After being arrested Monday evening for a DWI, Jermall Charlo has been stripped of his WBC middleweight championship. Charlo was arrested after allegedly crashing his Lamborghini into another car in Texas before leaving the scene. According to a police report, an officer eventually found Charlo before the boxer drove a mile and was blocked by a second police officer.
Charlo was arrested and taken to jail and his blood alcohol content registered over 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08.
The situation led the WBC to finally take action and strip Charlo of his middleweight championship. Charlo had gone more than 1,000 days without defending the championship before a return in November 2023.
Charlo won the belt with an April 2018 knockout of Hugo Centeno Jr. He made five defenses of the title, the most recent coming in June 2021, when he defeated Juan Macias Montiel.
A return to the ring came this past November when Charlo fought Jose Benavidez Jr. That fight was held at a 163-pound catchweight. Charlo missed weight by three pounds and then gained nearly an additional half pound in the hour given to attempt to make 163 pounds.
Even with the inactivity and having missed weight, Charlo was briefly the top choice to fight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in this past Saturday’s Cinco De Mayo card. Charlo’s twin brother, Jermell, lost to Alvarez in September.
With Charlo being stripped of the title, Carlos Adames has been elevated from interim to full champion.
Adames won the interim title in October 2022 and had been waiting for the WBC to order a shot at Charlo, though it became increasingly clear that was not going to happen. Unfortunately for Adames, he has struggled to get fights, including a planned June fight with Nathan Heaney falling through.
The allure of fighting for a world championship should have more opponents lining up to face Adames and a unification bout with WBA champ Erislandy Lara could be in play as both men fight under the PBC banner.
