The Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo New York City press conference came and went Tuesday without the undisputed champions slinging any verbal jabs at each other.
The two traded plenty of praises instead, exactly a month and a half away from their September 30 fight in Las Vegas.
Part of the reason for that mutual respect?
Well, Alvarez, the reigning undisputed super middleweight champion, sees a bit of himself in Charlo.
"Thank you to Jermell for taking this fight," Alvarez began addressing the media from the dais. "I’m very happy to be in this position and to be in big fights. Jermell is a great fighter who takes on big challenges just like I do. I always take risks."
Alvarez, 33, is speaking from first-hand experience. Back in 2019, the boxing superstar made the jump from middleweight up two weight classes to light heavyweight where he defeated Sergey Kovalev via an electric 11th-round KO to be crowned a four-division world champion.
He added: “Jermell is a great fighter and this is a fight that’s been out there as a possibility for a long time. Now is the correct time for this fight."
Charlo, 33, is also attempting to leap up two divisions — from 154 to 168 pounds — and daring to be great in the biggest bout of his career.
"When you want to win something this big, you have to risk it all," Charlo told the media. "I’m gonna train my ass off and be intelligent. I know I’m moving up in weight, but who cares? That won’t stop me from getting in there and doing it the way I do it. I’m excited for this moment."