Friends, Family, Champs: Charlo Brothers and Erislandy Lara Have Dream in Reach

The best thing about living in Houston over the last few years has been having the opportunity to see future stars of the junior middleweight division train and spar with each other under the watchful eye of renowned trainer Ronnie Shields over at Plex.

Heck, in one instance, I was even able to experience some of it firsthand and painfully close.

But what I saw as the future at 154—Erislandy Lara, Jermell Charlo and twin brother Jermall—is now…well…the now at the weight. All three fighters, Lara and Jermell and Jermall Charlo, have a chance on Saturday night at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas to leave the ring world title holders in the same division.

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It has been a long time coming.

The first time I met Shields was at a hotel bar in El Paso, Texas, the week of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr’s Round 7 knockout win over Andy Lee in June 2012. Introduced by mutual friends, I learned there that one of the most intriguing fighters in the world to me, Cuban defector Lara, was training at Plex with Shields just a few minutes’ drive from my house.

Obviously, I made my way up there to see the training firsthand as soon as possible.

Even back then, in what became sort of a reoccurring question I’d ask him every few months, I’d ponder what I saw as the inevitable: What happens when all three of these guys, Lara and the Charlo brothers, all get world title belts? Will there be a secret sparring session at Plex to see who the real champ is?

While Jermell left Shields and Plex last year to train in Dallas with Derrick James, it might be appropriate to ask one last time on Sunday morning should all three prevail in their scheduled world championship tripleheader bouts on Showtime. Lara defends the WBA title. Jermall defends the IBF version. And Jermell will fight for the vacant WBC strap.

“I think it’s a good thing,” said Shields. “I don’t have any ill will toward Jermell. We just can’t work together. But that’s about it. Everything else…we’re cool. I wish him the best, and I hope he wins.”

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There remains a bit of iciness around the topic, but here are the important bits. Jermell and Jermall Charlo have known Shields since the two were children hoping to become professional fighters someday. They grew up hoping someday to be trained by Shields and did exactly that up until the split last year.

As with any breakup in professional sports, it came down to money. Shields and Plex owner Danny Arnold offered to keep working for Jermell for more money. Jermell declined and moved to another gym.

For Jermell’s part, he feels the change has been good for him. He said the change in sparring partners has been particularly noteworthy to his development.

“It’s nothing but top fighters to me,” said Charlo. “Everyone is undefeated. I haven’t sparred anyone with a losing record. It’s been great. I think it’s been a little better than Ronnie Shields at Plex because the competition here is crazy.”

That last part is probably more spin than full-on truth, particularly because the three fighters, Lara, Jermell and Jermall, were all so competitive with each other during their time together at Plex.

In fact, pretty much everyone in the gym was interested in the friendly rivalry. Every time I went up to Plex, I was regaled with stories about who beat up who during sparring that week. In some cases, I even got to witness it myself.

These guys tested each other each and every day. And Jermell admitted he was excited to test himself again against his former training partners on Saturday night.

“It’s going to be a crazy night. We will all be competing to see who can perform the best.”

It won’t be easy. Each fighter is faced with a dangerous foe. In fact, you could hear how giddy head of Showtime Sports Stephen Espinoza was during a recent media conference call about the promotion.

“It is the best fighting the best,” said Espinoza. “We have five of the top six fighters in the division. They’re fighting each other. They could have taken easier fights. But they didn’t.”

Nope. Lara vs. Vanes Martirosyan, Jermall vs. Austin Trout and Jermell vs. John Jackson are all compelling and important title fights in one of the best divisions in boxing.

Let’s face it. Boxing has been pretty lame this year, and this card isn’t.

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The toughest gig on the night probably goes to Jermall. While the elder Charlo (by one minute) was the first of the twins to grab a world title belt—the IBF belt—he has yet to face as seasoned or as notable competition as Lara or his brother.

Jermall won the IBF title by knockout in September 2015 against the decidedly average Cornelius Bundrage and followed it up two months later with another stoppage win versus unheralded journeyman Wilky Campfort.

Not exactly a murderer’s row.

On Saturday, Jermall will face former 154-pound titleholder Austin Trout. Trout, age 30, told Bleacher Report he expects Jermall to come into the bout knowing it will be his biggest test to date and promised he’d show the 26-year-old things he’d never seen before.

“I don’t doubt that he’s putting in the work to be fully prepared,” said Trout. “But it’s hard to prepare for something you’ve never seen before, so we’ll see how he makes his adjustment.”

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Trout is ranked No. 2 in the division per both the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and Ring Magazine. He beat Miguel Cotto in 2012 and arguably deserved the nod over Canelo Alvarez in 2013, too. Of the two losses, the only time he was clearly in over his head was against the cunning Lara in 2013.

Since that debacle, Trout has moved from New Mexico to Washington DC to add trainer Barry Hunter to his team. He said the change in scenery has made him into a better fighter, and that he expects to be the one to derail the Lara-Charlo-Charlo title hopes.

