By Jim Calfa: Paulie Malignaggi is excited at the news of Canelo Alvarez and Jermall Charlo being in talks for a fight in May at super middleweight.
Malignaggi feels this is a great fight, and he thinks that Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) has enough talent to beat Canelo. Jermall is a “Major threat” to Canelo, says Paulie, and he’s very dangerous for the Mexican star.
Canelo had been in talks to fight WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu on May 7th on the Cinco de Mayo holiday, but he’s changed his mind.
Malignaggi believes that Canelo is choosing to go in the direction of Jermall because Al Haymon of Premier Boxing Champions likely put in a huge offer.
The fight still hasn’t been officially announced, so there’s always a chance that it won’t happen. With interest from the fans in the Canelo-Charlo fight, Canelo would be crazy not to fight him Jermall next.
If it gets made, Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) will be defending his four super middleweight titles against Charlo, who will be coming up in weight from the 160-lb division.
Coppinger Reports Canelo Vs. Jermall Talks
“I’m hearing it’s much more likely he’s going to fight Jermall Charlo on Cinco de Mayo. There are talks right now for that fight,” said Mike Coppinger of ESPN on Canelo in talks to fight Jermall.
“And if he is going to go to cruiserweight, though, I think it would be a mistake. Look at the cautionary tale of Roy Jones Jr. Jones goes up to heavyweight and beats John Ruiz,” said Coppinger.
It’s a shocker that Canelo has seemingly changed his mind about fighting Makabu next and instead is going after a fight with Jermall.
Malignaggi Picks Jermall To Beat Canelo
“I love this fight. I got to be honest. I love this fight,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Paulie TV on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermall Charlo clash.
“That is something to wake up to. I got to say that Jermall Charlo is one of the guys I can see beating Canelo, bro.
Now, I got to put my money where my mouth is because I’ve been the one saying Jermall and [Demetrius] Andrade. I think he’s passing his prime is not as much of a threat as before for Canelo.
“But Jermall is a major threat, and I feel Jermall would beat Canelo. Now the fights going to happen. You know what? Big, big props to Canelo for doing the battle because this is the guy that I was picking to beat him if they fought.
“I’m going to give Canelo even bigger props if he beats Jermall. Let’s see because I picked Jermall to beat Canelo, and I got to stick with my original guns. I can’t pull back on myself,” Malignaggi said.
Malignaggi sees what many boxing fans see in Jermall in terms of his power, counter-punching, size, and boxing ability. Charlo can do it all, and he’s got a good chin.
If Jermall weren’t a super talent, Gennadiy Golovkin would have fought him a long time go rather than wasting his time against Kamil Szeremeta, Steve Rolls, and Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Paulie Impressed With Charlo
“He’s just super, super sharp,” said Malignaggi when asked what’s so special about Jermall Charlo that impresses him. “When Jermall is on, he’s just super, super sharp.
“He’s countering, and he’s got power. He’s a good fighter, man. I’m excited. This is crazy. I’m still processing this fight. They’d better not come up with no COVID crap to push this fight back.
“This fight better happen. I don’t want nothing to get in the way now. I don’t want anything to get in the way. This fight has to happen. This is a major announcement. It has to be a Texas fight because Jermall is from Texas, and Canelo sells well in Texas as well.
“I’d say it has to be a Texas fight, although Texas judging kind of comes into play here. But then again, we already saw the Las Vegas judging does with Canelo’s fights with the first Golovkin fight. I don’t know.
“I guess just put it in Texas. My initial instinct would be to say put it in Texas. It’s probably a better fight in Texas. That’s right. Canelo was going to fight Makabu, and then they didn’t do that,” said Malignaggi.
It’s questionable whether Canelo would agree to fight Jermall in his home state of Texas, even though he’s fought there in the past and drawn big crowds.
Ultimately, Canelo won’t want to take a chance of finding himself on the receiving end of questionable scoring in Texas. Canelo will insist on staging the fight in Las Vegas, and Jermall will need to agree with that if he wants the fight.
Did Haymon Put The Big Bucks?
“Al Haymon [of PBC] must have stepped in and put up some big bucks, bro,” said Malignaggi. “It has to be. What do you think? I’m just processing this thing. I’m thinking out loud as I get all this information. Canelo at the WBC convention mentioned that he was going to fight Makabu.
“How miserable is Makabu right now. He lost out on a big payday. Macabu went from fighting Canelo for all the marbles to fighting off TV against a mandatory. The WBC would have allowed the Canelo fight [for Makabu].
“They’d already said that at the convention, so you can’t even say that it’s a matter of your mandatory. It’s a matter of Haymon probably put up more money to get the Charlo fight to land.
“You know what? You got to give credit. Even to Haymon, you got to give credit. That is doing right by your fighter. That is really, really major. Charlo vs. Canelo. Is it at 168? He was probably trying to hint that out,” said Malignaggi.
It would make sense if Al Haymon of Premier Boxing Champions put up a big offer to get Canelo to fight with Jermall. PBC lured Canelo to fight former IBF super middleweight champion Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant last November on SHOWTIME PPV.
If PBC were willing to put up the money to bring Canelo over to Showtime to fight Plant, it makes sense for them to put up colossal cash to bring him back to fight Charlo.
Paulie Malignaggi reacts to Canelo vs. Charlo talks for 2022 (boxingnews24.com)