Austin Trout says he views WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (31-0, 22 KOs) as a better and more powerful fighter than Gennadiy Golovkin.
Trout sees Charlo, 31, as the #1 fighter at 160 and capable of beating Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez. The fight that Trout wants to see is Charlo vs. WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade.
That fight has more of a chance of ever happening than Charlo getting a match against Golovkin or Canelo, both of which have never shown a hint of interest in facing Jermall.
Trout: Jermall is better than GGG
“He’s definitely better than GGG,” said Austin Trout to Fighthype on Jermall Charlo, being better than Gennadiy Golovkin.
“I know he says, ‘Get GGG right now; we want to see that fight.’ I think he’s definitely better than GGG. [Demetrius] Andrade, he’s got all the skills in the world; he really does.
“He’s gotten stronger. I don’t know if he’s Charlo strong, but he’s definitely strong too. That’s a good fight. His [Demetrius] style can give anybody problems, especially if he gets more active.
“I don’t think I’ve seen Andrade hurt either, but I think Charlo is strong. I put Charlo on top [of the middleweight division]. Andrade, he’s more skilled than all of them. Strength-wise, I think Charlo is stronger than GGG,” said Trout.
It’s a judgment call on Trout’s part in him saying that the 31-year-old Jermall Charlo is better and stronger than 39-year-old IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin.
Without Charlo having fought anybody good enough for us to know for certain if he’s better than GGG, all we can do is guess.
Jermall did a better job of beating Sergiy Derevyanchenko last September than Golovkin did in beating him in their fight in October 2019.
With that said, you can argue that Derevyanchenko took a beating against Golovkin and was depleted by the time he fought Charlo last year.
Going from the grueling war with Golovkin straight into a match against Charlo eleven months later had to be difficult for Derevyanchenko.
It’s too bad that Golovkin doesn’t choose to fight Charlo because it would be interesting to see the two fighters battle it out in 2021.
It stands to reason that the boxing world would much prefer to see Golovkin fighting Charlo than they would against the twice beaten WBA belt-holder Ryota Murata in December.
That’s who Golovkin is expected to fight next, and it’s a disappointment, given that GGG is already coming of a blowout win over Kamil Szeremeta last October.
Canelo calling his own shots
“I like how he took his career into his own hands and started making his own schedule, making his own fights,” said Trout about Canelo Alvarez.
“In his [Canelo] last fight, I thought Saunders was going to give him fits, and he started to in the middle of the [fight].
“‘Oh, he [Saunders] got that round; Oh, he got that round too,’ and then crack. That one punch, I’ve been watching Canelo practice that one punch for months; it was a well-timed uppercut.
“He was doing the feints that would set it up when I was watching him practice. I don’t care what you feel about him [Canelo].
“I don’t necessarily like him, but you got to respect the work he puts in, how he’s doing it because boxing needs to take note.
“He’s doing it better than Floyd [Mayweather Jr] at a bigger weight, but he’s 100% a free agent.
“Nobody is making his shots; he’s calling his own shots. And he’s smart enough, him and [Eddy] Reynoso, to know exactly what they want, where they want and how they want it and it’s working. He’s saying that he’s going over to PBC to fight their guys now,” said Trout.
Canelo, with the help of his eagle-eyed trainer Eddie Reynoso, is carefully choosing opponents. That’s why we’re seeing Canelo fight guys like Saunders, Rocky Fielding, Sergey Kovalev, Callum Smith, and Billy Joe Saunders.
Those guys all have something in common, and that’s them being badly flawed. If Canelo wanted to give the fan the fights they wanted to see, he’d take on David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, Artur Beterbiev, Dimitry Bivol, and Gennadiy Golovkin.
Caleb Plant can beat Canelo
“Absolutely, and I see [Caleb] Plant possibly even eking it out depending on where it’s at,” Trout said about the Canelo vs. Caleb Plant fight on September 11th.
“He’s [Plant] not going to hurt him, he’s not going to stop him, he’s going to outpoint him.
“Outpointing Canelo is going to be hard. Floyd got a draw on somebodies’ scorecard [against Canelo]. Plant knows he’s not the strongest super middleweight.
“If he can do that [box] for 12 rounds, but I feel like he’s going to need to sting him at least a little bit.
“If not, he’s [Canelo] going to be here the whole time [in close], and he’s a little tank.
“His footwork ain’t great, but he knows how to go forward. I think Caleb can go and do it, and I’m hoping he can go and get that. I hope he’s the underdog so I can put money on him.
“Kovalev in that fight, he never threw anything significant,” said Trout about Canelo’s fight with former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in 2019.
“I’ve never seen Kovalev paw, just pitty-pat; I’ve never seen him do that. He was ‘The Crusher.’ So I don’t know what that was about; that was a little weird.
Caleb Plant, he’s going to have a stiff jab, and hopefully, he’s doing his one-arm pushups,” said Trout.
IBF super middleweight champion Plant will need to use his jab, move and not stay in one place for too long if he wants to beat Canelo.
It would also be helpful if Plant not keeps his hands down and lean forward in front of Canelo the way Billy Joe Saunders did.
Saunders was literally begging for Canelo to tag him with an uppercut, and he finally gave him his wish in the eighth round.
Canelo nailed Saunders with a powerful left uppercut that crushed his right eye socket, which led to him quitting in the corner after the round ended.
