Articles

Jermell Charlo Won’t Let Missed Title Shot Beat Him

Published

9 years ago

November 27, 2014

Jermell Charlo was scheduled to face Demetrius Andrade on Saturday, December 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was Charlo’s first (and long awaited) world title opportunity.

But Andrade, the WBO junior middleweight champion, pulled out of the fight last week, saying he was suddenly “unavailable” for the bout.

According to ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael, Andrade was unhappy with his proposed $300,000 purse and the lack of communication between he and his promoters.

Charlo is now scheduled to face Mario Alberto Lozano. The bout will be aired on Showtime Extreme.

“It’s crazy disappointing,” said Charlo of missing out on the WBO title shot. “I was so upset, but I had to continue to train and focus…Right now, we’re still training, and I don’t want to mentally let it beat me.”

Charlo, 24, said 2014 was his best year to date. He defeated Gabriel Rosado in January and Charlie Ota in May. Both wins were by unanimous decision.

While Andrade’s team indicated through a press release that the bout with Charlo could possibly be rescheduled at a future date, Charlo said he wasn’t solely looking for a fight with Andrade any longer.

“Because of the way he pulled out before, I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket any more. I’m going to continue to shop around and continue to get other fights if I have to. If this fight comes through for me, I’ll accept it.”

Charlo said Andrade pulling out of the fight surprised him, but that he suspects it comes down to Andrade, the champion, being offered less money for the bout than Charlo, the challenger.

“If I was the champion, I wouldn’t want the challenger making more money than me.”

But Charlo said he wasn’t buying that Andrade was “unavailable” to fight him on December 13.

“In reality, he was available, but it’s all about the [money]. And I have to respect the business aspect of it.”

Charlo is sharp. He knows how the economics of boxing works.

“It has to be money. It’s probably an issue between him and a promoter because the network was good, my promoter was good, my manager was good, my team was good—it was 100 percent done to me. I think something else happened and it ruined that process, so that’s why they came out of nowhere and said he’s unavailable.”

Still, Charlo expects big things for his career in 2015 and beyond. He said he wasn’t looking past Lozano, but that he had worked hard all year for big fights to come around and that he’d be ready to fight on December 13 no matter who showed up to fight him.

Charlo is gym rat. He and his brother, Jermall, train at Plex in Houston year-round whether they have fights scheduled or not. The two are very competitive with each other, and it helps push them forward during long training sessions.

(Jermall is scheduled to face Lenny Bottai on December 13 on the same card. It’s a IBF junior middleweight title eliminator bout and will be televised on Showtime before Amir Khan vs. Devon Alexander.)

Charlo said 2015 would be his year.

“If I could get back in the ring in January, I would. I’m really looking forward to a world title in 2015 and big fights, period.”

I asked Charlo who he’d fight next year if he could pick any fighter in the world.

“I would fight Canelo [Alvarez]. Because Canelo is a big name. We’re both young. It’s a great fight and it’s right around the time I should be back in the ring.”

Still, Charlo said he’d be ready for whatever 2015 brings him.

“I’m down for whatever, whoever has titles.”

Charlo-McCarson Fundraiser Update

Before Charlo faces Lozano though, he’ll face me in the ring. The bout will take place at Plex in Stafford, Texas (just outside of Houston) at 10 am on Saturday, December 6.

My beatdown at Charlo’s hands will not be open to the public, but Boxing Channel will video the spectacle and post it soon after.

So don’t worry, you will see it.

We will spar for three rounds, each round three minutes long. I am in Week 5 of my six-week training camp. My ankles are trashed. Both my knees hurt. My legs are sore. My hands are mauled. My knuckles are swollen. Everything on my body hurts.

But I’ve gotten into the best shape of my life training with the fighters over at Plex. It’s been difficult but I’ve been given a first-hand experience of what it’s truly like to live as a fighter.

Charlo calls it torture. He’s right.

I’ve not cheated in one way during camp. I’ve done every single workout every single day. I haven’t eaten one bad thing. I’ve not had one sip of alcohol or one puff of a cigar. Hell, I didn’t eat one piece of candy on Halloween, and our Thanksgiving meal is paleo-diet approved.

I’m all in.

But if you care for such things, please remember I’m not all in for just me. I’m all in for a kid named Corbin Glasscock from Tyler, Texas who was diagnosed with bone cancer just last month. Jermell is all in for him, too. And the only reason either of us agreed to do this was to help raise money for the family.

When I fight Charlo next weekend, Corbin will be coming off his third straight week of chemotherapy. Doctors gave Corbin a 50 percent chance to beat cancer, which if you think about it is a lot better than my chance of beating Charlo.

But Corbin needs expensive treatments to have his best chance, so please spare whatever you can to help his family pay for them. Whatever you can give is appreciated. No donation is too small. Together, we can do big things for Corbin.

www.GoFundMe.com/TeamCorbin

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Kelsey McCarson

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Articles

Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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Articles

2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

8 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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