By Lem Satterfield

WBC interim middleweight champion Jermall Charlo was getting his powerful hands wrapped by trainer, Ronnie Shields, during a recent session at the Houston, Texas-based Plex Gym, when the 28-year-old “Hit Man” took time to address Shields’ assertion that he is the most feared 160-pounder in boxing.

Charlo (27-0, 21 KOs) agrees with Shields’ contention that division counterparts Canelo Alvarez, Jermall Charlo and Gennady Golovkin are “afraid” to face him, owing to the 6-foot-1 boxer-puncher’s blend of speed, power and relative youth.

“I agree with Ronnie 100 percent that I’m one of the most avoided fighters in the division because of the fact that I’m young, I’m strong, I’m hungry. Everything my trainer has given me, I’ve given it right back to him. They see the freight train and [his promotional company] ‘Lions Only’ coming, and everybody’s getting out of the way. We’re unstoppable for anybody," said Charlo.

“Otherwise, the fights would have been made already if that wasn’t the case. So I’m aware of the attention, but from the beginning, this is where Ronnie Shields and I wanted to be. Overall, our main focus is to attack whoever has the championship belts, so we’re going to continue to move on from there on our quest to dominate the division.”

Charlo is after his first defense and fourth straight stoppage victory against southpaw two-time title challenger Willie Monroe (23-3, 6 KOs) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on December 22. Also on the Showtime-televised card, Charlo’s twin brother, Jermell (31-0, 15 KOs), defends his WBC junior middleweight crown against repeat title challenger Tony Harrison (27-2, 21 KOs).

In victory over Monroe, Charlo has been mandated by the WBC to face the 36-year-old Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs), who lost his IBO, WBC and “super” WBA 160-pound titles by split-decision last month to Alvarez (50-1-1, 34 KOs) in a rematch of their draw from September 2017.

Alvarez, who signed a $365 million multi-fight deal with the streaming service DAZN, will pursue a third crown in as many divisions on December 15 against 168-pound Rocky Fielding, but retains his middleweight championships.

The switch-hitting Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) has won three straight, including unanimous decisions in November and April against previously unbeatens Luis Arias and Maciej Sulecki since falling by disputed unanimous decision in March 2017 to Golovkin in a bout that ended “GGG’s” 23-fight, nine-year stoppage streak.

In his last fight on October 27, the 31-year-old Jacobs earned his third straight victory by split-decision over Russian-born Ukrainian stablemate Sergiy Dervyanchenko (12-1, 10 KOs) for the IBF’s vacant crown at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The other newly crowned champions are 30-year-old southpaw Demetrius Andrade (26-0, 16 KOs) of the WBO and 28-year-old Rob Brant (24-1, 16 KOs), the “regular” WBA titleholder.

“Canelo Alvarez is afraid of Jermall, Triple-G [Gennady Golovkin] is afraid of Jermall, and Danny Jacobs is doing all of this talking, but Danny Jacobs is afraid of him, too. They see that Jermall is a big, strong, skilled fighter who takes a good shot, and that he’s always in condition and ready to fight. That’s something they’re afraid of,” said Shields.

“Jermall is one helluva fighter and one tough fight for anybody that’s walking around on this planet right now, and it’s a simple as that. I believe that Triple-G is going to avoid fighting Jermall, and then, we’ll go straight to Canelo. Then I think Canelo’s going to avoid Jermall, and, according to the rules, he’ll have to give up his belt. And let’s see who Danny chooses to fight, next.”

Before his fight with Derevyanchenko, Jacobs’ trainer, Andre Rozier, listed Charlo, left-handed ex-champ Billy Joe Saunders, Alvarez, Golovkin and [WBA ‘regular’ champ] Rob Brant, in order, as the next men he wanted “The Miracle Man” wanted to face. 

Rozier said Jacobs’ zeal to battle Charlo stems from a face-to-face confrontation in March between the fighters in at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, while in attendance for heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s stoppage victory over Luis Oriz.

“Jermall Charlo was talking (to reporters) about fighting Danny in the hallways of Barclays Center when Danny walked up on Charlo and directly addressed him. Charlo then seemed to go from being very adamant to losing steam and energy,” said Rozier.

“So Danny’s saying he still wants to fight him and they can get it on after he beats Sergey. Forgetting all of the politics involved, going 1-through-5, Danny’s list of future fights is Jermall Charlo, Billy Joe Saunders, Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin and Rob Brant.”

Charlo also sees Jacobs as a priority.

“Right now, I definitely want the Jacobs fight. He’s one of the fighters who has been on my mind and that I’ve been look at,” said Charlo. “Right now, I wanna take care of business against Willie Monroe, and then we’ll worry about the rest later.”