Charlo will avoid Montiel’s displeasure

American Jermall Charlo, World Boxing Council middleweight champion, must avoid the upset of Mexican Juan Macias Montiel this Saturday night at the Toyota Center in Houston, if he wants to stay on the list of possible opponents for Canelo Alvarez, considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

A notable favorite in the betting, Charlo has been flirting with the possibility of moving up to 168 pounds and this could be his farewell to the category, where he consolidated himself in a remarkable way by beating last September Ukrainian Sergey Derevyanchenko, who had just given a tremendous fight to Gennadiy Golovkin.

This Friday at the weigh-in ceremony, Jermall stopped the scale at 160.4 pounds and had to return to the scales to mark the mandatory 160 pounds to avoid losing the title. The WBC champion will come in undefeated with a 31-0 record with 22 knockouts, although in his last five fights he has gone to points on three occasions. Macias Montiel, from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, registered a tonnage of 159.5 pounds. The Mexican has a record of 22-4-2, although all of his wins have come by way of knockout.

A win for Mexico’s Macias Montiel would undoubtedly be one of the biggest in recent memory. The triumph of the tricolor pays up to 1,650 dollars per 100 bets, while the victory of Charlo, who will be fighting at home and with his people, pays just 100 dollars per 3,300 dollars.

In support of the event, Mexicans Francisco ‘Bandido’ Vargas and Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz promise fireworks, while in the opening of the boxing festival, former Mexican-American world champion Angelo Leo is not coming to see who did it, but who will pay for it, when he takes on Sonora contender Aaron Alameda, who is also coming off a loss.