Jesus Ramos is leaning in the direction of Canelo Alvarez defeating Jermell Charlo in their highly anticipated fight on Showtime PPV.
The unbeaten junior middleweight contender Ramos feels that undisputed 168-lb champion Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) has the edge over Jermell because he’s got the experience from his many fights against high-level opposition, and he’s been competing at 168 since 2018.
Canelo vs. Charlo will fight on September 30th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event begins at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Jermell is making his first fight at 168, and he’s been out of the ring for 16 months. That’s a long time, and his recent opponent, Brian Castano, isn’t on the same level as Canelo talent-wise.
Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) could be returning to 154 if he loses to Canelo, as he has three titles that he may want to defend against Terence Crawford or face the Tim Tszyu vs. Brian Mendoza fight to try and win back his WBO 154-lb belt.
As Ramos points out, Jermell will need to lose a lot of muscle to return to 154 after he fights Canelo, and that won’t be easy to trim down without losing strength.
Jermell will fit in 168-lb division
“We’ll see what happens with Charlo after he fights Canelo,” said Jesus Ramos to Fighthype. “He says they’re not, but we’ll see,” said Ramos when asked if he thinks Jermell can return to 154 after he faces Canelo Alvarez on September 30th.
“I think it’s tough. Imagine making 168 and gaining all that muscle and then bringing it back down to 154. I think it’s going to be hard, but we’ll see what he does,” said Ramos.
It would be asking for trouble for Jermell to return to 154, but if he loses badly to Canelo, he may feel that he’s just not big enough or unable to handle the heavier shots in that weight class for him to stay.
Canelo isn’t the only one with big power at 168. There are a lot more big punchers in the division, and many of them would pose a lot of problems for Jermell.
“I don’t think he is a big underdog because people care counting him out just because of the weight,” Ramos said when asked if Jermell should be a big underdog against Canelo.
“He hasn’t fought in a long time, and he hasn’t had to make that weight in a long time. So he’s growing, he’s grown a lot, and he looks big. He looks like he’s strong, and he’s going to fit in the 168-lb division.
“I feel like Canelo has been here, he’s been on the stage and has seen it all different styles, and I think his experience is going to help edge out this fight,” said Ramos.
Canelo wins by decision
“Yeah, [Canelo will win by decision]. If Charlo is affected by the weight, then we might see him get him out of there, but we haven’t seen Canelo get someone out of there in a couple of years other than Caleb Plant, but we saw how he was holding his own against Canelo as well,” said Ramos.
Canelo hasn’t scored a knockout since his win over Caleb Plant in 2021, and it’s unlikely he’ll be able to stop Charlo, who can take a good punch.
“Yeah, a little bit, but I feel Canelo is at a point in his career where he can do whatever he wants; he can fight whoever he wants,” said Ramos when asked if he thinks Canelo is avoiding David Benavidez.
“That’s what he’s doing. He’s doing whatever he wants. He’s earned that. He’s fought the best. We just got to let him do him. He’s earned the right to do what he’s doing. Even now, I don’t feel Charlo is an easy opponent. So credit to him.
“I think it’s [Canelo vs. Benavidez] is 50-50. I’d give the edge to Canelo based on experience as well, but I think Benavidez throws a lot of punches. He’s big.
“Hopefully, he learned from the Plant fight for the things he did good and did wrong and can come back and be better against a good fighter like Canelo,” said Ramos.
