Jermall Charlo says he’d rather fight Caleb Plant next rather than Canelo Alvarez if the two win their fights this Saturday. Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) wants to get his “lick back” for being slapped by Plant two years ago. He wants to take care of that first, and then move on to Canelo after he’s beaten the former IBF super middleweight champion.

(Credit: Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions)

Jermall Wants Plant First

Charlo faces Thomas LaManna (39-5-1, 18 KOs) in a 10-round fight in the co-feature on Saturday, May 31st at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. Charlo-LaManna is fighting on the Plant vs. Jose Armando Resendiz card. The event will be shown live on PBC on Prime Video. It starts at 8:00 p.m. ET /5:00 p.m. PT.

“I’d rather fight Caleb Plant than Canelo. I’m not ducking nobody. I’d rather get the Caleb Plant situation handled for the world and the fans because I have to sleep with that,” said Jermall Charlo to the media today when asked who he wants to fight next. It looked bad the way Plant ran. When you slap someone, you’ve got to stand your ground.

It sounds like Jermall has been stewing about that slap episode from Plant in 2023. He’s probably been replaying the memories of that incident in his mind for the last two years, and wishing he’d done something different. Plant caught Charlo off guard with the slap, and then took off like a rocket to avoid getting hit back.

Plant’s Slap Incident Impact

“The Canelo situation is for me to better myself, but that [Plant] was something that held me back. So, that’s something I want to do. I want to take care of that first. I learned what God really meant when he said, ‘Turn the other cheek.’ It don’t faze me now,” said Jermall about being slapped by Plant on July 28, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas at the Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford weigh-in.

Plant doesn’t possess the power or the ruggedness that Jermall has. If he’s still got the power that he once had back in 2021 and earlier, he could have hurt ‘Sweethands’ Plant during today’s final press conference if he wanted to. Charlo is more physically gifted than Plant and has a better engine.

If Canelo were available, pursuing that fight would be the better option for Charlo, as he needs to fight the Mexican star as soon as possible. Canelo, 35, is starting to show signs of being washed. Jermall can’t afford to put it off if it’s available to him, assuming he defeats Plant. The way Canelo looked against William Scull on May 3rd, he’ll lose to Terence Crawford on September 13th, and that could be the end of his career.

Slap Revenge Dominates Charlo

“I want my lick back for sure. But I won’t mess up the bag. I won’t blow the bag. I got to go get the money. I’d rather fight him in the ring than go to jail outside,” said Charlo about Plant. “If I slap his a** today at the press conference, I’m going to jail. I’m going to get my lick back. Trust me. I would fight him in Texas.”

That would have been bad if Jermall had slapped or punched Caleb Plant during today’s final press conference for their fights this Saturday. Both fighters need to win thier fights at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas for them to meet later this year.

“We got to figure out if he cheated or not. Submit sample 2, and then we’ll see if he cheated,” said Charlo when asked about his thoughts on Jaime Munguia testing positive for testosterone metabolites from his May 4th VADA test.

Jaime Munguia’s positive test came a day after his win over Bruno Surace in their rematch on May 3rd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has 10 days to request his B-sample to be examined to see if he can be cleared. However, Munguia is already mentioning the possibility of contamination.