By: Sean Cross
WBC middleweight titleholder Jermall Charlo takes on WBA light heavyweight titleholder Dimitri Bivol in the Regis Prograis-Jose Zepeda fight Saturday night in Carson, California. The exchange was captured on video. Fighting the hype. The brief conversation was polite and included Charlo wanting to meet Bivol in a big match. Bivol, however, made it clear that he was not eager to drop weight to fight Charlo with no title belt on the line. Credit Charlo for moving forward, but it’s hard to imagine Bivol biting at this point in his career.
Charlo brought up the fact that a fight between himself and Bivol would still be the main event with or without the belts. He was right, but the buffalo didn’t bite. “No belt,” Charlo said. “Just pulling. Let’s do it.” There’s no doubt that the Charlo-Bivol fight will be a draw. Still, Bivol seems happy with the way it’s going. And why wouldn’t he be? The man beat Canelo Alvarez earlier this year in a career victory. Plus, the man recently surpassed Zurdo Ramirez and now owns the strong. It looks like he’s headed for a light heavyweight championship fight with owner Dmitry Bivol.
As for Charlo, the 32-year-old fighter hasn’t entered the ring in nearly a year and a half of his career. The Houston native’s last fight was in June 2021. That night he faced Juan Macias Montiel, earning a unanimous decision victory in front of the hometown crowd. Since then, however, Charlo has basically disappeared from the ring. Having said that, Charlo made it clear that he intends to fight next year. It looks like he won’t be dealing with Bivol, at least not anytime soon.
