Jermall, Jermell Charlo Headline Showtime Pay-Per-View Doubleheader Saturday, September 26
(CBS Local)- Showtime Boxing has a show in store for fight fans this weekend with a pay-per-view doubleheader featuring the Charlo brothers, Jermell and Jermall, fighting to retain their belts at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.
The two cards will feature three fights each culminating in the main events with the Charlo brothers and their challengers. The first card is headlined by the WBA middleweight championship fight between Jermall and Sergiy "The Technician" Derevyanchenko. The Ukrainian is confident that he will provide the toughest test Jermall has faced yet.
"I'll definitely be his toughest test at middleweight," said Derevyanchenko after one of his workouts this week. "Jermall has never faced anyone like me. I'll apply more pressure than he's used to. He's also never faced anyone with my footwork. I'll fight more on the inside than his previous opponents."
Derevyanchenko will be in his third title bout come Saturday night having lost two previous shots against Daniel Jacobs in 2018 and Gennady Golovkin last year. Those are the only two blemishes on the 34-year-old's record as he enters the ring Saturday 13-2 in his pro career.
For Charlo, it's his third title defense, and he knows that Derevyanchenko is going to try and press him, but he believes he has the answers necessary for that.
"Derevyanchenko is a come forward fighter. He's going to bring a lot of power and speed with good technical skills. He calls himself 'The Technician' but we'll see how technical he is once I start putting my jab in his face," said Charlo after workouts last week. "I'm going to use all my natural skills in this fight."
For Jermell, that challenger is 25-year-old Dominican Jeison Rosario who holds the WBA and IBF super welterweight belts. A unification bout, the matchup is Charlo's first since winning the WBC super welterweight title with a knockout of Tony Harrison last December. The 30-year-old is determined to prove that he's one of the best fighters in the world.
"I'm even more dangerous than I was before. I'm an old school fighter right here," said Charlo after a recent workout. "I've been dedicated to this game and I'm not going anywhere. Stay out of my way, because I'm the man trucking things."
Rosario enters with plenty of confidence as well having earned his title belts in a win over Julian Williams in January of this year. When comparing Charlo with his last opponent, Rosario said that while Charlo is stronger, Williams was harder to hit.
"I think Williams was probably more skilled technically, and he was harder to hit because he changes up his angles a lot," said Rosario. "Charlo is stronger, a bigger puncher, and I think he's a more athletic fighter than Williams. We're preparing for the best Charlo and we know that means we have to be at our very best too."
The Charlo-Rosario fight is the headline event of the second card. The pay-per-view begins Saturday, September 26 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
