Jermell DeAvante Charlo (; born May 19, 1990) is an American professional boxer. He held the undisputed championship at light middleweight from 2022 to 2023 and The Ring light middleweight title from 2020 to 2024.
His identical twin brother, Jermall Charlo, is also a professional boxer and a world champion.
Early life Jermell is younger than his identical twin Jermall by one minute.McCarson, Kelsey (November 26, 2015). "Jermall Charlo's Star Destined to Rise Due to Unmatched Work Ethic". Bleacher Report. Retrieved February 10, 2018. Both brothers are graduates of Alief Hastings High School in Houston, Texas.
Amateur career They began boxing when they started following their father, a former boxer, into the gym. Jermell graduated to the elite level on the amateur boxing scene after two years, winning a bronze medal at the 2005 Junior Olympics at age fifteen. He ended his amateur career with a record of 56 wins and 8 losses.
Professional career Early career He began his professional career at the age of 17 on December 8, 2007, with a four-round decision win over Corey Sommerville. On April 19, 2008, he stopped Jesus Villareal in three rounds and after scoring an impressive first-round TKO over Dwayne Jones in June, Charlo added the names Rodrigo Villareal (TKO4) and Deon Nash (W6) to his victims list before the year was out. In 2009, he scored a shutout four-round decision over Juan Serrano on February 28, got a decision win over Carlos Garcia over six rounds on April 4, TKO'd Federico Flores Jr. in the eighth round on June 26, defeated Vardan Gasparyan in six, and then finished up the year with a second-round knockout of unbeaten prospect Abdon Lozano.
Charlo scored a sensational one-punch knockout of Chicago's Chris Chatman in the third round. Chatman's only previous loss was a six-round decision to 2008 U.S. Olympian Demetrius Andrade in 2009, but he was no match for Charlo, who controlled his awkward opponent for most of the fight. In the third round, he landed a flush straight right hand to Chatman's chin and knocked him out at 1 minute, 22 seconds. With this win, at the age of 22, Charlo had a record of 17 wins, with no losses with 8 wins inside the distance.
On June 8, 2013, Charlo fought former light welterweight contender Demetrius Hopkins (33-2-1, 13 KOs). In a close back and forth affair were Charlo controlled the action in the early rounds with his aggression and power shots, he defeated Hopkins by unanimous decision. All three judges scored it 115-113. The crowd seemed to be displeased with the performances.
Charlo next fought in October against 34 year old Jose Angel Rodriguez (17-2-1, 2 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round fight at the BB&t Center in Sunrise, Florida. Charlo won the fight in the last round via TKO.
Rise up the ranks Charlo vs. Rosado In November 2013, it was reported that Charlo would step up and fight Philadelphia veteran boxer and former world title challenger Gabriel Rosado (21-7, 13 KOs) on January 25, 2014, at D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C., on Showtime. Prior to the fight, Rosado was 0-2-1 in his last three fights. He was also moving back down to light middleweight after having little success at middleweight and claimed he would be Charlo's toughest fight. Charlo passed the biggest test of his career and looked good doing so as he easily out boxed Rosado to win a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision. The judges scored the fight 100-90, 99-91 and 97-93 all in Charlo's favor. Charlo landed 50% of his punches thrown compared to Rosado's 18%. The fight averaged 472,000 viewers on Showtime.
On May 24, 2014, Charlo defeated Charlie Ota at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Charlo was dropped in round 3 but he still won a unanimous decision after twelve rounds, with the scorecards reading 118-109 twice and 115-111.
Charlo vs. Andrade negotiations Charlo was scheduled to fight Demetrius Andrade (21-0, 14 KOs) at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino on December 13, 2014, for WBO light middleweight title but on November 16 was cancelled due to purse issues. Andrade was reportedly offered $250,000, but later increased to what would be a career high $300,000 purse.
Following the cancellation of the Andrade fight, Charlo fought in December 2014 against Mario Alberto Lozano on the undercard of Amir Khan vs. Devon Alexander at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. Charlo won a clear 100-90 on all three scorecards of the 10 round fight.
In January 2015, Banner Promotions who promote Andrade stated the fight was back on and likely to take place in the Spring of 2015. The following month, Star Boxing and Banner Promotions announced a deal was being worked out, however a fight did not materialise.
Charlo vs. Martirosyan On February 17, 2015, Showtime announced that Charlo would appear on a doubleheader at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. on March 28 against former world title challenger Vanes Martirosyan (35-1-1, 25 KOs). Other venues discussed for the bout were Illusions Theatre in San Antonio, Texas, and StubHub Center in Carson, California. The fight was contested over 10 rounds. Martirosyan weighed 153 pounds, however Charlo stood on the scales at 154.75 pounds. Because there was no title at stake, there was not a hard weight limit in place. It appeared the contract stated there was a +/- 1 lb. tolerance. This is a common case in non-title fights. Charlo won a fairly contentious unanimous decision. The scores were 97-93, 96-94, 96-94. Both fighters started the fight slow utilizing their respected jabs. Charlo landed the faster punches but they came with little damage, although they were point scoring shots. Martirosyan was the boxer coming forward more and managing to find the bigger shots. By round 4, Martirosyan began to miss most of his punches with Charlo countering well. The remainder of the fight was closely contested. In round 8, there was a timeout period following an accidental clash of heads. The ringside doctor checked Martirosyan's left eye. Martirosyan felt he won the fight.
