The WBC has created a special Puebla belt to be at stake for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo fight this Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The winner of the fight will have the Puebla belt given out to them.
The Canelo-Charlo fight is big enough as it is without an extra special belt created for the occasion by the WBC, but this isn’t all that unexpected from its ever-changing body. They’re fond of the Mexican star Canelo, and it’s not the first time they’ve created a special belt for a mega-fight.
It is unknown at this time if the World Boxing Council will be expecting a little extra sanctioning fee to be collected by the winner for the honor of having the Puebla belt bestowed upon them by WBC.
With the millions that the undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (59-2-2,39 KOs) and Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) are getting for their fight, it probably won’t matter even if the winner is asked to part ways with a little extra for the honor of picking up the Puebla strap.
Boxing fans would prefer that sanctioning bodies like the WBC stop creating new belts, which only waters down the sport, lessening the value of what it means to be a champion.
With the four sanctioning bodies and the interim, regular & super champion belts, it’s wretched for a new belt to be created.
How will Jermell react when he gets tagged?
“I’m very, very worried for Jamel Charlo. I’m rooting for him, I like him personally, I think he’s an outstanding boxer with a high boxing IQ and all of those things,” said Stephen A. Smith on his social platform.
“I do think that he has the potential to outbox Canelo. That has nothing to do with how he’s going to react once he gets caught, and that is what we’re talking about here.”
The chances are high that when Jermell gets nailed by one of Canelo’s shots, he’s going to fall apart and get snowed under by hard finishing punches on Saturday night.
Jermell has never fought in the 168-lb division, and he’s going to be dealing with huge power for the first time. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to end well for Jermell unless he can magically hang with Canelo’s power and turn it up in the later rounds to pull out a decision.
“Canelo Alvarez is one of those dudes who started out at welterweight,” said Smith. “He moved up to junior middleweight to middleweight to super middleweight to light heavyweight.
“He knocked out light heavyweights, and obviously he fought GGG on three occasions. Okay, so I wouldn’t call him the greatest middleweight or whatever, The Marvelous Marvin Hagler and others that were there, the super middleweights.
“I’m mad that Canelo hasn’t fought David Benavidez, ‘The Mexican Monster, as Mike Tyson so eloquently named him. David Benavidez is that dude, but the person that I’m really upset about, and I say this affectionately, not insultingly, is Jermall Charlo, the
brother of Jermell Charlo.
“He’s the natural 168 guy, but because of his personal challenges in his life and what have you, he’s in no condition to fight. He’s undefeated, and he’s the one that was supposed to be in the ring with Alvarez. Jermell Charlo moved up two weight classes.
“He has never been in the ring professionally for a fight with somebody throwing punches at him that weighed more than 155.
“So you’re talking about a guy in Canelo Alvarez that hits heavy, and you can outbox and outbox and outbox him all day, but can you take the shot he’s going to give you?
“There are guys like John Ryder who showed that he could, and GGG, who showed that they could, but they were natural at that weight.
“They’re not moving up two, not one, two weight divisions. It really bothers me, and I’m very worried Charlo has to stay away, box jab stick move, do not stand in front of Canelo Alvarez,” said Smith.
