Jermall Charlo

Amateur career

Jermall was fighting to get a spot in the 2008 Olympic team, but he was forced to back out due to a toe injury. Jermall kept fighting as an amateur for one more year and finished with an impressive record of 65-6.

Early years

On August 12, 2008 Charlo made his professional debut against Cimmaron Davis and won the fight via 2nd round technical knockout.

On July 11, 2009 Charlo faced Deon Nash, the opponent his brother Jermell went up against and beat in 2008. Jermall won a comfortable unanimous decision victory and later fought Nash to a rematch on August 28, 2010 and Charlo would end up winning again by a corner retirement.

On October 24, 2010 Charlo went up against Puerto Rican Carlos Garcia, whom his brother Jermell had fought a year prior. Both brothers beat Garcia by unanimous decision. Over the next five years, Charlo remained undefeated picking up wins over Orlando Lora, Antwone Smith and Norberto Gonzalez. By the close of 2014, Charlo had a record of 20 wins with 16 coming inside the distance and no losses.

Charlo vs. Finney

On March 28, 2015 Charlo went up against a highly talented prospect, Michael Kenneth Finney. Charlo won the majority of the rounds on all 3 judges scorecards and won a unanimous decision victory. Charlo gave Finney his third loss in his professional boxing career.

Charlo vs. Bundrage

Cornelius Bundrage was ordered by the IBF to make a mandatory title defense against Charlo. The bout was scheduled to take place on September 12. Charlo steamrolled Bundrage and captured the IBF light middleweight title with a dominating third-round KO. Bundrage was knocked down once in rounds 1 and 2 and twice in round 3.

Charlo vs. Campfort

Charlo was scheduled to make the first defense of his IBF light middleweight title against veteran Wilky Campfort (21-1, 12 KOs) on November 28, 2015 at The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas. Charlo floored Campfort in round 2 with a counter right hand. He recorded a second knockdown the following round after a flurry in the corner forced Campfort to take a voluntary knee. Towards the end of round 3 Charlo hit a perfect left uppercut clean to his left eye of Campfort's, compromising his vision was instantly to take a knee again. Despite beating the count, Campfort complained that he was unable to see, causing referee Mark Calo-Oy to wave off the fight.

Charlo vs. Trout

On March 29, it was announced that Charlo would make defence against former world champion Austin Trout (30-2, 17 KOs) at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card also included top light middleweights Erislandy Lara, Vanes Martirosyan and his brother Jermell. In a close contested bout, Charlo defeated Trout by a 12 round unanimous decision. The judges’ scored the fight 115-113, 116-112, 116-112. Charlo landed the harder shots to dominate the action in the first six rounds. However, Charlo seemed to gas out a little in the second half of the fight, and was outworked by Trout. Trout suffered a cut over his right eye in the 10th round from a clash of heads but fought well despite suffering the cut. The crowd booed loudlywhen the scores were read out to let the judges know that they felt Trout should have won.

Charlo vs. Williams

Charlo's next title defense was set to be against the No. 1 contender Julian Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs) on December 10, 2016 at the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. The fight was pushed back as Charlo was nursing an eye injury and was given a 60-day medical extension by IBF. There were also rumours that Charlo would vacate the title to move up to middleweight. Charlo retained his IBF junior middleweight title with a fifth round stoppage of Williams. Charlo dropped Williams in the second round with a powerful jab. Williams came back and fought a clever fight, making Charlo miss, slipping punches, landing some good counters. In round 5, Charlo landed a right uppercut, dropping Williams hard. Williams got up, however Charlo went for the finish, and got it with a third knockdown after a barrage of punches ending with a left hook. After the referee stopped the fight, Williams went over to congratulate Charlo. Charlo didn't want to embrace and told Williams,“I don’t want your congratulations, I want your apology.” The crowd noticing the heat between the two corners started to boo Charlo. In the post fight interview, Charlo stated Williams had disrespected him leading up to the fight, he also called out Canelo and Golovkin, stating he would move up to middleweight.

Middleweight

Charlo officially vacated his IBF light middleweight title on February 16, 2017 in order to move up to middleweight. Charlo had wanted to unify the light middleweight division, but there were no titlists available. At the time, twin Jermell, who Jermall had vowed not to fight, held the WBC title. He also stated after the Williams fight that he had been struggling to make weight. Charlo told ESPN, "It was either going to be a big fight for me at 154 pounds, like against Miguel Cotto or Canelo Alvarez, something big like that, or move up," On March 11, WBC ranked Charlo number 2 ahead of David Lemieux and Curtis Stevens, who were ranked number 3 and 4 respectively. The IBF gave Charlo a number 3 ranking. In March 2017, it was reported by ESPN Deportes that an announcement would be made for Charlo to fight WBC number 1 ranked, Argentinian boxer Jorge Sebastian Heiland (28-4-2, 15 KOs) in a final eliminator.

Charlo vs. Heiland

On June 5, 2017 reports circulated around Argentina that WBC mandatory challenger Jorge Sebastian Heiland (28-4-2, 15 KOs) would be ordered to fight Charlo in a final eliminator. Heiland had been the mandatory since 2015. Early talks indicated the fight could take place on the undercard of the Mikey Garcia vs. Adrien Broner undercard. On June 9, the WBC officially ordered the fight between the two, with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger for the winner of Canelo Álvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin, which would take place in September 2017. The fight was officially announced on June 27. Charlo weighed in a career high 159.2 pounds while Heiland came in slightly lighter at 158.2 pounds.

Charlo became the mandatory challenger for the WBC middleweight title, with a stoppage win over an injured Heiland in round 4. At the start of the fight, it was clear that Heiland's left leg was injured. Charlo first dropped Heiland in round 2 with a left to the head. In round 4, Charlo landed another left hook to the head which dropped Heiland again. Heiland beat the count, but as he was getting up, he stumbled around due to the injury. Referee Benji Esteves stopped the fight immediately at 2:13 of the fourth round to ensure Heiland took no more punishment. Charlo spoke to Showtime's Jim Gray in the post fight interview, “Sometimes the injury can be a decoy. You never want to just jump in and think it’s part of his game plan. My coach [Ronnie Shields] told me to stay behind my job like I did, continue to work and it’s gonna come.” The ringside doctor checked Heiland's leg before the fourth round but let the action continue. Heiland stated that his leg was okay before the fight an the injury occurred in the opening round. Charlo earned $350,000 compared to Heiland who had $200,000 purse. The fight drew an average 500,000 viewers and peaked at 542,000 viewers on Showtime.