"I want my money back" - Former UFC heavyweight calls out Jermell Charlo for playing it safe against Canelo Alvarez

Former UFC heavyweight fighter Brendan Schaub is disappointed with Jermell Charlo’s performance against Canelo Alvarez this past weekend.

Unified light middleweight champion Jermell Charlo moved up two weight classes to challenge Canelo for the super middleweight title. However, the Mexican controlled the fight from pillar to post and walked away with a dominant unanimous decision win.

The outcome of this superfight was expected as Canelo was a massive -400 betting favorite. But Brendan Schaub thinks that Charlo did not fight to the best of his abilities and focused on not getting finished in a devastating fashion.

While speaking on his podcast, Brendan Schaub said:

“I want my money back, I want my money back! And not because of Canelo, because I’m a Jermell Charlo fan. I like the Charlo brothers. They’re great, worked with them. They’re nice guys in the world, so talented. But Jermell Charlo, if you look at Terence Crawford’s tweet, he got it right. Jermell just showed up not to get knocked out. He came in not to lose.”

He added:

“He didn’t want to become a meme. He didn’t want to be a highlight on Canelo’s record. There was no risk involved the whole time. He really didn’t take any chances, wasn’t that active. When you’re down eight rounds, nine rounds, it’s time to open up and there’s just none of that.”

Watch Brendan Schaub discuss the topic from the 7:40 mark below:

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Canelo Alvarez vs Jermell Charlo in numbers

Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo turned out to be more one-sided than most people perceived the matchup to be. Canelo outlanded Charlo 134 to 71 in terms of total strikes landed. His punching accuracy (34.8%) was way higher than Charlo’s 17.8%.

Canelo also knocked down Charlo in the seventh round with a vicious right hand to the head. Meanwhile, the light middleweight champion struggled to launch meaningful offense against the Mexican for all 12 rounds, losing the fight via unanimous decision (118-109, 118-109, 119-108).

Charlo’s performance has been unanimously criticized in the boxing community. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn expressed his disappointment in the level of skill displayed by Charlo in the fight and opined that he wasted a huge opportunity to show his talent on a big stage.

Canelo Alvarez is most likely going to fight interim champion David Benavidez next. Charlo was stripped of his WBO light middleweight title as soon as the fight started. Australian boxer Tim Tszyu was promoted to champion status as a result. He will most probably be Charlo’s next opponent.