Jermell Charlo: I'll Fight Rosario With No Audience; I've Gotta Get All The Belts
By
Keith Idec
Published On Sat May 2, 2020, 09:38 AM EDT
Jermell Charlo wants to fight Jeison Rosario as soon as possible once the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
The WBC super welterweight champion knows facing Rosario is the fastest, surest way to prove he is the best boxer within the 154-pound division. Otherwise, Charlo realizes his detractors can continue criticizing his resume.
“I need Rosario to get him out the way, so I can hold the belts and really have that,” Charlo told “The PBC Podcast” co-hosts Kenneth Bouhairie and Michael Rosenthal. “I don’t gotta tell y’all how I’m making a living for my family. It’s already understood. You dig?”
The Dominican Republic’s Rosario changed the configuration atop the 154-pound division when he upset heavily favored Julian Williams by fifth-round technical knockout January 18 at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Williams’ hometown. Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs) won the IBF, IBO and WBA titles from Williams (27-2-1, 16 KOs).
“I wasn’t surprised, man,” Charlo said. “I wasn’t surprised. I was kind of expecting it to be a tough fight. I didn’t know Williams would not be able to handle him.”
Brazil’s Patrick Teixeira (31-1, 22 KOs) holds the WBO junior middleweight championship, but Houston’s Charlo wants Rosario next.
“I wanna see if I can prove that I’m really the top dog,” Charlo said. “I wanna know myself.”
The 29-year-old Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs) would even be willing to face Rosario in a studio setting or in an empty arena.
“I’ll fight Rosario with no audience,” Charlo said. “We have to have [the] TV, so the money could be big. But we’ll fight with no audience any day.”
Charlo regained his WBC 154-pound crown by knocking out Detroit’s Tony Harrison in the 11th round of their rematch December 22 at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. Harrison (28-3, 21 KOs) upset Charlo by unanimous decision a year earlier to win that title at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
As satisfying as it was to avenge his only loss as a professional, Charlo knows there are other fighters he must beat before he can claim supremacy in his division.
“I’ve gotta get all of the belts, man,” Charlo said. “I can’t be a master [boxer] and call myself the big boy and all this until I get my belts ready. You know what I’m saying? When I get all them pretty belts around my waist – that title gives you something. But if you didn’t fight nobody to get it, that’s what they wanna say. You know, they don’t recognize everything you’ve been through. They don’t realize every camp is 10 weeks. They don’t realize how much it take out of your life. They don’t what the f--k going on. They just think you some f--king Aztec warrior.”
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