Charlo stripped of WBA title, named champion in recess

Jermell Charlo is also champion in recess with the WBC

After nearly eight years, Jermell Charlo’s title reign is over. Dan Rafael reports that the WBA voted to strip Charlo of his last remaining belt and name him champion in recess.

The belt will stay vacant for a bit, as Rafael also adds that Israil Madrimov, who was slated to meet Magomed Kurbanov for it on next Friday’s Joshua vs Ngannou show, has been ruled out due to “an issue with a pre-fight medical scan conducted by the BBBofC.” That will presumably be rescheduled at some point, with the winner eventually facing newly crowned mandatory challenger Abass Baraou unless Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KO) returns.

Charlo is also champion-in-recess with the WBC, meaning if he does elect to continue at 154, he could fight the winner of Sebastian Fundora vs Serhii Bohachuk instead.

“Iron Man” is coming up on two years since his last super welterweight bout, which saw him overpower Brian Castano in their May 2022 rematch. He then scheduled his WBO-mandated defense against Tim Tszyu for the following January, which gave Charlo enough time to injure himself in training and withdraw.

He then ditched the fight entirely to face Canelo Alvarez, resulting in the WBO stripping him of that belt as soon as the announcer finished calling him “undisputed.” Then came the IBF belt when Charlo turned down long-spurned challenger Bakhram Murtazaliev, then the WBC, and now the WBA.

Charlo has been effectively radio silent since getting dominated by Canelo aside from being charged with assault in December. It’s unclear what his future holds, but he and his brother clearly need to get their shit together on multiple levels.