Jermell Charlo: ‘This Fight with Andrade Is a Really Good Matchup, I’m Not Underestimating Him’

    0
    1362

    Main-Jermell-Charlo-Doghouse-BoxingJermell Charlo is getting ready to fight for his first major title on December 13th when he challenges WBO junior middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade. The fight will be on the televised undercard of a Showtime Championship Boxing broadcast that will feature an anticipated welterweight showdown between Amir Khan and Devon Alexander, live from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.

    Charlo (24-0, 11KOs) has had a solid 2014 and is up to par with his activity level spanning the last three years. However, Jermell, who has a twin brother named Jermall, has gone back and forth with announcing his next fight for some time, spanning over at least the last four months.

    The Texas born fighter last fought in May of this year, defeating Charlie Ota by unanimous decision in a 12 round affair. Shortly after, it was rumored that Jermell would indeed fight for a world title in his next fight. This news was fairly obvious with his trainer Ronnie Shields giving interviews throughout the summer and making claims in several interviews that Jermell and Jermall would be fighting for a world title next, and most were aware of the fact that Jermell was on the verge of a title shot heading into 2014.

    The proposed title fight with Andrade (21-0, 14 KOs) was mentioned a couple months ago, but neither Jermell nor Andrade would confirm. In fact, members of Andrade’s team went as far as saying he wouldn’t fight for the remainder of the year after a fight with HBO fell through.

    All the while, Jermell continued to prepare for a 2014 finale and trained as though it would be the biggest fight of his career. In several interviews with Thaboxingvoice.com, Charlo said that he didn’t know who he’d fight but that he would indeed fight someone.

    Now with the fight finalized, Jermell can continue to train, but now he can prepare specifically for the very difficult Andrade.

    “I’m actually facing Demetrius Andrade. I feel like the fight is on but it ain’t on until you’re in the ring, so you never want to just say ‘the fight is on, the fight is on,’ but I’m happy. I’m in training, I don’t even want to tell the world how long I’ve been in training, but I’ve been in training for a long time preparing myself for whoever was at the top and obviously I’m fighting for the world title,” Charlo told Thaboxingvoice.com’s Nestor Gibbs.

    This is a very intriguing fight, it’s actually a better fight than most of ShowTime’s main events all year, and yet it is on the undercard of a fantastic main event. Both Andrade and Charlo are undefeated, and both fighters are incredibly talented boxers, but they have also shown the ability to be entertaining against the right opponent.

    The fact that the fight was under negotiations for quite some time could benefit Andrade, in fact it may have been a tactic perpetrated by the Andrade camp in an effort to prepare for Jermell, while Jermell was left in limbo and couldn’t train for Andrade. This is a tactic that many fighters/managers use.

    The other factor heading into this fight is the fact that Jermell has been in training for so long and the risk that he may peak too soon. Many fighters over train when a fight is being negotiated and then “leave it all in the gym” on fight night.

    Jermell feels like that won’t be the case and maintains that he has taken the necessary precautions to prevent this from happening—he does have a world class trainer in Shields and the experience level suggests that his camp is prepared for peaking at the right time.

    “That could possibly be the case in certain fighters (with fighters over training). It’s about what you do when you’re training, some people leave it in the gym as far as going too hard thinking that the fight is tomorrow. That’s not my case, in my case it’s real simple, preparing myself as far as strength and conditioning. I would train really hard and then go on vacation on the weekend.”

    Jermell has been in training since his teammate Brian Vera fought Gabriel Rosado — who Jermell defeated in January of this year — in August on the BKB main event

    Charlo comes from an incredibly talented stable and has access to world-class sparring partners. Andrade is a highly skilled boxer, he is a tall southpaw and matching his abilities in camp could prove difficult. But Charlo has the luxury of sparing with one of the best technical southpaws in the game in Erislandy Lara.

    Jermell knows that the fight will be difficult, but he is aware of the fact that he has all the necessary tools available to him in order to take the challenge head-on.

    “With this Andrade fight it’s a really good matchup and a really close fight. I’m not underestimating or doubting him whatsoever, but I know I come to put that work in.

    “No fight is supposed to turn out the way you game plan it, you got to go through certain things in a fight and that’s what I’m possibly preparing myself for, I’m preparing for the worst. Anything can possibly happen.”

    There has been some doubters that say while the fight is interesting because it involves two high ranked, highly skilled fighters, it won’t provide fans with much action because of Charlo and Andrade’s tendency to box.

    However, Jermell insists that he is preparing for every scenario and he also says that he will try to do some things in the ring that aren’t typical for him in an effort to mix up the attack and keep Andrade guessing.

    This is Jermell’s big shot and he won’t chance anything. But he wants to make a statement in the fight, and with all eyes upon him he will do his best to give fans a great fight. Andrade represents one of the best fighters in the division, and with Lara losing to Canelo, Andrade could be the best undefeated fighter in the division.

    Most would focus on Andrade’s skill level and try to attack his weaknesses, but Charlo is determined to fight his fight and adjust as the fight develops. This fight may come down to which fighter is willing to take the necessary risks to get the victory, Charlo is preparing to take those risks.

    “You got to be at your best. You do what you do and not have to worry about what he’s doing. Andrade is an undefeated fighter, same thing with me, it’s not about how you break somebody down that doesn’t make a mistake, no, everybody makes mistakes.

    “Right now, it’s my time and the best man wins in this type of situation. I’m going to come and do some things different. I’m technically sound also, but now I’ve got to step in there and take some bigger chances, more risks, and fight to the best of my abilities.”