Mauricio Sulaiman revealed that Jermall Charlo’s long inactivity of almost two years was caused by a “serious, important mental health episode”.
Jermall Charlo fought for the last time on June 19, 2021, when he defeated Juan Macias Montiel by unanimous decision, and Jermall is almost 23 months of inactivity now.
Sulaiman explained the process of the WBC has handled the 160 belt situation because of this.
“Basically, in 2021, Charlo was ready for a big fight with Jaime Munguia (thats was not done)”, Sulaiman told IZQUIERDAZO and other reporters. “Then Munguia didn’t want to fight with (Carlos) Adames in a final elimination fight, and Charlo accepted a fight with (Maciej) Sulecki, and Adames was ordered to fight (for the interim title) so the title can have activity. Munguia leaves negotiations, and Charlo gets injured”.
While recovering from his injury, Jermall Charlo suffered a mental health issue.
“When Charlo was recovering from his injury, he suffered a mental health episode, a serious, important one”, Sulaiman explained. “If people want to be yelling and kicking because we didn’t strip him from his title for not fighting, that is the reason. We will be supporting him unconditionally. That is why there is an interim title, so there can be activity in the division. But we will always support our champion, and the good ones, and even more in the bad ones”.
When asked about the WBC’s plans for Jermall Charlo’s return, Sulaiman reiterates his total support.
“We want him to fight, to defend his title”, Sulaiman said. “We want him to come back, or a 10 round fight. We will support him. And then we hope that a fight can be made with Adames (WBC interim champion) to unify the title. Or a fight with Munguia would be amazing. We would approve it, without a doubt”.
In recent days, Jermall Charlo said that he had a call with Demetrius Andrade, and they want to fight. Jermall even said that he wants to fight Andrade, and go straight without a tune up fight.
Sulaiman would approve of that fight.
“Yes”, Sulaiman replied. “Without a doubt, Andrade has demonstrated that he is a great fighter”.
Sulaiman responded to recent and reiterated criticism from Oscar de la Hoya for not stripping Charlo from the title. De la Hoya suggested that the fight between Jaime Munguia and Sergiy Derevyanchenko should have the 160 pounds WBC in play.
“Jaime is a great fighter”, Sulaiman said. “I like him a lot, I respect him. His fight with Charlo was ready. Unfortunately there were problems between broadcasting platforms that sometimes stop negotiations. Munguia has been fighting above the 160 pounds limit, and we have been criticized for keeping him as number one in the rankings, but if they (Charlo and Munguia) want the fight, I will keep doing everything that is possible for it to happen”.