Carlos Adames holds the WBC interim middleweight world title and will make his first defense of the interim title against former unified junior middleweight world champion, Julian "J-Rock" Williams, on June 24th at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Boxing is a sport in which it seems the elephant is always in the room and for Adames and his team that elephant is WBC middleweight champion, Jermall Charlo. Charlo is approaching two years without being an active fighter. We saw him do interviews during the David Benavidez vs Caleb Plant fight week - but beyond that no word of a fight date. Yet, Jermall Charlo still has his world title despite two years of not being an active fighter.
Recently, ProBox TV News caught up with Bob Santos, the head coach of Carlos Adames to talk about this issue.
Usually when a fighter is this inactive a fighter is stripped or at the very least moved into a champion-in-recess distinction with the interim champion being promoted. So far that has yet to happen. As not unlike, Tim Tszyu, who ironically is supposed to fight Charlo's twin brother, Jermell Charlo, Adames is making a defense of the interim world title and staying more active than the champion.
"Adames would beat Charlo there is no doubt in my mind," said Santos. "We will see if the fight gets made. If it doesn't get made [Charlo] should get stripped, and Adames should just [be] the WBC [middleweight] world champion."
Santos furthered his point by pointing out the path Adames has recently taken while Charlo has been out of the ring.
"[Charlo] hasn't been in the ring," said Bob Santos. "Meanwhile, Carlos Adames beats [Sergiy] Derevyanchenk, which is a very tough fight, because you could make the argument that Derevyanchenko beats [Gennadiy Golovkin], you could make the argument that he beat Danny [Jacobs]. Very, very difficult fighter, Carlos beat him handily."
Many coaches are confident, but I think it is safe to say - Bob Santos is supremely confident as he cites a mutual opponent and first-hand experiences in the gym as reasons why he believes Adames beats Charlo.
"Then you take the case of [Juan Macias] Montiel," furthered Santos. "Montiel pushed Charlo for twelve rounds, right? In a tick-for-tat type fight, and you look at what Carlos Adames did to him. Now every fight is different, and every situation is different, but he definitely proved to me just looking at it as a whole...I think Carlos is the superior fighter. I have seen Charlo many, many times. Obviously, I was with [Erislandy] Lara. I have seen Charlo spar hundreds of rounds, and I just think Carlos Adames is a cut above. If we get [the Charlo fight] I am confident, obviously, he is my fighter, but I am very confident seeing what I have seen with him, and [from Charlo sparring Lara] that Adames brings those abilities. He can go right-handed, he can go left-handed.
Yesterday it was reported that Jemall Charlo could be the frontrunner to land a fight with Canelo Alvarez.
