Jermell Charlo is an identical twin who grew up fighting for dollars on street corners and is now attempting to jump two weight divisions and defeat boxing’s biggest star - Canelo Alvarez.
Like Canelo, Jermell is an undisputed world champion in his division, having unified all four alphabet titles at super-welterweight last year.
Unlike the Mexican, the ‘Iron Man’ is far from a household name and for some time wasn’t even seen as the best boxer in his own family.
A minute younger than his ‘older’ brother Jermall – himself a middleweight world champion – the Charlo brothers are now 33.
The same age as Alvarez, but their path to the top has been a rocky climb.
Louisiana-born but raised in Texas, the brothers’ father Kevin – an amateur boxer himself – clearly wanted the boys to grow up tough, (even giving identical twins identical-sounding first names seems like some kind of warped test.)
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"It would be like meeting at the courtyard at apartments, put on a pair of gloves, and whatever parent feel like they want to put some money up on their child [to fight one of us]," Jermell told Bleacher Report in 2020.
"That's how my dad made a living. Me and my brother was the studs that would run through anybody at that age group, from five to seven.”
Jermell turned pro at 17 after a 64-fight amateur career and was briefly signed with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions – at exactly the same time that a certain red-headed Mexican, also fighting at 154lbs, was becoming the company’s breakout superstar.
This is what makes Alvarez vs Charlo fascinating.
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From one viewpoint, Jermell is trying to imitate the superhuman efforts of Manny Pacquiao (against De La Hoya) and Roy Jones Jr (against John Ruiz) and leap two weight divisions to score a statement victory.
From another perspective, Charlo is fighting an opponent he once shared a weight division with, while the 6ft American also has a four-inch advantage in height and three-inch advantage in reach over the odds-on favourite.
Also, Charlo’s brother Jermall – widely assumed to be Canelo’s next opponent earlier this year before a surprise swap – fights successfully only one division below Alvarez.
And the two have biologically the exact same body type.
At the face-to-face pre-fight meetings, Jermell doesn’t look significantly smaller than 168lbs champ Canelo.
And while Alvarez has chopped down taller foes before – and has fought as high as light-heavyweight, so will undoubtedly be the heavier man in the ring – size may not be the deciding factor.
Derrick James, who trains Jermell alongside Anthony Joshua and Errol Spence, told DAZN he expects his fighter to weigh in around 164lbs.
“That’s what I believe because I want to be fast, I want to be athletic, I want to be mobile,” said James. “The heavier you are, you may be a little bit more lethargic, slower.”
When it comes to elite-level experience, Canelo – who’s shared a ring with Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Gennady Golovkin (three times) and many more – wins hands down.
Both the Charlo brothers’ careers have been frustratingly stop-start.
But while unbeaten Jermall is taking time out to deal with some personal issues, Jermell is coming off his best ever win.
Jermell’s 35-1-1 record is impressive in itself, but he’s also avenged both of the imperfections on it by knockout.
Tony Harrison’s highly controversial upset decision victory in 2018 was reversed by a Charlo knockout in the 11th round a year later.
While a 2021 draw with Brian Castano in a unification fight was settled by a Charlo stoppage in round ten last May.
Neither Harrison nor Castano are in Canelo’s class, but Charlo does seem to be punching with greater authority than his 19 KOs in 37 fights suggests.
He has scored some spectacular stoppages against John Jackson, Erickson Lubin and Jorge Cota.
The ‘Iron Man’ is a fluid, well-balanced, athletically gifted boxer-puncher, and while Canelo is proven at a higher level, his 63 fights do seem to be starting to catch up with him.
The four-weight world champion went on a superb eight-fight run in 2018 to 2021: from narrowly beating Golovkin in their second contest to stopping Caleb Plant to unify all of the super-middleweight titles.
But in three fights since (a loss to Dmitry Bivol, and then points wins over a faded Golovkin and John Ryder), Alvarez has not quite looked himself.
Of course, even if Canelo is only 80-90 per cent of the fighter he was at his peak, that could still be too much for a Charlo – fighting in a new weight class and being under this intensity of spotlight for the first time.
Outworking the sometimes one-paced Canelo is often seen as the key to beating him, which means Jermell Charlo has to get off to a fast start.
Especially as any close rounds may be scored the way of the more famous crowd favourite.
But Charlo’s defence is not watertight and Alvarez has a way of patiently figuring out an opponent and starting to put a methodical beating on them as a fight progresses.
Just ask Plant, Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith or a host of other beaten rivals.
Stepping up in weight and class, it is easy to understand why the odds are against Charlo.
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But Jermell is fresher, should be hungrier, and for a guy who once fought back-to-back with his twin brother for the prize of a few dollars, there are multiple millions on the line if he can become the first boxer to defeat Canelo in his 168lbs division.
Especially with Terence Crawford apparently waiting in the wings to step up and challenge the winner.
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