Chasing Canelo: How Jermell Charlo prepared for boxing’s biggest star

Jermell Charlo believes it. Knows it. Saw it.

Canelo Alvarez … can be hurt.

Charlo too was a 19-year-old prospect when boxing’s best chin was buzzed by Jose Cotto’s short left hook, forcibly wobbling Alvarez back into the ropes and flashing in him the susceptibility his other opponents have failed to find.

“I watched that live. … I’ve been watching Canelo since he came out of the gate … He was the guy,” the 33-year-old acknowledged. “It means a lot to be able to get this opportunity at this moment in my life. Being able to capitalize on it means even more.”

Charlo has finally tracked down Alvarez, whom he’ll fight Saturday at T-Mobile Arena for the undisputed super middleweight championship, bringing a resolution to the inevitable showdown that the proud Houstonian first envisioned more than a dozen years ago.

The duo was aligned at one point with Golden Boy Promotions, campaigning together for a period in the junior middleweight division Charlo (35-1-1, 19 knockouts) since has conquered as its undisputed champion.

Their meeting inside the squared circle — produced by Premier Boxing Champions — marks the first between active undisputed champions in boxing’s four-belt era.

The public pressure that comes with facing Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) dwarfs the 14-pound leap required to fight him, but Charlo has smiled through it, abandoning the braggadocio that underscored his emergence as one of boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighters.

“I’m more than ready for a fight. I turn it up. Turn it off when I leave, too,” Charlo added. “When I get in the ring, it’s about protecting yourself and being vicious at every moment and every step of the 12 rounds.”

A latent lion

More conspicuously absent this week than Charlo’s usual bravado is the presence of his identical twin brother, Jermall, who was reportedly first in the running for a fight with Alvarez before ceding the opportunity amidst a myriad of undisclosed personal dealings.

Separated by a couple minutes, pounds and the placement of their tattoos, they once shared a similarly rambunctious public profile, journeying together through the perils of professional boxing to capture world championship glory and its spoils.

Only Jermell, nicknamed “Iron Man,” is basking this week in the Las Vegas lights, some of which bear his name and photo opposite Alvarez’s on flashing marquees across Las Vegas Boulevard.

Unsure if Jermall is attending the fight, Charlo stoically told a flock of reporters inside the fight’s jam-packed media center at MGM Grand that “at this current moment, we don’t see eye to eye … Right now, I’m just not in a moment or a mood to want to deal with that havoc that he brings and all of that kind of stuff.”

“But I’m a dog, and I’m an animal for my brother too.”

A lion, if you will.

Charlo’s promotional outfit is called Lions Only Promotions and he embodies some of the animal’s classical literary characteristics: pride, courage and an obvious ferocity amidst the gathering of his four 154-pound titles. He unified the division via knockout victories over former titlists Tony Harrison, Jeison Rosario and Bryan Castano, whom he kayoed in the 10th round a year ago in May to complete his unification.

Tattoos on his neck — Muhammad Ali on the right side and Bruce Lee on the left side — both frame his face and accentuate his fighting spirit. Fluid footwork, a stinging jab and unpredictable surges of power embolden it.

Charlo was slated in January to defend his crown against WBO mandatory challenger Tim Tszyu at Michelob Ultra Arena. But a broken left hand in training camp triggered the bout’s cancellation and rekindled his longtime interest in a far more lucrative one with Alvarez, who joined him in June with PBC.

“He knows how to box. He’s strong. He has nothing to lose,” Alvarez said Tuesday of Charlo during the ceremonial grand arrivals. “He comes in my weight division to come for everything. He’s a great fighter, but I’ve been in this position for a long time. I’m ready.”

Finally, his shot

So too is Charlo. Or so he says anyway, a debutante in the 168-pound division. A debutante also in the megafight atmosphere that Alvarez first experienced in 2013, when Floyd Mayweather summoned him into the spotlight he’s since parlayed into a decade of superstardom.

But the hand, Charlo says, is healed: “I don’t want to make an excuse for myself. I want in to get in there and be a dog.” The gain in weight, he says, was not an issue.

He’s relied not on a nutritionist or personal chef in preparation — “I’m from the South. We cook our own food,” he quipped, scrunching his face to embellish the point — instead enjoying throughout training camp the cooking of his longtime girlfriend, Chy Westbrook.

Togther, they share 2-year-old Jermell Jr., comprising his muse along his with 14-year-old son, Elijah, and her 11-year-old daughter, Colbie, for whom he’s securing generational wealth.

A victoy over Alvarez would solidify his superstar, securing for Charlo a legacy as one of his generation’s best.

“I’ve got to be the underdog and maybe sometimes in my life, that’s what it takes. To be the underdog to become the warrior,” Charlo said. “I’ve come to fight. These are the skills I’ve brought to the boxing world and what I’ve been doing all of these years. (May) the best man win.

“I’m a warrior. Let’s go fight.”

Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.