THERE have been over 700 days since Jermall Charlo defended his WBC middleweight title in his familiar stomping ground of Houston, Texas. Only a 2023 bout against Jose Benavidez Jr, the older brother of the WBC light-heavyweight champion David Benavidez, interrupted that extensive period of inactivity.
But now up at super-middleweight, the two-weight world champion returns to the ring against American super-middleweight Thomas LaManna on a bill headlined by Caleb Plant this Saturday, May 31, in Las Vegas. If all goes to plan in Las Vegas, the PBC event promoters are expected to line up the two former champions in what would be a clash with more than enough needle to put some bums on seats.
Charlo goes into his fight this weekend carrying a perfect 33-fight record, a very respectable 22 of those coming by way of stoppage. La Manna holds a significant, albeit padded, 39 victories in the professional ranks, losing five times, with a single draw during that period.
This fight has all the hallmarks of a comfortable return fight for the 35-year-old Texan, otherwise known as a tune-up. With the aim to buff out some of the old ring rust from a less-than-ideal couple of years out of action, get rid of any teething issues from moving up to a new weight class, and to plant the eldest half of the Charlo name back in people’s minds ahead of bigger things to come.
With that being said, boxing has its own wicked ways of preventing promoters, fans and fighters alike from getting too far ahead of themselves. And the New Jersey native, known as ‘Cornflake’ after a character in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, is of enough of a standard that if Charlo is too far off the boil, he has a puncher’s chance.
The main question mark around ‘The Hitman’ would be how much is left in the 35-year-old tank. With nearly three years out of the ring and a career devoid of any notable wars of attrition, Charlo should be sufficiently up to speed.
Perhaps the greater fault would come in the form of mental willingness to build again to a final hurrah against the likes of undisputed king Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, via a tricky and spiteful Caleb Plant.
Jermall Charlo vs Thomas LaManna Fight Prediction
Despite the above speculations, my expectation for this fight would be for a relatively one-sided fight to go the way of Jermall Charlo, culminating in a somewhat tepid affair.
Charlo, now up at a new weight and lacking in sharpness, might not have the minerals to blast LaManna out of there in the same way the likes of Erislandy Lara did previously.
However, I also don’t expect the naturally bigger LaManna to have enough quality to win any more than a handful of rounds in the fight, with a favoured lead left hook his best weapon.
