San Antonio to Host Benavidez vs Andrade Plus Big Charlo's Return

Big-time boxing returns to Alamo City, according to 210 BoxingTV and multiple other sources. Undefeated and former two-time 168-pound world champion David Benavidez battles Demetrius Andrade on November 25th. The venue has not been pinned down yet. However, the AT&T Center seems like the logical choice. Benavidez, 27-0 (23), has become a fan favorite, and his last outing, a 12-round domination of former champ Caleb "Sweethands" Plant, has made him the boogieman of the 168-pound division. He held the WBC world title from 2017-18 but was stripped of his title. He reclaimed his title in 2019 by stopping Anthony Dirrell and was stripped yet again. This time, he lost it on the scales. Andrade, 32-0 (19), a former two-division world champion, captured world titles at Junior Middleweight and Middleweight. He held world titles as recently as late 2021 when he vacated his middleweight title to move up to the super middleweight division. He won a lopsided unanimous decision against Demond Nicholson on the Tank Davis-Hector Garcia card in January at 168 in his most recent outing.

The card will also feature the return of long-reigning but inactive middleweight champ and Houston native Jermall Charlo, 32-0 (22). He will battle rugged contender Jose Benavidez Jr, 28-2-1 (19). Charlo has been the WBC middleweight champ since 2019. However, Big Charlo hasn't defended his belt in well over two years. He last fought in June of 2021 and dominated Juan Montiel. Benavidez, lost a close contest to Danny Garcia in 2022 and bounced back nicely earlier this year with a one-sided beatdown of Sladan Janjanin, scoring a fifth-round knockout.

New Jersey native Vito Mielnicki Jr. 15-1 (10), is also confirmed for the card.

Charlo spoke to Andrade for an hour, will bypass tune-up, won't be stripped by WBC due to a Serious mental health episode.

Long-reigning WBC Middleweight champion Jermall Charlo of Houston has been inactive for nearly two years but won't be stripped of his title, according to WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman. Sulaiman disclosed that the Houstonian suffered a "serious mental health episode" The president continued on explaining what he would like to see from his middleweight champ in the future, "We want him to come back, or a 10-round fight. We will support him. And then we hope that a fight can be made with Adames (WBC interim champion) to unify the title. Or a fight with Munguia would be amazing. We would approve it, without a doubt.”

In 2021 Charlo was preparing for a title defense when he suffered an injury during training. This is when the wheels came off, according to Sulaiman, “When Charlo was recovering from his injury, he suffered a mental health episode, a serious, important one according to WBC President" 'If people want to be yelling and kicking because we didn’t strip him of his title for not fighting, that is the reason. We will be supporting him unconditionally. That is why there is an interim title, so there can be activity in the division. But we will always support our champion, and the good ones, and even more in the bad ones,” Sulaiman explained.

Charlo, however, plans on comeback sooner rather than later, and PBC has penciled in a date of July 1. That date was confirmed by trainer Ronnie Shields last month. Originally the plan was to put the WBC champ in a tune-up fight at the Toyota Center in his home city. However, Charlo may be open to taking the biggest challenge of his career, arguably, and forging a tune-up altogether. According to the champ, he is willing "to get straight into it [an Andrade fight]." According to Charlo “He [Andrade] called me the other day. We talked for like an hour, just trying to get this shi*t done.” Both men have been looking for a career-defining legacy fight for years but have not been able to secure one for any number of reasons. A showdown between the pair is long overdue and has been discussed for years at different weight classes.  Andrade has recently vacated his WBO version of the middleweight title to campaign at 168. It is unclear if a possible Charlo-Andrade fight would take place at the middleweight or super middleweight limit. The WBC would approve a non-title fight, according to its president.