Lara then fought to a close twelve round draw with unbeaten Brian Castano in March of 2019, and then captured the vacant WBA title in August with a second round destruction of Ramon Alvarez, who is the older brother of Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez.

Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs) is riding high after recapturing his world title in December, with a knockout of Tony Harrison in the eleventh round of their rematch.

Prior to that win, Charlo had a crushing third round knockout of Jorge Cota in June.

As far as brother Jermall Charlo, who has the WBC middleweight title, the sanctioning body will allow him to make a voluntary defense of his choosing when boxing resumes again.