Paulie Malignaggi says he doesn’t think Jermell Charlo will be the same fighter when he returns to 154 following his dreadful performance against Canelo Alvarez last weekend.
Malignaggi predicts that the lack of hunger and the absence of a will to win against Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) will follow Jermell (35-2-1,19 KOs) back down to 154, where there are a lot of hungry fighters like Tim Tszyu & Terence Crawford.
Jermell would be ecstatic if he could get the Crawford fight because it would give him a second huge payday, and he’s already made it clear that he’s returning to 154 for that fight.
He says he’s not interested in fighting Tszyu or Brian Mendoza. It’s very likely that if Jermell does get the fight with Crawford, he’ll retire afterward because will have exhausted the massive money fights in that weight class.
Assuming Jermell loses to Crawford, it would be the end of the line for his chances for big paydays, and that’s why he said he has no desire to face Tszyu or Mendoza because he’s just looking for the cash out against Crawford and then retirement.
It’s too bad Tszyu or Mendoza couldn’t get Jermell before Canelo because if they had fought him, he’d likely have lost, and then fans wouldn’t have wasted $84.99 last Saturday night on the Canelo-Jermell card.
“I don’t think Jermelll’s going to cry tomorrow. I think he showed up for the check,” said Paulie Malignaggi on his YouTube channel, talking about Jermell Charlo getting a huge payday in his loss to Canelo Alvarez.
“He got the biggest check of his career, and after the fight, instead of sounding at least a little bit disappointed, he was calling out Terence Crawford. So you’re just looking for another check.
“I’ll tell you what. That also told me something else too. The lack of hunger displayed by Jermell also tells me that I don’t think he’s going to be the same, even at 154 pounds. Listen, there are some hungry guys at 154, like Tim Tszyu.
“Crawford, even at his advanced age, is still looking like a hungry fighter. There are those kinds of fighters where no matter what kind of money they make, they’re hungry for that greatness. It’s very rare.
“When you make a certain amount of money, you do get a little bit less hungry. Jermell made a lot of money tonight, and I don’t think he cared that he lost. He never seemed disappointed.
“He never seemed to try. Whenever he landed even a decent shot, he wouldn’t even follow up. Usually, you land a decent shot; you land a pretty good shot, you follow it up, you try to throw a follow-up combination, you try to throw a follow-up power shot anytime time even landed a decent shot, he used that chance to keep moving afterward.
“He never really committed to an attack. In the All Access, we saw that he was talking about the Caleb Plant fight and said, ‘Canelo coming in like that, he’s not going to do that against me.’ Not only did he do that against Jermell, he did it better.
“It’s just that Jermell’s not as crafty as Caleb, but Jermell not trying to win the fight allowed him to go the distance. I was just really disappointed,” said Malignaggi.
