Jermell Charlo will likely be stripped of his WBO junior middleweight title, which means his days as undisputed champion at 154 lbs are over — or, at the very least, they quickly will likely be.
The WBO have dominated that Charlo “will likely be allowed to enter the ring as WBO champion and introduced as such” for his combat with Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 30, which is able to happen at 168 lbs for Canelo’s undisputed title, and upon that official announcement that he does nonetheless maintain the belt, he will likely be instantly stripped, with Tim Tszyu elevated from interim champion to full champion standing.
That is form of what we anticipated when Canelo vs Charlo was introduced, that the sanctioning our bodies would play ball with PBC and Showtime advertising and marketing “Undisputed vs Undisputed,” after which when it was over, Charlo would both be stripped of or vacate at the very least one or a few of his junior middleweight belts to be able to maintain the combat’s advertising and marketing intact, however having it formally spelled out as precisely that in very drawn-out, authorized phrases is type of humorous, at the very least.
It additionally must be famous that if Canelo vs Charlo doesn’t happen on Sept. 30 — “for no matter causes” — the WBO are nonetheless going to strip Charlo and Tszyu will likely be elevated to full title standing.
So for all it issues, for all intents and functions, Tim Tszyu is formally your WBO junior middleweight titleholder now. However not formally so till Sept. 30, or any time forward of that if the Canelo vs Charlo bout is canceled or postponed.
You’ll recall that Charlo and Tszyu have been meant to combat early this 12 months, with the bout scrapped. Tszyu has been the WBO’s necessary challenger for years at this level, and has held the interim belt since beating Tony Harrison on Mar. 12, following that up with a June 18 wipeout win over Carlos Ocampo, a protection of the interim belt.
Tszyu not too long ago said that Charlo ought to be stripped, and he’s mainly getting his want, and it’s the precise determination.
No phrase but on what the opposite sanctioning our bodies will do, however because the Tszyu difficulty has been very public, the WBO in all probability felt the necessity to remark publicly. The opposite three — the WBC, WBA, and IBF — might merely wait till after the Canelo vs Charlo combat to see if Charlo would reasonably vacate than be stripped.
Charlo has not defended any of his titles or fought in any respect since beating Brian Castano in Might 2022, which absolutely unified the 154 lb division.
