By: Hans Themistode
Jermell Charlo is only a few days away from attempting a lifelong dream. The unified 154-pound titlist is set to take on WBO belt holder, Brian Castano on July 17th at the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas. If Charlo were to win, he would become the first undisputed world champion at 154 pounds since Winky Wright in 2004.
With the final piece of the 154-pound puzzle so painstakingly close, Charlo is placing all of his attention on the Argentinian native. With that said, he can’t help but notice the news waves former two-division champion Danny Garcia has been making as of late.
After campaigning at 147 pounds for the past six years, Garcia recently revealed that he plans on moving up in weight. Before the Philadelphia native hangs up his gloves, he has one more goal he wants to accomplish, becoming a three-division world champion. Upon hearing the news that Garcia intends on moving up to his weight class, Charlo has decided to be his chauffeur so to speak, and give him a tour of the junior middleweight division.
“If Danny Garcia wanna taste that water, it’s deep over here in this ocean,” said Charlo during a self-recorded video. “Let him come and see what this action about.”
Garcia, 33, had a mixed bag of results at 147. Before he made the trek seven pounds north, Garcia dominated the opposition at 140 pounds. During his run, he scored decisive wins against former champions such as Zab Judah, Amir Khan and Erik Morales. While he ultimately picked up a world title in his second weight division, he fell short in his biggest matches at the weight against Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman and Errol Spence Jr.
Garcia’s losses to both Porter and Thurman were extremely competitive. But in the case of Spence Jr., he was thoroughly outclassed. On that night, in particular, Charlo sat ringside to watch the two square off. Not only was the unified titlist there to witness a good fight but more than anything, he was there in full support of Spence Jr. who is Charlo’s close friend and stablemate.
Still, the Philadelphia slugger has been seen on social media, hard at work as he’s bulked up noticeably in an effort to make his transition to 154 that much easier.
Unfortunately for Garcia though, Charlo believes that it doesn’t matter how much time he spends in the gym. Should the two cross paths in the ring, it’ll be one-way traffic.
“He was a lot slower at 147 fighting Errol Spence. He wanna gain some weight and try to put on some power but it ain’t gonna help. It’s different over here.”