Jermall and Jermell Charlo will each be making their respective pay per view debuts Saturday night on Showtime in a first of its kind six-fight showcase.
In doing so, the twin brothers will be joining a shortlist of fighters like Manny Pacquiao, Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Errol Spence Jr. who have been tapped as A-side draws, looking to fill the pay per view shoes left by Floyd Mayweather Jr.
With top draws like Canelo Alvarez and Anthony Joshua currently sitting on DAZN’s sidelines waiting for new dates, and, in Alvarez’s case, waiting for litigation to run its course against his promoter Golden Boy and the streaming service, the sport will look to coronate known attractions into PPV draws over the next month.
Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe will be an interested observer Saturday night (7:00 p.m. ET, $74.95) from his home in Las Vegas as he watches the action unfold at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (30-0, 22 KOs) will take on two-time title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KOs) in the co-feature, while WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs) will look to unify the division against IBF and WBA titlist Jeison Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs) in the final fight of the five title night.
Ellerbe has presided over Maywether Jr.’s career as a confidant and right-hand man. He now handles growing star Gervonta Davis, who’ll be making his own PPV debut Oct. 24 on Showtime against Leo Santa Cruz.
Like Davis, Ellerbe believes the Charlos will be PPV mainstays in their careers moving forward.
“This is just the beginning of a great PPV run for both brothers. They have a tremendous opportunity to do something very special with their careers. There is no turning back from here for the Charlos,” Ellerbe told BoxingScene.com in an interview. “Fighting on PPV is a whole different animal than fighting on network TV. This is the coming-out party for both of them. They have meanness and toughness about them. Both of their fights are going to end in spectacular KOs. They both talk a lot of sh-t but they back it up.”
Ellerbe sees some of the same parallels in the Charlos that made Mayweather Jr. into a can’t-miss draw, but said both brothers need to make their own history.
Mayweather was a marketing master with a prolific jab and gab who equally created a love-hate relationship with admirers and detractors alike. The fighter of the decade evolved from his “Pretty Boy” persona into the unapologetic “Money May” midway through his career and never looked back.
“The Charlos are both charismatic, have dynamic personalities and their own identities, and both of them can fight their a–es off. They mean business. They are always in shape,” said Ellerbe. “But they don’t have to chase Floyd’s records and pattern themselves after him. There will never be another Floyd Mayweather Jr., as far as having the kind of success and records that he had in PPV. And that’s OK, because Floyd is a stand-alone icon who did the unthinkable, and in my opinion, will never be touched. The Charlos can create their own path and own lane, and they have the biggest platform on Showtime to do it. It starts this weekend.”
Ellerbe said fighting on PPV means that the Charlos are now officially ready to crossover and reach more than the die-hard, every day boxing fans, much like Mayweather Jr. did in 2005 when he made his HBO PPV debut against Arturo Gatti in “Thunder’s” backyard of Atlantic City with a one-sided beating.
“The Charlos will open up their fan base. They are looking to expand their fan base into the mainstream world with casual fans. Both of them have all of the ingredients to that. Gervonta Davis does, too, and he will be taking it from there. These two PPVs will have a tremendous impact on the sport moving forward, and establish what these fighters are all about.”
–boxingscene.com
