Charlo twins, Jermall and Jermell top the bill in world title contests at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut on Saturday night live on FITE TV PPV in the UK and Showtime PPV in the USA, in arguably the best card following boxing’s return.
Jermall Charlo defends his WBC Middleweight title for the third time against Ukrainian hard man Sergiy Derevyanchenko, in what could be a gruelling affair.
Charlo (30-0, 22 KOs) is now reigning in a second weight class, having previously been the IBF king at Super Welterweight, a belt he won from Cornelius Bundrage in three rounds in September 2015.
Jermall defended three times before moving up in weight and became full WBC champion after a spell as interim belt holder, following the WBC’s decision to make Canelo Alvarez Franchise Champion.
‘Hitman’ was last seen in December 2019, where he halted the brave but outgunned Dennis Hogan in seven in New York.
Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KOs) represents arguably Charlo’s toughest test to date this weekend and the adopted New Yorker has only lost in elite company.
Daniel Jacobs handed the 34-year-old his first defeat via split decision October 2018, aided by an opening round knockdown, but he bounced back with a points win over Jack Culcay six months later.
That win led to a meeting with Gennady Golovkin and Derevyanchenko gave ‘GGG’ all he could handle in a points defeat, with the Ukrainian again floored in the first round. All the signs point to a nip and tuck fight in Connecticut.
Prediction: This one is a tough fight to call and will hinge on how Charlo deals with Derevyanchenko’s pressure and how Sergiy copes with Charlo’s awkward style. I think this could be a really close affair, but I lean towards the fresher champion to take a tight win on the scorecards.
WBC Super Welterweight champion Jermell Charlo has an arguably bigger assignment on his hands, as he takes part in a unification clash against the dangerous WBA ‘Super’ and IBF titlist, Jeison Rosario.
Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs) built a solid 31 fight winning streak against the likes of Gabe Rosado, Vanes Matirosyan (both unanimous decision) and Joachim Alcine (TKO6) and won the vacant WBC belt in May 2016 with a stunning eighth round knockout of John Jackson.
‘Iron Man’ defended three times, before running into Tony Harrison in December 2018, who took Charlo’s belt with a decision win.
It would take a year to get the rematch and in Charlo’s last fight, he dominated Harrison, dropping him three times on the way to an eleventh round stoppage win.
The 30-year-old now moves on to attempt to win two further belts this weekend, with Miami-based Dominican danger man Jeison Rosario standing in his way.
Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs) came from obscurity to relieve Julian Williams of the WBA ‘Super’ IBF and IBO crowns back in January with a stunning fifth round stoppage win and looks to prove that was no fluke by adding Charlo’s WBC trinket to his collection, with WBO holder Patrick Teixeira in possession of the remaining strap.
Both Charlo and ‘Banana’ hold a recent common opponent in Jorge Cota, with Rosario taking a split decision win over ten in April 2019, whilst Charlo knocked Cota out in three rounds, two months later.
Prediction: Jermell Charlo can come out of this one with a late stoppage win.
John Riel Casimero hopes to be on a collision course for a rescheduled shot with Japanese superstar, Naoya Inoue, but first he must defend his WBO Bantamweight title, and take care of business, against the undefeated Ghanaian, Duke Micah.
The Filipino was set for a unification with the unified WBA ‘Super’ and IBF titlist in April in Las Vegas, however the bout was cancelled following the COVID-19 pandemic.
After serving as IBF Light Flyweight champion, and twice being an IBF Flyweight king, it looked as though Casimero’s career was all but over, following a shock September 2017 points defeat to Jonas Sultan in his native Philippines.
Four straight wins though gave him a shot at the feared WBO boss at Bantamweight in the shape of South African, Zolani Tete, and Casimero (29-4, 20 KOs) seized his chance to become a three-weight world champion with a shock third round stoppage win in Birmingham in November 2019.
Micah (24-0, 19 KOs) is largely unknown, last boxing in December 2019, where he was dropped in round three on the way to an eight round points win against Janiel Rivera in Brooklyn.
Prediction: The pick here is for the Casimero to retain his title on the scorecards.
The vacant WBC Super Bantamweight title is on the line, as Mexico’s dangerous Luis Nery aims to become a two-weight world champion by defeating his countryman Aaron Alameda.
The 🌎 will be watching as one of boxing’s top punchers in @luisnerynp battles Alameda for a world title Saturday 7PM ET on SHO PPV: https://t.co/rMhNHRjg4y. #NeryAlameda #CharloDoubleheader pic.twitter.com/V4N9DyIuXs
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) September 23, 2020
Nery (30-0, 24 KOs) is coming off an impressive ninth round knockout of Juan Carlos Payano, while Alameda (25-0, 13 KOs) fights outside of Mexico for the first time in nearly five years, challenging for a world title for the first time.
He was last seen way back in April 2019, knocking out Jordan Escobar in three rounds.
Prediction: Nery should have too much here, and should be able to win inside schedule.
The final world title attraction comes at Super Bantamweight, where Brandon Figueroa defends his WBA (Regular) title against Damien Vazquez.
Texas’ Figueroa (20-0-1, 15 KOs) is coming off a draw with Julio Ceja, while Vazquez (15-1-1, 8 KOs) is 1-1-1 in his last three fights.
The aforementioned Payano (21-3, 9 KOs) takes part in a twelve round crossroads fight at Super Bantamweight on the card against former world champion Daniel Roman (27-3-1, 10 KOs), who was relieved of his WBA ‘Super’ and IBF crowns in a split decision loss to Murodjon Akhmadaliev back in January.
The final offering on a monster card comes at Super Welterweight, where Bakhram Murtazaliev (17-0, 13 KOs) meets Manny Woods (16-9-1, 6 KOs) over ten rounds.
