Jermall Charlo targets world title at 168 in comeback fight

Jermall Charlo says he wants to win a world title at middleweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">super middleweight and make the final chapter of his career his most dominant, according to Bad Left Hook.

Charlo faces Koen Mazoudier on July 25 in Australia on the Errol Spence versus Tim Tszyu undercard. The former middleweight titleholder told PBC during training camp that he feels more comfortable at 168 pounds and plans to hunt down a belt in a third weight class. "I'm planning to make this quarter of my career the best one," he said.

Charlo's pattern of long layoffs and soft opposition

Charlo won his first strap at 154 in 2015 when he stopped Cornelius Bundrage for the IBF belt. He later claimed the WBC middleweight crown in 2019 and looked sharp beating Sergiy Derevyanchenko in 2020. Since then, he has fought just three times in five years, none against top-tier opposition.

The 36-year-old said he is letting trainer Ronnie Shields handle the game plan for once. "I'm one of the few fighters that have barely lost any rounds in my career, let alone lost a fight," Charlo told PBC. "It's my game plan to just go out there and dominate. If [Mazoudier] makes the wrong move, he's gonna get knocked out."

Mazoudier brings a 15-4-1 record and is moving up two divisions from welterweight for the assignment. Charlo has cycled through similar rhetoric before — returning from long absences to face underwhelming opponents, then disappearing again. Whether this bout marks a genuine pivot toward championship-level fights at 168 remains to be seen.

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• Bad Left Hook — ‘Make this quarter of my career the best one’: Jermall Charlo has world title hopes at 168