Jermall Charlo is having fun again, but big questions still surround his return to the ring
'I'm excited,' he told Uncrowned. He said he'd welcome a future fight against rival Caleb Plant, who boxes Jose Armando Resendiz in the main event of at the same show, and would fight Saul "Canelo" Alvarez if the opportunity presented itself too. He's even prepared to fight more frequently.
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Charlo, a former two-weight world champion, is one of America's best-known boxers. He has an identical twin named Jermell, who is also a gifted fighter. Combined, they were a driving force for Premier Boxing Champions when the organization aired its events on Showtime Sports. Jermall, though, has been inactive. We've rarely seen him. He's only fought three times in the past five years. The sport of boxing has changed dramatically since he last held a title in 2021. His next bout will be his first on PBC's new broadcast partner, Prime Video, which is a partnership first announced at the end of 2023.
There are numerous reasons for Charlo's absence. "When you can't stabilize your mind to think forward, that's where I was at. Not being able to explain it to anyone. Always shielded. I had to fight through my learning experience,' he said on PBC's YouTube channel regarding his struggles with mental health.
He told the NY Post two years ago that he was 'dealing with all kinds of cases of [being] bipolar.' He said he turned his back on the world. His brother, Jermell, once said the reason he got the "Canelo" fight in 2023 instead of Jermall was because Jermall wasn't 'in the right mental state' to compete.
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Jermall, though, faced his battles on his own terms, and got better at his own pace. Patience, he said, was key.
Charlo's willingness to discuss his vulnerabilities so openly is important because a stigma remains attached to the condition.
McLean Hospital, the largest psychiatric facility of Harvard Medical School, notes that only "25% of Black people seek mental health treatment when needed, compared to 40% of white people." Christine M. Crawford, MD, MPH, specializes in psychiatry, completed her fellowship at McLean, and said: 'African Americans silently live with mental health challenges for fear of being judged.'
For Charlo, there was a period in his life when he 'didn't know what mental health even was.'
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'A lot of people shy away from showing that sensitive side of themselves," he said in 2023. "Because I'm the champ, they look at me like they expect greatness. And sometimes I don't have that greatness to provide. Then I'm not mentally focused. Now I'm mentally focused, I feel like I'm a better person.'
After previous absences from the ring, Charlo has spoken of the need to 'rebuild himself' mentally. And that has never been more apparent than after speaking to him this month. He certainly seems rebuilt.
I've been interviewing Charlo for six years. But after speaking to him in 2023, something seemed amiss. He looked vacant. His hair was dishevelled. He was uninterested. Never have I advised a fighter not to fight, but that was the one occasion I was close to penning a column saying his bout against Jose Benavidez Jr. should not go ahead. I even heard from a source close to Charlo that they shared a similar concern.
Regardless, Charlo outpointed Benavidez by a 100-90 margin on one of the judges' scorecards. He won with ease.
I didn't get to tell Charlo how wrong I was until this month, upon his return to the sport, after another extended spell away.
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It was great to see him smile again. Talking to him in 2025 is like speaking to a different person. He's more engaged, and appears more content.
"Having my brother [in camp helps], but on top of that, I rebuilt my team,' he said. This has energized him, he added, because he's now got 'a brotherhood' around him.
'We all believe in God. We're all strong, just knowing things come and go, I got rid of a lot of the drama. Got things out of my life that I won't get that back again. I feel a lot better. It's one of the best camps I had. There's laughter. Fun. It's not about material stuff no more.'
Charlo's return to the sport comes at a pivotal time for American boxing considering the significant influence that Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season has. Whether Las Vegas' status as the Fight Capital of the World is under threat from Saudi Arabian finances remains to be seen. But Charlo has been watching with interest from afar.
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His fire, he said, 'is lit.' He added: 'I can't wait to get in there and show the world. I've been waiting on management, promoters, team, to be right, mentally and physically, and give everybody what they want to see [against LaManna].'
The biggest difference in the fight game from when Charlo was last the champ, to now, isn't just what Alalshikh brings to boxing, but also the presence of internet sensation Jake Paul.
The sport 'is picking up.'
Jermall Charlo was sensation in his most recent fight against Jose Benavidez Jr. ()
(David Becker via Getty Images)
'We're getting back to where we left off," Charlo said. "A lot of things have changed. It's a different era, we're going to the last part of the 2020s and it's a new generation of boxers, going from real-world champions, out of weight classes — which is crazy to me — getting to a point where Floyd [Mayweather] fought a big guy [Logan Paul], now it's going to YouTube, random rappers becoming boxers. You can be a painter, and as long as you can talk a little bit, it can be a pay-per-view bout. It's different.'
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Though there are others, few have crossed over from the influencer scene as well as Paul, who has an 11-1 (7 KOs) pro record and has brought many of the world's best female fighters under one roof at Most Valuable Promotions — a firm he co-founded alongside former UFC executive Nikisa Bidarian. Paul returns June 28 against former champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at a Golden Boy co-promoted show on DAZN.
'He was the first one to do it,' Charlo said of Paul, before remarking that other creators from YouTube are now 'over-saturating' the market and not respecting the sport. 'They haven't known how to put blood, sweat, and tears into it. That's when they're not taking boxing that serious.'
Charlo wants to take the sport 'back to how it used to be,' he said. 'Boxing is not the same no more.'
The sport in the U.S. would no doubt get a boost from a more active Charlo — one who is serious about boosting America's standing in the fight game.
The biggest question that remains, though, is while he appears back to his old self outside of the ring, it's unclear, after another 18 months away, whether Charlo can still be his old self inside of it.
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