WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo has agreed to fight David Benavidez, and he predicts a quick knockout within six rounds.
Benavidez has yet to react to Charlo agreeing to fight him, but we should hear something soon unless he doesn’t want to face him.
Charlo (31-0, 22 KOs) says former WBC 168lb champion Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs) gets hit too much, and he won’t be able to handle his power.
This is a fight that Benavidez has been spoiling for in the last few months, calling out former two-division world champion Charlo almost daily.
At this point, Charlo is fed up with Benavidez’s call-outs, and he’s prepared to take him on and knock him out. Benavidez is someone that Canelo Alvarez hasn’t shown interest in fighting, perhaps because of his size, high work rate, and power.
For all intents and purposes, the 6’2″ Benavidez is a light heavyweight who still young enough to drain down in weight to make the 168-lb limit.
When Benavidez rehydrates for his super middleweight fights, he looks every bit as big as the light heavyweights in the division above him.
Benavidez’s huge size might have something to do with why he’s so avoided at 168 and why he’s viewed as the boogeyman in the division.
“Yeah, let’s make that fight happen,” Charlo said to The Last Stand Podcast on the Benavidez fight. “I’m going to knock his punk a** out, I promise that. I give him about four, five, or six rounds, I knock him out, no more.
“He gets hit too much. I’m powerful. I’ll explode on him, trust me. I do my thing, I’ve been doing this all my life. Put me in there. I’m a lion, bro.
“Let’s get it,” said Charlo in vowing to destroy former WBC super middleweight champion Benavidez.
Charlo vs. Benavidez is a fight that will help shape the super middleweight division for years to come.
This contest will put the winner in a position to face Canelo, provided that he wins his next two fights against Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant.
Most would agree that Canelo (55-1-2, 37 KOs) won’t have any choice but to fight the Charlo-Benavidez winner after he unifies the super middleweight division.
Although Canelo’s promoter Eddie Hearn talked this week of him fighting in Japan in 2022 if he’s successful in unifying, he’s going to need to put those plans on hold until after he takes on Charlo or Benavidez.
If Canelo doesn’t fight the winner, they’ll be viewed by fans at the top dog at 168 by default.