Two Cards, One Night – The Charlo Twins Take On the Toughest Assignments in Their Careers

By Tré Berry III | 09/21/2020

Do you want a real legitimate Super-Welterweight Champion of the World? Well come Saturday night, we most likely will get one, as 🇺🇸Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo (33-1-0, 17KO👊) will fight a Unification bout with 🇩🇴Jeison “Banana” Rosario (20-1-1, 14KO👊) as part of a Pay-Pew-View doubleheader that will feature both headliners on separate cards. As for this fight, the winner will walk away with 4 Title belts, As Charlo puts up his WBC strap, and Rosario puts up his IBF, WBA straps, and while both will gun for the vacant RING World Title to claim as King of the division.

WELCOME TO THE LIMELIGHT – Jeison Rosario shocked and confused the boxing world as he came in as a relatively unknown young contender that was thrown into the pit for then unified WBA/IBF titlist 🇺🇸Julian “J Rock” Williams to showcase for a hometown bout in Philadelphia. The homecoming turned into a nightmare for J Rock as Rosario wasn’t playing around. Rosario showed to be heavy-fisted in both hands as a come forward boxer, who was dead-set on refusing for his opportunity to slip through his fingers.

His major break came in the 5th round, landing a left hook and a right hand that reduced Williams to spaghetti legs. He never recovered, while Rosario never let up, beating up the Philly fighter by the turnbuckle, forcing the 🕴️Referee Benjy Esteves Jr. to step in and stop the fight, while Rosario was overcome with emotions that his dream was coming true. His reward was 2 title belts, and now a shot at who many consider to be the #1 Super-Welterweight fighter in the world.

PAYBACK’S A MOTHER… – With agitation being his normal disposition (Some regard him as the angry twin), Jermell Charlo was especially exasperated as he felt he was short changed big time in a unanimous decision that went against him in 2018 to 🇺🇸Tony “Super Bad” Harrison, losing his title on the cards.

Citing that he had a terrible Christmas due to his fight 3 days prior, Jermell Charlo would develop an extra chip on his shoulder, and took his frustrations out on 🇲🇽Jorge “Demonio” Cota to get to a delayed re-match with Harrison, delays happening due to a foot injury suffered by Harrison.

Understanding that this fight was make or break for his career in terms of the stardom aspect, Charlo came in with the mindset of “take the judges out of the equation at all costs“. Charlo was far more aggressive this time around. Putting Harrison down a couple times, he was finally able to knock out Harrison in the 11th round, to reunite with his green WBC world title strap, and with a new sense of vindication.

It was only right for someone of Jermell Charlo’s position to follow that up with an even bigger fight to go after the big hardware against Rosario, and we should be in for a treat.

TWO ELITE MIDDLEWEIGHTS TO MEET

While the first fight is the biggest in terms of implications, this second fight will take the mantle in terms of acclaim, as two of the best 160 pounders will take centerstage at their own venue. Talented and unbeaten, WBC Middleweight World Titlist 🇺🇸Jermall “Hitman” Charlo (30-0-0, 22KO👊) will put his strap, and his reputation on the line, as he will fight supremely skilled, dangerous elite contender 🇺🇦Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-2-0, 10KO👊), who has been in with the best of them, walking in lockstep with the elite, despite a little bad luck in terms of official verdicts.

These two are unquestionably 2 of the top 5 Middleweights in the world, yet their journeys couldn’t be any more different. They are also two of the most polarizing personalities of the sport, yet they share a good deal of respect for each other, with the ring to be their official connector on Saturday.

WILLING TO FIGHT THEM ALL – Many were wondering over the years whether all the top Middleweights in the world would cross paths, as politics had a stranglehold on the division. As some of these contests manifested, there’s still many fights waiting to be made. Who knew that it would be Derevyanchenko that would make noise, and be the 🌉bridge between the elite Middleweights, fighting most of them, and proving to be one himself.

As a decorated Olympian, he patiently waited for his shot, and his first taste at the top was against 🇺🇸Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs. Fighting the Brooklyn based fighter close on the cards, he was not given the victory, however he gained an inordinate amount of respect, proving his worth and meeting pundit’s expectations in terms of performance.

His second shot at a title would come against Middleweight legend 🥈🇰🇿Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin, for the vacant IBF strap. Golovkin coming into the contest was revered by many to still be the King of the division, despite the judges awarding 🇲🇽Canelo Alvarez all the hardware in their second meeting. Against Golovkin, Sergiy put on a career performance, pushing the Kazakh fighter to his brink, going the full 12 in a fight that could’ve went either way on the cards.

Once again, Sergiy Derevyanchenko was left to feel like he was short-changed, losing the razor-thin unanimous decision in a fight that many felt the Ukrainian should’ve walked away from with the IBF title draped over his shoulder. He now has a third opportunity at a chip, and now with some footing in the division, hopefully for his sake, his fortunes will change.

A LOT OF PROVE – Despite his immense talent, it seems to be commonplace these days for people to criticize the Charlo’s, most notably 🇺🇸Jermall Charlo, some of the criticisms valid, others? no so much. Some people are off-put about the WBC situation, splitting in the division between the “Regular”, and “Franchise” Champions, with the feeling that Charlo was gifted an easy path to a belt, but that wasn’t his fault, he can only do what he has to do to put him in position, which he did.

Some people were off-put that a Jermall Charlo/Daniel Jacobs fight never materialized given the war of words behind that, with the majority of people feeling that is was Charlo’s fault that the fight not being made. Others point to Jermall’s lack of opposition, which is a rough criticism, considering that he has defeated someone like 🇺🇸Julian Williams.

He has also beaten skilled former amateur standout 🇷🇺🇺🇸Matt Korobov, 🇺🇸Austin “No Doubt” Trout, and 🇮🇪Dennis Hogan, who people believe outpointed 🇲🇽Jaime Munguia, despite the official scoring. Whether or not his resume deserves criticism, Jermall has exactly what he wants in front of him, elite competition, so that pending a victory, he can put all that noise to rest from the detractors.

Both fights will be at the 🎰Mohegan Sun Resort & Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, as part of 2 separate cards they will headline, and can be seen on 💲Showtime PPV.