From the Street to Showtime: Twin Charlo Brothers Are Ready to Be Boxing Stars

Jermell and Jermall Charlo, the twin brothers headlining Showtime's latest foray into boxing pay-per-view on Saturday, are no strangers to fighting for money.

Decades before they dreamed of stepping into a ring under the bright lights, the two brothers were strapping gloves on at the behest of their father Kevin Charlo and duking it out against neighborhood kids in Lafayette, Louisiana. As grown men looked on, the two young warriors would take all comers, even each other if no one else was willing to step up.

"It would be like meeting at the courtyard at apartments, put on a pair of gloves, and whatever parent feel like they want to put some money up on their child," Jermell Charlo (33-1, 17 KO) said. "That's how my dad made a living. Me and my brother was the studs that would run through anybody at that age group, from five to seven.

"It was about fighting. It was about winning. It wasn't never even really about being a man or none of that. We was too young for that. We were just in there being warriors, little fighters, little killers, little go-getters— that's what they used to call us."

It's unclear what their father, himself an amateur boxer, was hoping to instill in his sons by introducing them to the gladiator life so young. As with many things, the two highly combative, highly competitive brothers don't entirely agree. Jermell, the more laid-back lifelong bachelor, sees their childhood differently than Jermall, a father of five who married his high school sweetheart and can't imagine putting his own children through the gauntlet he was forced to survive at a young age. 

Photo courtesy of Lions Only

"My dad was just being my dad, being a father. This is our lifestyle. This is our culture. It's all we had. I'm pretty sure that he was just instilling toughness in us. That's something he did," Jermall Charlo (30-0, 22 KO) said. "It was just a part of my life, especially my childhood growing up It's nothing I could change. I wouldn't take it back for nothing in the world. It showed us that once we make it out of this, we'll have everything in the world. I'm here fighting for everything that I love."

When the family moved to Houston, Texas, their parents looked to channel that aggression and passion into more formal training. Soon the two were regulars at the Savannah Boxing Club, where trainer Ronnie Shields worked with some of the best fighters in the world, including Raul Marquez, Vernon Forrest and even heavyweight kingpin Evander Holyfield. 

The twins became a constant presence at the gym, impressing everyone with their work ethic and tenacity as much as their obvious talent. Both made waves as amateur fighters but, while Jermall never tires of telling the world he was the firstborn (by all of one minute) it was younger brother Jermell who was the first to launch a professional career.

While his brother made his mark as a top young prospect for Golden Boy, Jermall, the more serious, studious brother, spent a year in college while preparing for a potential run at the Olympics in 2008. When that dream was dashed by a toe injury, he found himself suddenly behind his twin, watching with growing frustration from the outside as Jermell lived a dream they'd both once shared. 

"I don't necessarily think it's true that I developed faster as a fighter," Jermell said. "But boxing is a who you know sport, and my manager at that time was Shelly Finkel and he had a great connection with (Oscar De La Hoya's promotional company) Golden Boy. And they took a liking to me, they liked what they seen, and they put me on right away. My second pro fight, I fought on the Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins undercard.

"From that point on, life just started. I tried my best to get my brother to get signed by Golden Boy and all his higher-ups, but I don't know, I don't know what they was looking for or what they was looking into. They didn't do it."

Jermall, eventually, took matters into his own hands. He flew to Ontario, California, where his brother was about to win his eighteenth professional fight, and hopped the railing to steal an audience with boxing power broker Al Haymon. 

"I always look at it like favor isn't fair," Jermall said. "My brother was just in the right time at the right place. It's not that I wasn't there training. I never stepped away from boxing. I was eager to be just like my twin brother, but I just didn't get the call and he did. I just supported him until I got my chance.

"(Al Haymon) was definitely interested in my eagerness to get back in the ring and fight. All I asked was 'can I find someone that takes boxing as serious as I do?' He said, 'You met the right guy.' We got it on from there."

In Haymon's world, the opportunity is earned. He asked Charlo if he could be ready to fight in two weeks. Exactly fourteen days later, Jermall beat a journeyman named Edgar Perez and suddenly found himself on the same fast track his brother was already running.

It was the beginning of big things for the two, with the brothers making their mark both individually and collectively in the junior middleweight division, where both earned title gold on the same card in May 2016. The more aggressive Jermall's true star-making performance came against the highly regarded Julian Williams in 2016. Jermell, taking his turn in the spotlight, turned heads when he absolutely starched the tough Erickson Lubin a year later.

In 2018, perhaps tiring of constant comparisons, Jermall stepped up a weight class to middleweight. Before, only their tattoos and different ring styles distinguished the two. Now, separated by six pounds, the brothers were able to carve out more distinct paths to the top of the boxing world without worrying about the other inadvertently blocking their route to stardom.

The relationship between the two is complicated and fierce. While they generally maintain a united front in public, Jermell split from mentor Shields back in 2015 and the verbal sparring between the brothers can get prickly.

"(Shields) is like a father figure to me; he’s my kids’ grandpa," Jermall told PBC's Bob Velin. "He’s a friend, he teaches me all kinds of stuff, he’s just smart. He’s a loving dude, man. You can’t ask for a better person to be in your life."

As the two prepared for their first co-headlining roles on pay-per-view, Jermell took to Instagram to fire a broadside, not at his opponent Jeison Rosario, but directly across his brother's bow. You can hear the sigh when Jermall is asked about the incident, a deep breath that allows him to focus on his opponent in the ring instead of his brother.

"Yeah, we similar, but it's different when you leading the race. It's different when you the older brother. It's different when you got to be the bigger man. Sometimes that weighs on me," Jermall said. "...My twin brother is the same build as me, same strength as me. We've been through the same thing. Me and my twin brother, we always going to ride with each other. We always going to be down for each other, no matter which way it turns. I wish him all the best. I wish things like that wouldn't have to happen, but it makes us stronger."

The fight card on Saturday features something increasingly rare in the world of boxing—competitive bouts throughout. The event will be split into two cards, with Jermall headlining the early show against the tough Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Jermell taking the lead role for the second show in a title unification bout against Rosario later in the evening. 

“Saturday night is going to be my history-making performance," Jermell said at the final press conference this week. "This is something that I’ve always wanted and that I’ve always trained for. I’ve put in the hard work for every fight I’ve ever had, and this is what it’s all been for.

 “People will say that they can’t wait to see us fight again after Saturday. We come to fight. We prepared all our life for this. Now is our time. The big dogs are here to stay. We’re veterans in this game and we love this sport. To make it to this stage, there’s nothing bigger for us. This is our Super Bowl. This is our national championship. It’s time for us to go get our belts."

Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report. The CHARLO DOUBLEHEADER takes place Saturday, September 26 on SHOWTIME PPV with a special start time of 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The SHOWTIME PPV telecast begins with the Jermall Charlo vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko three-fight card followed by a 30-minute intermission and then the Jermell Charlo vs. Jeison Rosario three-fight card.