He has 3 belts in 154. Who are mandatories for these belts?
Re: Who are Jermell CHarlo mandatories?
Posted: 29 Mar 2021, 06:55
by Enlightened-One
No idea, but he'll likely face Brian Castano next, because title unifications usually trump mandatory defences.
Both guys want it and both are with Al Haymon.
So there's no reason to believe this bout won't happen next.
If the Castano fight fails to materialise, my guess is that Charlo will face the IBF's highest ranked challenger, Murtazaliev, because the American twin has already beaten the WBC's top-rated guy, Erickson Lubin.
The WBA's situation at 154lbs is a complete mess, because their regular champion, Erislandy Lara, is making the jump to 160lbs. So who knows what's going on Gilberto Mendoza's organisation?
Re: Who are Jermell CHarlo mandatories?
Posted: 29 Mar 2021, 07:29
by Enlightened-One
Just a thought, but if Terence Crawford is desperate for a big fight, he could make the jump to 154lbs and be automatically instated as the mandatory challenger for Castano’s WBO title (without even needing to compete at 154lbs).
He would then be in line to face the winner of the Charlo-Castano title unification bout, as long as he’ willing to abide by the WBO’s rules and only accept a 25% purse split.
It would provide Crawford with an opportunity to unify four titles in a second weight class.
Bob Arum once told the media he was considering pitting Patrick Teixeira against Terence Crawford at 154lbs, so it's not as if the idea I'm proposing is absurd (due to physical limitations).
Anybody thinks that Terence Crawford is too small to compete against someone like Jermell Charlo, needs to remember Bud weighed 177lbs shortly after one of his bouts at 140lbs (he Tweeted a photo of his weighing scales).
And you can use your own eyes to evaluate Crawford's size in comparison to Danny Garcia and Demetrius Andrade - this was from last month and he's much stockier than those guys:
Just a thought, it probably won't happen, but I think it's something to consider.