On September 25, Premier Boxing Champions announced that Charlo would next fight former light middleweight champion Joachim Alcine (35-7-2, 21 KOs) On October 31 at the NRG Arena in Houston, Texas. Charlo won the fight after knocking Alcine out in round 6 of their scheduled 12 round bout. Charlo outboxed Alcine for 5 rounds eventually dropping him in round 6 with a right hand to the head. Alcine beat the count but looked badly hurt. Charlo followed on by landing a barrage of punches to which Alcine had no reply to causing referee Jon Schorle to stop the fight at 1 minute and 20 seconds. After the fight, Charlo called out the recently retired Floyd Mayweather. At the age of 39, this was Alcine's final professional fight as he announced his retirement.
WBC light middleweight champion Charlo vs. Jackson During the annual WBC Convention in Kunming, China it was announced that Charlo would fight John Jackson (20-2, 15 KOs) for the vacant WBC light middleweight title. The title became vacant following the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr. The fight took place on May 21, 2015, at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas. The card also included top light middleweight boxers Erislandy Lara, Vanes Martirosyan, Austin Trout and brother Jermall, who successfully defended his IBF title. Through the first 7 rounds, Charlo had only won one round on all three judges scorecards, badly trailing (64-69). In round 8, Charlo hit Jackson with a right hand to the head followed by two lefts as Jackson turned away to adjust his mouthpiece and failed to keep his guard up. Referee Tony Weeks immediately jumped in to protect Jackson, who was knocked into the corner turnbuckle, and signaled the knockout 51 seconds into the round.
Charlo vs. Hatley In December 2016, at the WBC 54th Convention in Miami, Florida. It was announced that Charlo would be due to fight two mandatory fights. The first of the two defenses would be in February 2017 against Charles Hatley, ranked No. 2 by WBC. The second mandatory would be decided when the winner of No. 5 ranked Erickson Lubin vs. Jorge Cota ranked No. 8 on March 4 fight the winner of No. 3 ranked Martirosyan and another contender. Lubin knocked Cota out in round 4 of their fight moving towards becoming the youngest world champion at the age of 21.
Charlo's defence against Hatley was pushed back to April 22, 2017, on the Shawn Porter vs. Andre Berto undercard. It was confirmed before the fight that Charlo would earn $100,000 and Hatley would receive a $85,000 purse. Charlo successfully defended his WBC title for the first time when he knocked Hatley out unconscious in round 6 after a right hook to the head. Before the end, Charlo was in control landing successive power shots. Hatley was also knocked down in round 3 following a combination of shots from Charlo. In the aftermath of the fight, Charlo spoke about a potential unification fight against Jarret Hurd, who won the vacant IBF title in February 2017, the title that previously belonged to Jermell's twin brother Jermall who moved up to middleweight. The fight averaged 401,000 viewers on Showtime.
Charlo vs. Lubin On May 11, 2017, the WBC updated their rankings, placing 21 year old undefeated American prospect Erickson Lubin (18-0, 13 KOs) at number one. He moved up following his win over Cota. The ranking made Lubin the mandatory challenger for Charlo's world title. On July 20, Boxing Scene reported the fight could take place on September 30, 2017, as part of a double header, which would include Jarrett Hurd defending his IBF title against former light middleweight champion Austin Trout on Showtime. On August 24, Ringtv announced that the fight between Charlo and Lubin would take place on October 14 at the Barclays Center in New York City. Also on the card would see Erislandy Lara defend his WBA title against Terrell Gausha, with the card being billed as a super welterweight triple-header.
In front of 7,643, Charlo won the fight via first-round knockout to retain his WBC title. The opening round was cagey, with Charlo and Lubin not throwing much and hardly getting hit. The end came in the closing stages of the round when Charlo landed a huge right hand, landing flush on Lubin, dropping him backwards onto the canvas. Lubin did manage to get up, but the fight had already been stopped by referee Harvey Dock, who halted the fight immediately after Lubin was dropped and seeing him in pain. After the fight, Charlo called out IBF champion Jarrett Hurd, "Give me another title. I want Hurd. Hurd just fought. He just won. Give me Hurd. I want Hurd." Lubin believed he could have continued, but admitted the stoppage was fair, stating "He caught me with a blind shot. I didn't see it coming. He landed it. I got up. I felt like I could keep fighting, but it happens. I wanted to entertain the crowd. He caught me with a blind shot that I didn't see." The official time of stoppage was 2 minutes, 41 seconds. A member of Lubin's camp threw a chair at Jermall Charlo after the fight ended. Charlo earned a purse of $450,000, while Lubin earned $225,000 for the fight. The fight averaged 495,000 viewers and peaked 537,000 viewers on Showtime.
Charlo vs. Trout