With DAZN seemingly having a near monopoly on the middleweight division's elite (Canelo Alvarez, Daniel Jacobs, Gennadiy Golovkin and Demetrius Andrade), it's easy to forget that there are still multiple top middleweights not on the streaming platform, mainly Jermall Charlo.
Charlo, who has been the odd man out when it comes to the middleweight division, currently holds the WBC world title, but does not figure into any of the aforementioned fighters' future as far as fights are concerned. Even so, as Charlo prepares for his first title defense against Brandon Adams on June 29, he doesn't really focus on his future beyond his is present task.
That's not to say Charlo doesn't realize of his current position at this stage of his career where a loss could set him back a bit, especially now that he is the WBC middleweight champion. Entering fight week, Charlo was the sanctioning body's interim titleholder, but after the announcement of Alvarez being elevated from WBC champion to Franchise champion, Charlo became the full world champion.
"I'm just motivated by those guys who don't finish the job. And this is a legacy fight for me. This is the best I've felt in a long time. My career is definitely where it needs to be. The pressure is on me. I can't let anybody down. And it's one of those fights where it's much needed with another hungry opponent. And everyone that's doubting me, and everyone who is not on a side with me, it makes me want to fight even harder. So it's just one of those things I have to do and go through," Charlo said in a recent media conference call.
Even prior to the announcement, Charlo wasn't really concerned about the timing of when a fight between him and Alvarez could be ordered. When asked by Fightful if he was frustrated with waiting on the WBC to mandate something between him and Alvarez after Charlo held the interim title for more than a year.
“It’s definitely not frustrating. I’m living my best life right now. I’m young, I’m very healthy. I have my family, I have my closest friends and my trainer Ronnie Shields. We’ll handle the situation as they come. Right now, we’re focusing on Brandon Adams. I’m locked in and loaded. I’m ready to put on the best performance I have in me,” Charlo said.
Charlo vs. Adams for the interim WBC middleweight title will headline a Showtime-televised card from the NRG Arena in Houston, Texas on June 29. Also on the card is a WBC junior middleweight title eliminator between Erickson Lubin and Zakaria Attou as well as Eduardo Ramirez vs. Claudio Marrero in a WBA featherweight title eliminator.
