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Mike CoppingerESPN
Jermall Charlo’s layoff will extend past one year.
The 32-year-old was set to defend his middleweight title against Maciej Sulecki on June 18 in Houston, his hometown, but the fight has been postponed because of a back injury that Charlo suffered in training, Showtime announced.
The fight will be rescheduled once it’s determined when Charlo can resume training, according to the network.
Charlo, ESPN’s No. 1 middleweight, was in talks to fight Jaime Munguia before negotiations collapsed. When that happened, PBC put together a fight against Sulecki (30-2, 11 KOs).
The 32-year-old fringe contender from Poland was floored in Round 12 of a decision loss to Daniel Jacobs in 2018 before he was shut out by Demetrius Andrade in a 2019 title fight.
Charlo, whose twin brother is undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo, hasn’t competed since a June 2021 fight vs. Juan Macias Montiel. Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) was expected to cruise past the fringe contender but struggled at times down the stretch.