WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo 32-0 (22) is committed to remaining in his current weight class following his hard-fought 12-round decision win over Juan Macías Montiel 22-5-2 (22) at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday night.
The 31-year-old Texan outlanded Montiel 258 to 127 according to CompuBox, but the unheralded Mexican held his own despite the 120-108, 119-109 and 118-109 scorecards.
Charlo said he was planning to stay at middleweight and called out IBF champion Gennadiy Golovkin 41-1-1 (36) after the fight.
He also challenged Mexican superstar and WBC, WBA and WBO super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 56-1-2 (38) to move down a weight class to face him.
“One-hundred sixty is my weight division,” Charlo said. “I want to unify. I want to get Golovkin in the ring. I want to bring him to Houston.
“I want to get Canelo to come to Houston if he’ll come down to 160. This is my weight division. I’m going to stay here and reign here. This is my fourth title defence and I have many more to come. I’m young. I’m hungry.”
Charlo, who was fighting in his hometown for the first time in two years, had to work for the win as he threw a career-high 769 punches. He also landed a career-high 201 power punches.
“I saw the crowd behind me, my city was behind me,” said Charlo. “I put them on my back. Career-high in punches thrown? I still have more to come.
“It took a real warrior to get in the ring with me.
“He fought each and every round as hard as he could and I could tell by his eyes that he’s a true warrior from the beginning and he wanted to fight.
“It didn’t matter what I hit him with, he wanted more. I love that spirit. He’s going to be great.”
On the undercard lightweight contender Isaac Cruz 22-1-1 (15) outpointed former WBC super featherweight champion Francisco ‘Bandido’ Vargas 27-3-2 (19) over 10.
“This was exactly the kind of fight we expected,” Cruz said after his 97-92, 99-90 and 100-89 win. “‘Bandido’ was crafty and fought his fight, that allowed him to stay on his feet until the 10th round. Lots of embracing, but we knew how to manage it.”
Vargas was cut from a headclash in the final round of the fight and suffered a dubious knockdown shortly after.
“We proved to be in top shape, our conditioning paid off,” Cruz continued. “I think fans were happy, because this is what all of Mexico and the Toyota Center wanted to see.
“I think Vargas held on to me more than he’s used to and couldn’t put on the show he usually does, and we couldn’t counter that. However, I value the fact that I learned that lesson.”
Former WBO super bantamweight champion Angelo ‘El Chinito’ Leo 21-1 (9) eked out a 10-round majority decision victory over Aaron Alameda by scores of 95-95, 96-94 and 98-92.
