This Saturday night will see an action packed night of fights in boxing that will feature young middleweight phenom Jaime Munguia and unified bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue step in the ring. In addition, it will also see the return of WBC Middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (31-0) as he defends his title against Juan Macias Montiel (22-4-2).
Charlo, not to be mistaken with his twin brother and unified super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo, first became a world champion in 2015 when he won the IBF Super Welterweight title against Cornelius Bandrage.
After three successful title defenses, including wins over former world champions Austin Trout and Julian Williams, Charlo moved up to the middleweight division.
In 2018, the 31-year-old won the interim WBC Middleweight championship in his second fight at middleweight following a win over Hugo Centeno Jr.
He was upgraded to WBC world champion when former champion Canelo Alvarez was upgraded to franchise champion. This fight against Montiel will be his fourth defense since becoming world champion.
Juan Macias Montiel, a 27-year-old Mexican fighter, may not be known as well amongst boxing seeing as he has mainly fought in his native country for his pro career. His most high profile fight came against Jaime Munguia in which he lost by second round knockout.
Montiel put himself on the map following a dominant first round knockout victory over James Kirkland in his first fight in the United States. This will be his first career world title fight.
Keys to victory for Jermall Charlo
Jermall Charlo is an overwhelming favorite to win against a fighter who is inexperienced in marquee world title fights. The biggest factor in Charlo walking away with the win is to not underestimate his opponent.
Charlo is one of the most technically skilled fighters in boxing today using his punching power and defensive technique to dispatch his opponents. He is fighting against a fighter who is also a powerful puncher and will look to be aggressive looking to land a big punch on him.
As long as Charlo shows respect to Montiel’s power and is sharp defensively making him fight at distance, he will surely come out as the winner.
How does Juan Macias Montiel pull off the upset?
Although all 22 of Juan Macias Montiel’s wins have come by knockout, he has to be able to hit Jermall Charlo for his punching power to be affective in this fight.
He will need to use his slight height and reach advantage over Charlo to get inside and land big shots on him. He also needs to prove that he is more than just a strong puncher and that he has the necessary skills.
This includes being sharp with his movement not providing his opponent an easy target to hit.
Jermall Charlo vs. Juan Macias Montiel prediction
Boxing’s history is littered with world title fights ending in the heavily favored champion losing against the lesser known challenger because he did not take his opponent seriously. Recent examples include Jeison Rosario vs Julian Williams and Andy Ruiz Jr. vs Anthony Joshua.
If Jermall Charlo gets careless and deviates from his game plan, Juan Macias Montiel is powerful enough to take advantage and put him on the canvas.
With that being said, Charlo will have respect for Montiel and walk away with a unanimous decision victory or possibly a late round knockout win.
Start time/How to watch
- When: June 19, 2021
- Start time: 9:00 P.M.
- How to watch: Showtime