Jermall Charlo: I never ducked Canelo, never will

Jermall Charlo says he never got a contract to face Canelo, and that he’d never avoid fighting him.

In the Instagram live video up top (I think it’s IG live anyway), Jermall Charlo can be seen, just, like, casually hanging out, and the important thing in there is Charlo denying that he ever avoided fighting Canelo Alvarez, saying that he never received a contract from Canelo or the Mexican star’s former promoters at Golden Boy.

Charlo was elevated to full WBC middleweight titleholder back when the sanctioning body created the “franchise” designation so that stars like Canelo wouldn’t have to face mandatory challengers or do anything they don’t want to do because they’re too precious, but also the WBC would still like to be associated with them. But he says he’s “scared of nobody,” and laid out a pretty decent reason why he would never avoid a fight with Canelo if offered.

“I ain’t never ducked Canelo. I would never do no shit like that,” he said. “Why would I do some shit like that? That’s gonna put my whole family up! Like, that would change my mama’s life! Why would I duck Canelo? Y’all stupid as fuck!”

Charlo (31-0, 22 KO) most recently fought on Sept. 26, scoring a career-best win over Sergiey Derevyanchenko, one that silenced the vast majority of the remaining doubters. The 30-year-old Houston fighter heads into 2021 still holding the WBC 160-pound belt, and now sitting as one of the very top fighters in the division without question, ending the year at No. 2 in our middleweight rankings.