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Canelo picks JERMELL Charlo. The fight is a go for Sept. 30 in Las Vegas

If you believe everything that you read on the internet, then you were aware that Canelo Alvarez had picked Jermall Charlo as his next opponent. Even ESPN”s usually reliable Mike Coppinger, who has cultivated a strong grapevine, conveyed the fake news.
“Alvarez is set to defend his undisputed super middleweight championship vs. Jermall Charlo, likely on Sept. 16, sources tell ESPN,” Coppinger told to his followers on twitter before hunkering down to hash over the pairing with his ESPN colleague Ben Baby.
Well, yes, Canelo did pick a Charlo as his next opponent, but it wasn’t Jermall, but rather his twin brother Jermell. Reportedly the first installment of a three-fight deal between the Mexican superstar and Premier Boxing Champions, the fight will transpire in Las Vegas on Sept. 30. Needless to say, it’s a pay-per-view, presumably on Showtime.
It’s easy to confuse the two Charlos who both won world titles at 154 pounds and whose parents certainly didn’t make it any easier for us by giving the identical twins near-identical names.
Snapshots:
Jarmall (32-0, 22 KOs)
Jarmall won the 1BF super welterweight diadem in 2015 with a third-round stoppage of Cornelius Bundrage and made three successful defenses before moving up to middleweight where he captured the WBC world title with a 12-round decision over Brandon Adams. His third defense of that title came in June of 2021, a lopsided decision over Juan Macias Montiel.
Jarmall hasn’t fought since. A back injury, legal problems, and mental health issues stalled his career.
In 2021, he was arrested for the alleged July 16 robbery of a San Antonio restaurant employee after his debit card was declined. Video evidence supported Jermall’s claim that it was all a misunderstanding and the charges were dropped.
Later that year, in September, he was arrested in Fort Bend County, Texas, which includes parts of Houston, on a charge of felony assault for striking a 21-year-old man who claimed to be his cousin. These charges were also dropped when the prosecutor determined that he did not have sufficient evidence to move forward. (Per Boxing Scene’s Jake Donovan, the charges were bumped from a misdemeanor to a felony because Jermall was a repeat offender. There had been a similar incident in Las Vegas in 2015 which didn’t make the local papers.)
Last year, in an unrelated incident, Jarmall filed charges against his wife Shantel Nicole Charlo for an alleged assault. She was arrested, but the authorities did not pursue the matter.
In April of this year, Jermall told his followers on Instagram that he would return in June. “I promise you I will set the summer on fire,” he wrote. Nothing came of it.
Now forget everything that I just wrote because Jermall is not the guy who will be fighting Canelo on Sept. 30.
Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs)
Jermell won the WBA version of the super welterweight title in 2016 with a come-from-behind eighth-round stoppage of John Jackson. He lost it in his fourth defense when he was controversially out-pointed by Tony Harrison, and regained it in the rematch (TKO 11), after which he acquired the WBA and IBF 154-pound belts with an eighth-round stoppage of Jeison Rosario.
What followed were two fights with Brian Castano, the WBO title-holder, the first of which ended in a draw. Jermell was dominant in the rematch, scoring a 10th-round stoppage, and that made him the first undisputed 154-pound champion in the four-belt era.
Jermell has also had legal issues. In 2019, he was charged with two counts of domestic violence for allegedly assaulting a former girlfriend in Dallas. He refused a plea deal and was found innocent on both counts after a three-day jury trial.
Jermell’s best win came on Oct. 14, 2017, when he flattened Erickson Lubin in the opening round with a highlight reel, one-punch knockout. The previously undefeated Lubin was so highly touted that the odds were in the “pick-‘em” range.
Jermell had been on a collision course with Australia’s Tim Tszyu. They were slated to fight on Jan. 28 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, but that fight fell out when Jermell fractured his left hand in sparring. Rather than wait around for Charlo’s injury to heal, Tszyu stayed busy and made great gains in public esteem with impressive showings against Tony Harrison and Carlos Ocampo, the latter of whom he demolished in 77 seconds.
