Jermall Charlo Confirmed for May 19th Las Vegas Fight: First Bout in Two Years

Jermall Charlo will emerge from hibernation mode once again to fight at super middleweight on May 31st in a PBC event in Las Vegas. He’ll be fighting on the undercard of former IBF 168-lb champion Caleb Plant.

Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) turns 35 on May 19 and hasn’t fought in two years since beating former welterweight contender Jose Benavidez Jr. in 2023. Jermall looked pretty bad then, coming off a two-year layoff, and now he’s doing it again.

Before Jermall stopped fighting, he’d never beaten any cutting-edge fighters during his career at 154 and 160. He was mostly known for his wins over former GGG opponents Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Julian Williams, Austin Trout, and Cornelius Bundrage.

What’s the Goal?

Charlo was a good fighter, but he took a lot of punishment in some of his fights, showing that he wasn’t on the level of an aging Gennadiy Golovkin or Canelo Alvarez. Those are the two fighters he’d been pushing for in his younger days when he was still active and motivated.

Now, at 35 years old and essentially four years of inactivity, one can’t expect much from Jermall Charlo. He’s coming back, but the only thing he can hope for is Canelo throwing him a bone or Riyadh Season offering him mega-millions to be an opponent for someone like Terence Crawford. Hopefully, not Canelo because no one wants to see that kind of old-timers fight.

Lance Pugmire is reporting that Jermall will be fighting on Plant’s undercard. There’s no word about who Charlo will be facing, but it’s obviously going to be a low-level opponent for tune-up purposes. Hopefully, it’s someone from the 168-lb division rather than a guy two weight classes below, like in Jermall’s last comeback fight in 2023.

This latest comeback doesn’t look promising for Charlo, but if he’s hoping to be offered a bundle of money to fight in one of the Riyadh Season events, I guess it’s worth it. He’s clearly not winning a world title at this latest age of his career. Again, that’s likely not his goal for this comeback.

Any Title Hopes?

Given Jermall’s name recognition among older fans that remember him during the best years of his career from 2016 to 2021, he might get a world title shot at 168 if he looks halfway decent on May 19th. Unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez has been focusing on taking easy opposition lately, and a fight against Jermall would be up his alley if he looks beatable in his comeback.

The former two-division world champion Jermall Charlo used to be an excellent fighter and one of the biggest names in the sport. However, after a grueling fight against Juan Macias Montiel on June 19, 2021, Charlo stopped fighting for two years and was not motivated to return to the ring. He had the chance to get a massive payday challenging  Canelo Alvarez for his unified super middleweight titles on September 30, 2023.

Jermall chose not to take the fight due to personal problems. Instead, his twin brother, Jermell Charlo, took the fight for the gigantic payday. Interestingly, Jermell, too, stopped fighting and hasn’t been seen inside the ring since.

Jermall’s best career wins:

– Austin Trout
– Sergiy Derevyanchenko
– Julian ‘J-Rock-Williams
– Juan Macias Montiel
– Cornelius Bundrage
– Brandon Adams
– Jose Benavidez Jr.