Jermall Charlo, one half of the boxing twins the Charlo brothers, is a middleweight boxing sensation with an unbeaten record. He is set to face Jose Benavidez Jr. in a highly anticipated bout on Saturday, Nov. 25, at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
However, on Friday, Charlo came in three pounds overweight.
Debuting at super middleweight, Charlo, the WBC middleweight champion, weighed in Friday morning at 166.4 pounds, with the contracted weight for the match at a catch weight of 163 pounds for his 10-rounder, Charlo’s return is starting on the wrong foot,
Jose Benavidez Jr. officially weighed 161.2 pounds for the non-title fight, two pounds under the contracted weight. With the war of words between the two centering around their mutual disdain for each other, is Charlo’s return premature against a very game competitor?
The Hitman’s Return
This fight marks Charlo’s return to the ring after a hiatus of over two years. He last fought in 2021, when he took a 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Mexican contender Juan Macias Montiel in June 2021 at Toyota Center in Houston.
Charlo, 33, has been honest about his struggles with mental health. It is unclear how he truly feels ahead of his fight with Benavidez Jr. After all, the last thing that happened to him before this new fight was being smacked by a left hook from Caleb Plant behind-the-scenes at the Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford fight and fans seemingly canceling his brother Jermell for a lackluster fight against Canelo Alvarez.
Vulnerabilities
“Depression, self-conflation, going from hot to cold really fast is shocking to you,” Charlo said to the New York Post. “Dealing with all kinds of cases of [being] bipolar, being by yourself, thinking that you shutting the world out is gonna help you. But you need to be able to speak to someone and help you get past whatever you’re going through.
“It just feels like everybody is against you, I don’t care if you’re in the Uber, a cab, wherever, everybody is just against you. Why I felt like this, [I don’t know]. I couldn’t tell that some people weren’t against me, it was just that at the moment it’s the way you’re feeling and I turned my back against pretty much the world. I just had to start getting help with it and it made me a lot better.”
Charlo enters the ring with an impressive record of 32-0, including 22 knockouts, while Benavidez boasts a record of 28 wins, two losses, and one draw, with 19 victories coming via knockout. This matchup presents an intriguing clash of styles and records, with Charlo looking to assert his dominance in the 160-pound` division and Benavidez aiming to cause a major upset.
With Charlo not making weight and the pressure to return spectacularly, this might be the first time that Jermall Charlo looks vulnerable in his undefeated career.
