By Robert Segal: A snarling newly crowned undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) snapped at the post-fight press conference when asked about his mandatory challenger Tim Tszyu following his tenth round knockout win over WBO champion Brian Castano (17-1-2, 12 KOs).
To say that Jermell didn’t handle the simple question about Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs) is putting it lightly. Jermall gave off looking defensive and worried.
You can understand why Charlo would be upset because he’s making good money for his fights on Showtime, and Tszyu is someone that could grind the money flow to a screeching halt by knocking him out.
That flow of green that has been coming in for Jermell with his life & death struggles against average fighters like Tony Harrison, Brian Castano, Jeison Rosario, and Vanes Martirosyan could dry up like a Texas oil well that has stopped pumping crude.
Jermell can keep the dough flowing in with his fights on Showtime as long he keeps winning, which is why it makes sense for him NOT to fight Tszyu.
Rather than being happy about talking about what could be a huge fight against the talented #1 WBO ranked contender Tszyu, the 31-year-old Jermell snapped at the reporter that asked him about a fight against him.
The general feeling that one got from the way that Jermell was so apoplectic when asked about Tszyu suggests that he wants nothing to do with a fight against him.
In that case, Charlo will need to vacate his WBO 154-lb title because Tszyu is mandatory challenger with the World Boxing Organization. If Jermell wants no part of fighting the heavy-handed Tszyu for whatever reason, he’s going to need to give up his WBO belt and not just sit on it
Despite beating Castano by a 10th-round knockout last Saturday, Charlo looked very, very beatable and vulnerable due to his low work rate. At the time of the stoppage, Charlo was ahead by the scores:
- 89-82
- 87-84
- 88-83
“I did see him, and he didn’t look so great the last time. He should work on his own situation,” said trainer Derrick James at the post-fight press conference last Saturday when told that unbeaten contender Tim Tszyu said Jermell Charlo looked soft and didn’t bring the pressure.
“That mother f*** got dropped,” said Jermell about Tszyu being dropped in the first round in his last fight against Terrel Gausha on March 26th.
“He didn’t look great the last time. He should work on his own situation,” James continued about Tszyu.
“It’s different heat over here in America, baby,” Jermell said in reacting to being told that Tszyu said that he matches up well with him style-wise.
“How much does Tim Tszyu, whatever his f*** name is, how much do they got?” said Charlo in appearing to ask what Tszyu’s net worth is as a boxer. “How much money they got? F*** you and Tim, change the mic. Like, stop asking me questions, dude. Clown a** joke,” said Charlo.