The WBO recently ruled that Jermell would be stripped of the belt if negotiations with Team Tszyu were not consummated by Sept. 30. The organization is expected to defrock Jermell and declare Tim Tszyu their title-holder.
Jermell Charlo will have been out of the ring for 500 days and jumping up two weight classes when he fights Canelo Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) on Sept. 30. Despite these seemingly big drawbacks, the pricemakers accord him a reasonable chance of winning. One of the first books to post a line on the fight installed Canelo a 2/1 favorite. Should Canelo win, his next fight would logically come against the other Charlo brother.
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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach
LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.
Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.
It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.
Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.
Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.
Bustillo Wins Rematch
In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.
Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.
Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.
After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.
Other Bouts
In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.
A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).
Photos credit: Al Applerose
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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.
SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.
It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.
Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.
Co-Feature
In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.
Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.
Other Bouts of Note
The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.
The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.
In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.
Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing
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Zhilei Zhang KOs Joe Joyce; Calls Out Tyson Fury

Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause after being stopped in the sixth frame by Zhilei Zhang in their first meeting. In hindsight, he may wish that he hadn’t. Tonight at London’s Wembley Stadium, Zhang stopped him again and far more conclusively than in their first encounter.
In the first meeting, Zhang, a southpaw, found a steady home for his stiff left jab. Targeting Joyce’s right eye, he eventually damaged the optic to where the ring doctor wouldn’t let Joyce continue. At the end, the fight was close on the cards and Joyce was confident that he would have pulled away if not for the issue with his eye.
In the rematch tonight, Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) closed the curtain with his right hand. A thunderous right hook on the heels of a straight left pitched Joyce to the canvas where he landed face first. He appeared to beat the count by a whisker, but was seriously dazed and referee Steve Gray properly waived it off. The official time was 3:07 of round three.
Zhang, who lived up to his nickname, “Big Bang,” was credited with landing 29 power punches compared with only six for Joyce (15-2) who came in 25 pounds heavier than in their first meeting while still looking properly conditioned. One would be inclined to say that age finally caught with the “Juggernaut” who turned 38 since their last encounter, but Zhang, 40, is actually the older man. In his post-fight interview in the ring, the New Jersey resident, a two-time Olympian for China, when asked who he wanted to fight next, turned to the audience and said, “Do you want to see me shut Tyson Fury up?”
He meant it as a rhetorical question.
Semi-Windup
Light heavyweight Anthony Yarde was matched soft against late sub Jorge Silva, a 40-year-old Portuguese journeyman, and barely broke a sweat while scoring a second-round stoppage. Yarde backed Silva against a corner post and put him on the deck with a short right hand. Silva’s body language indicated that he had no interest in continuing and the referee accommodated him. The official time was 2:07 of round two.
A 30-year-old Londoner, Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs) was making his first start since being stopped in eight rounds by Artur Beterbiev in a bout that Yarde was winning on two of the scorecards. Silva, a late replacement for 19-3-1 Ricky Summers, falls to 22-9.
Also
Former leading super middleweight contender Zach Parker (23-1, 17 KOs) returned to the ring in a “shake-off-the-rust” fight against 40-year-old Frenchman Khalid Graidia and performed as expected. Graidia’s corner pulled him out after seven one-sided rounds.
In his previous fight, Parker was matched against John Ryder who he was favored to beat. The carrot for the winner was a lucrative date with Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately for Parker, he suffered a broken hand and was unable to continue after four frames. Tonight, he carried 174 pounds, a hint that he plans to compete as a light heavyweight going forward. Indeed, he has expressed an interest in fighting Anthony Yarde. Graidia declined to 10-13-4.
The Zhang-Joyce and Yarde-Silva fights were live-streamed in the U.S. on ESPN+.
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