Heavyweight warrior Manuel Charr, a gutsy fighter with some engrossing and inspirational story to go right along with his ring exploits (shot four times, double-hip replacement surgery undertaken), still believes he can win the big one – a fight with Anthony Joshua.
So even if you may have pretty much forgotten all about Charr (and since he has fought just twice over the last three years and five months, you could easily be forgiven for having done so) “Diamond Boy” sure hasn’t stopped believing. Speaking with Sky Sports, 35 year old Charr spoke of his goals. The Syrian slugger with the 31-4(17) record hopes to, finally, make the first defence of his WBA heavyweight belt against Trevor Bryan, he hopes on April 11 in Dubai – and then come to the UK to fight; first Dillian Whyte and then AJ.
“If the WBA don’t accept Trevor Bryan, I want to fight (someone) from the top-15,” Charr said. “I have to have a comeback fight. Then I want to come to the UK and fight Dillian Whyte and knock this guy out, because I want Joshua. I know when I fight in the UK, I can be the next Prince Naseem. All the people will love it, because my heart is big. I’m a fighter, I’m not scared of anyone and I fight everyone in my career. When I beat Dillian Whyte in the UK, I will be the next big challenger to Anthony Joshua.”
Hey, you can’t fault Charr’s ability to think big.
No matter that Whyte is locked in to a soon to be finalised fight with Alexander Povetkin, and no matter that Joshua has probably never given Charr much if any thought at any time, and will next fight Kubrat Pulev in June. Charr wants a piece of the big UK heavyweight pie; the payday that a fight can get a heavyweight if he boxes a big name on these shores.
But can Charr get past Bryan? Bryan, almost as woefully inactive as Charr, last seeing action right back in August of 2018 when he stopped cruiserweight BJ Flores to grab yet another version of the WBA heavyweight title, could possibly defeat Charr. Charr Vs. Bryan is no fight that fans are exactly excited about, but that said, both Bryan, 20-0(14) and Charr are likable guys, each with an interesting backstory and both men should have had a fight far more recently than they have done (Charr being busted for an adverse VADA drugs test some months after his title win over Alexander Ustinov in November of 2017, later being cleared by the WBA).
Maybe, if the fight actually comes off, the winner of Charr-Bryan will move on to something bigger. If not anything quite as big as Charr is talking.