Both Jermall Charlo (17-0 13KOs) and his brother Jermell have taken the Jr. Middleweight division by storm. After Jermell decisively beat his first step-up fight against Gabriel Rosado, its Jermall’s turn to show what he has when he takes on current IBF Champion Carlos Molina (22-5 6KOs). It’s undeniable that this fight caught a lot of people in the boxing community off guard not only because Jermall only has a 17-0 record but Molina is a fighter that people avoid due to his awkward style in the ring. Jermall admits that it wasn’t just the fans that we didn’t see this coming, neither did he. “When Al Haymon told me about the fight with Carlos Molina I didn’t even think it was real. It still hasn’t settled down in me.”
In the past Molina has shown that his style in the ring has proven to be issues for top level boxers such as Erislandy Lara and a top level brawlers like James Kirkland, both of whom had issues dealing with his style in the ring. Jermall says that he feels that he is just as hard to figure out as Molina, and it will be him who is in for a shock. “It’s going to be a real good fight. Styles make fights. I’m pretty awkward myself and Carlos Molina is pretty typical to me.”
The main points that fans have with Molina is that his style in the ring is less the entertaining. Although he’s a great fighter, most of his fights leave many wanting more excitement. Jermall was very candid and said that he’s going for the win regardless but he will not put himself in a situation to lose a fight for the sake of entertainment value. “I’m young, I’m hungry. I want to be at the top. I still haven’t even clinched 20 fights yet so I’m in a win/win situation regardless of the outcome. I’m not necessary worried about the fight being ugly. I still have so many fights to prove that I can make and entertaining fight. If this fight right here doesn’t turn out the way my fans want it to be… I’m coming for the victory regardless but if it’s not entertaining, so what if I lose a couple of fans. It’s not in my interest to make an entertaining fight.”
A lot of times when fighters enter the ring they leave what they planned ahead of time in the gym but Jermall says that his in-ring adjustments are key and he will utilize his game plan to let Molina play the party of the crash-test-dummy. “I have a game plan for him. Let him run into everything, that’s what he does.” He continued, “We’re going to set him up and let him knock himself out.”
Leading up to the fight both Jermall and Molina have acknowledge their respect for each other’s skills but once the bell sounds the all the good praise stop there. Jermall says that he doesn’t need to talk trash because he knows what he can do in the ring, but he knows that Molina’s arrogance will be his downfall. “Carlos Molina is cocky. He’s comfortable in his performances. He feels like he’s the man. It’s my duty to go in there and show him it’s my world. He will have to adjust to me.”
With only 17 wins under his belt Jermall feels that he thinks he is being setup and an opponent for Molina as opposed to a challenger for the title but once given the opportunity this is his chance to seize the moment and prove what he has. “Everyone is asking me if I’m ready for him. It’s really, is he ready for me? I’m the young gun with nothing to lose.” Jermall continued ,“They thought… ‘oh he’s 17-0 and he’s not ready for this level, he’s going to over train for this fight’… that’s crazy. I’ve been around world champions all my life and I’ve been boxing all my life. It’s just another fight for me.”
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