By Dan Ambrose: Demetrius Andrade lashed back at Jermall Charlo on Monday, calling him a “damn fool” and saying his brother Jermell had more courage than him after his comments last Saturday.
WBC middleweight champion Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) told the press after his fight with Juan Macias Montiel that if Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs) wants a fight with him, he needs to beat Montiel (22-5, 22 KOs) first.
If that wasn’t enough of a hurdle, Charlo also said that the sanctioning bodies, commissions, and the networks would also complicate things for a fight between him and WBO 160-lb champion Andrade.
The basic gist of what Charlo was saying to the media is that he wants NOTHING to do with a fight against Andrade.
You can sympathize with the 31-year-old Charlo after watching him struggle to beat the little-known Montiel, who had him hurt many times in the last five rounds of their main event fight on Showtime Boxing at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
“@FutureOfBoxing [Jermall Charlo] making himself look like a damn fool! He says, “I’m not a matchmaker,“ @Benavidez300 [David Benavidez] needs to be vaccinated,” “Andrade has got to beat Montiel first.” lmao @ his excuses.
“At least @TwinCharlo [Jermell Charlo] has got some balls and is trying to be undisputed [at 154]. JERMALL, let’s unify in Sept. #YouScared,” said Demetrius Andrade on Twitter.
At the post-fight press conference, Jermall went on a long rant on why he shouldn’t have to fight Demetrius Andrade, calling him a “horrible” fighter and telling him to beat Montiel first.
Charlo sounded unhinged by the time that he stopped his rant. He looked agitated at a simple question that could have been answered with just a few words.
If there was any doubt that Jermall is ducking the fight with Demetrius Andrade before last Saturday night, it’s been dispelled after his post-fight comments. Charlo’s comment about Andrade needing to fight Montiel first was basically a confession that he doesn’t want that smoke.
It wouldn’t be so bad if Charlo weren’t exclusively fighting fodder opposition, but the fact is, that’s all he’s been fighting.
Jermall’s last five opponents:
- Juan Macias Montiel
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
- Dennis Hogan
- Brandon Adams
- Jorge Sebastian Heiland
If Charlo were facing the best guys, he would be given a free pass for choosing not to fight Andrade. We haven’t seen Charlo face a credible opponent since his match against Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams in 2016.
You can’t give Charlo credit for fighting Sergiy Derevyanchenko because that guy was coming off a grueling 12 round decision defeat against Gennadiy Golovkin.
If Charlo wants to beat guys like Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez, Andrade, and David Benavidez, he’s got to work on his defense.
As we saw last Saturday night in his fight with Montiel, Charlo gets hit way too much, and his chin, stamina, and ability to take body shots aren’t good enough for him to fight the way he does.
