Jermall Charlo has vacated his IBF junior middleweight world title.
Charlo told ESPN of his intentions of moving up after not being able to get a title unification bout, a goal that he had for quite some time.
"It was either going to be a big fight for me at 154 pounds, like against Miguel Cotto or Canelo Alvarez, something big like that, or move up," Charlo said. "It had to be something big to make it worth staying at 154 pounds."
As far as his reasoning for him vacating the title, Charlo said he had troubles making the 154-pound limit, but wanted to have big fights that would keep him fighting at junior middleweight. Unfortunately for Charlo, those big fights never turned up.
"I know a lot of people mentioned maybe me fighting (former titlist and unbeaten Demetrius) Andrade,” Charlo said. “As far as competition, I wanted that fight too, but staying at 154 wasn't the healthiest move for me. I've been making 154 since I was an amateur in 2007. My body is growing and it was a little bit of a struggle to for me."
Charlo, who won the title when he defeated Cornelius Bundrage in 2015, is undefeated as a professional boxer. His twin brother Jermell, who is also undefeated, recently won the vacant WBC junior middleweight world title.
As far as the future plans for the title, the IBF also announced that Tony Harrison and Jarrett Hurd will fight for the title. They were originally set to compete in a non-title bout as the co-featured bout of a Premier Boxing Champions televised card headlined by Deontay Wilder vs. Gerald Washington for Wilder’s WBC heavyweight world title on February 25.
