Spending most of his 2022 schedule sequestered on the sidelines wasn’t exactly in Jermall Charlo’s plans. The WBC middleweight belt holder and former two-division champion was originally scheduled to return to the ring this past June, in a homecoming fight against Maciej Sulecki.
However, in the midst of preparing to defend his title for the fourth time in his career, the belligerent Houstonian was forced to withdraw due to a back injury. Several months later, Ronnie Shields, Charlo’s trainer, recently revealed that his young champion is fully healed and ready to rock and roll.
“He’s back now,” Shields told Behind The Gloves. “She hurt her back just before the fight, but now she’s fine.”
Before Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) made the unpopular move of facing Sulecki, Team Charlo attempted to placate his desires by luring Canelo Alvarez into the ring. The Mexican star was soon faced with a difficult decision. For one thing, Al Haymon of Premier Boxing Champions reportedly offered Alvarez a two-fight, multi-million dollar deal to take on both Charlo and former two-time super middleweight champion David Benavidez. On the other hand, Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing offered Alvarez a similar financial package, while tentatively scheduling matchups against Dmitry Bivol and Gennadiy Golovkin.
In the end, after weighing his options, Álvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) decided not to accept Haymon’s deal and would instead sign Hearn. Although Charlo’s fans were initially irritated, Shields acknowledges that he bears no ill will toward the pound-for-pound star.
“They weren’t sure it was a good move for him. So instead they chose Bivol and GGG. And of course they lost to Bivol and now he’s fighting GGG again. I don’t hit anyone for doing business. I think you have to do what’s good for you.”
As Shields alludes, Alvarez is only a few hours away from facing Gennadiy Golovkin at the T-Mobile Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada. For the third installment of their rivalry, Golovkin will make the eight-pound journey north, to compete as a full-fledged super middleweight.
Regardless of the end result, Golovkin has openly denied that he will hang up his gloves forever. With the WBA and IBF 160-pound titles on his championship mantle, Golovkin has stated time and time again that he intends to defend his middleweight throne.
News of Golovkin possibly returning to the 160-pound division has left an indelible smile on Shields’ face as he remains hopeful that a Charlo-Golovkin showdown could soon be on the docket.
“If GGG goes up and beats Canelo or if he loses, he still has two belts. Maybe that can be a fight for Jermall because he wants to unify. Hopefully, that can happen.”
