Jermell Charlo

Jermell DeAvante Charlo, also known as the “Iron Man,” was born on May 19, 1990, in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA. Jermell and his identical twin brother, Jermall Charlo, who is also a professional boxer and an undefeated world champion, were introduced to boxing by their father, a former boxer. They began training at a young age and quickly developed a passion for the sport.

Jermell's professional boxing career began at the age of 17 on December 8, 2007, and he quickly made a name for himself in the boxing world. Some of his key career highlights include winning the WBC light middleweight title in 2016 and holding it until 2018. He regained the title in 2019 and has held it since then. He also held the WBA (Super), IBF, and Ring magazine titles since 2020, and the WBO title since 2022. Also he was ranked as the world’s tenth best active boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring and the TBRB, and world’s best active light middleweight by the TBRB, BoxRec, The Ring, and ESPN.

One of his most memorable defenses was in September 2020, when he knocked out Jeison Rosario in the eighth round to unify the super-welterweight division. Despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic, Charlo returned to the ring in 2021 to face Brian Castaño for the undisputed light middleweight championship. The fight ended in a split draw, but Charlo and Castaño had a rematch in May 2022. Charlo scored two knockdowns in the tenth round, forcing the referee to stop the fight, and he unified the WBO belt with his WBA, WBC, and IBF light middleweight belts, becoming the 7th male 4 belt undisputed champion in history.

Despite being the smaller of the two Charlo brothers, Jermell made history by having the first-ever undisputed versus undisputed championship title fight against Saul Canelo Álvarez. This historical event resulted in Charlo losing to Alvarez in a dominant fashion by unanimous decision. However, it showcased Charlo's grit, determination, and willingness not to give up, standing as a testament to his exceptional qualities. Despite moving up 14 pounds, Charlo demonstrated why he is considered one of the best in the world, showing unmatched determination in the ring. Despite being the smaller of the two Charlo brothers, Jermell made history by engaging in the first-ever undisputed versus undisputed championship title fight against Saul Canelo Álvarez. While the historical event ended in Charlo’s loss, his grit, determination, and unwillingness to give up showcased his exceptional qualities.

Jermell Charlo applies one of the most oppressive jabbing games in the sport to dominate his opponents. While he isn’t using his jab to oppress his opponents with nonstop pressure, he is using it to keep them from pressuring him. Charlo’s understanding of distance and angles of attack allows him to almost always keep his opponents at a safe distance. Any time his opponents step into his distance, he will stop them with a stiff jab. Anytime they step over to create an angle of attack, he will step with them to shut down the angle and stop them with a stiff jab. However, Charlo is a complete fighter and has the skills needed to fight on the inside should he need to. He is well versed in controlling his opponents physically with forearm frames to prevent punches coming at him while getting off his own punches. Going back to his understanding of angles, he understands even on the inside it is important to seek out the advantage by stepping around his opponent to angles where he can land punches and his opponent cannot. Combining his inside control with angular movement and you have a potent inside fighter.