“There’s nothing he brings to the table that I haven’t seen before,” said Trout.

Jermall, of course, disagrees.

“They say a lot of things about me,” said Charlo. "I’m the world champion though.  I couldn’t care less what Trout has to say. He’s had his time and it’s over.”

Jermall said Shields' familiarity with Trout will help him secure the victory.

“The benefit of it is that Ronnie has seen the style before and he’s beat the style before, so that gives me confidence knowing my trainer can get me through the adjustments I need to make in the fight.”

Credit: R. McCarson

Shields concurred with the analysis. Both Jermall and Shields said they viewed Trout as a good, but ultimately flawed, opponent whose best days were already behind him.

“It’s two different styles, but at the same time, I know what to do with Austin Trout,” said Shields. “We beat him once before with Lara, and we’ll beat him again with Jermall.”

Since being thumped over 12 one-sided rounds by Lara in 2013, Trout has won four straight fights, the last three by stoppage. But Shields thinks that has mostly to do with what kind of opponents Trout has faced.

“When I look at Trout, I see things we can exploit,” said Shields.” It will be the same thing with this fight. I still see a lot of holes he has in his game.”

Hailed as one of the hardest punchers Shields has ever trained, Jermall said he knows how important Saturday night is to his career as well as his brother and Lara.

“It’s a big show, and it’s going to be a fun and exciting night for Team Charlo and Lara as well. Making history together is something we all dreamed of, and now it’s a reality.”

A dose of reality might be just what everyone in boxing needs when it comes to Lara. The Cuban southpaw is one of the most underappreciated fighters in the sport. In a way, it’s almost funny. Millions of fight fans shell out big money to watch Floyd Mayweather Jr. box circles around his opponents, but when Lara does the same, they avert their eyes and grumble.

Still, for the savvy appreciators of the sweet science he employs on fight nights, Lara is one of the very best fighters in the world to watch. If you’ve joined the group-thinking masses on social media who call Lara’s style boring and ineffective, you have a chance to right yourself this weekend.

“I’m very excited to fight… And show everybody why I'm the best 154-pounder in the world,” Lara told the media via phone.

According to the TBRB and Ring Magazine, he is. While the lineal championship is vacant, per both entities, each panel of fight observers sees Lara as the very best fighter in the 154-pound division right now.

Shields said he’ll prove as much in his rematch against Martirosyan, one of the division’s perennial contenders.

The two first met in 2012 and fought to a technical draw after the bout was halted in Round 10 due to an accidental head-butt. Shields said the head-butt by Lara was a natural occurrence of a southpaw fighting an orthodox fighter, but that the stoppage of the fight was done on purpose.

In other words, Shields believes Martirosyan quit.

“I know Lara was about to stop him,” said Shields. “Vanes quit. He quit in the fight the same way he tried to quit against Jermell. They head-butted late in that fight [too] and he tried to quit. He tried to get out of it. He’s a quitter, and that’s what quitters do. They look for ways out of fights.”

Lara echoed the same on the media call.

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“I felt like I was winning the fight 100 percent, and I was coming on strong,” said Lara. “I was winning the last few rounds before the cut and I was on my way to stop it, and then, before you know it, he decided not to fight.”

Martirosyan fired right back at Lara.

“He was running the whole fight,” said Martirosyan.” I stopped them but he was running, man. He was running the first few rounds, and then he started running the whole fight. I don't know what he's talking about.”

As probably the most pro-Lara boxing writer around, I admit, despite thinking he was on his way to a win when the bout was halted, I found Lara’s performance against Martirosyan a bit dismal. Shields told me it was because his fighter suffered an injury in Round 1.

“Lara was winning, and Lara only had one hand,” said Shields. “Lara’s right hand was messed up. The very first round he hit Vanes on the elbow and it destroyed his hand. If you rewatch the fight, you see Lara trying to jab but he just couldn’t. But he still beat him anyway.”

Credit: R. McCarson

If Lara was truly fighting with one hand that night, he should run right through his opponent now with two.

Still, no matter what happens on Saturday, one has to wonder if any of these guys would ever fight each other. The Charlo brothers have told me for years that they would never fight each other. But what about either one against Lara?

It remains to be seen whether the change in trainers will lead Jermell to bouts against any of his old trainer’s fighters. The likely answer is that it could happen so long as the fight was necessary and financially viable to both.

But Lara told the media he was down for whatever, even if it meant facing off against Jermall, the Charlo he still trains with at Plex.

“I don't choose my opponents,” said Lara. “They tell me who I'm fighting and I prepare and I fight to the best of my abilities, and that’s what I have done in every fight. This is the fact and we both trained so this is not realistic at this point. But would I fight him? Yeah. I'd fight him and win.”

Shields slammed that door shut before it was even really open.

“That fight won’t happen,” said Shields.

Still, there’s always that chance they’ll settle things behind closed doors…

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes and information was obtained firsthand.