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Jermall Charlo has been cleared of all charges stemming from an alleged robbery incident.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the three-count case against the unbeaten two-division and reigning WBC middleweight titlist was dismissed on Monday, citing insufficient evidence in dropping all charges. Houston’s Charlo was previously arrested on August 7 and charged with three counts of second-degree felony robbery in response to a complaint filed July 16 at Privat Martini Bar & Social Club in San Antonio.
Charlo was released on $5,000 surety bond, maintaining his innocence and eager to prove as such in a court of law. It never came to that, as investigators determined that video surveillance confirmed Charlo’s insistence that the incident in question was merely a misunderstanding over his payment card originally being declined due to a fraud alert—a common occurrence experienced by Chase cardholders.
The evidence supported Charlo’s version of events, closing out the case entirely according to Bexar County court records.
According to the initial incident report, Charlo allegedly stole cash from a guest check portfolio and accused a waiter of trying to steal his debit card, while retrieving his driver’s license from another portfolio. The report suggests that a member of Charlo’s party injured a waitress upon exiting the establishment, although there already appears to be conflicts regarding both the sequence of events and the extent of the incident in question.
“I want to make clear that Jermall stole no money from anyone at the club and made no threats toward anyone,” Kent A. Schaffer, Charlo’s attorney stated at the time. “When (the club) ran his card, it was declined and he then received a fraud alert from Chase Bank asking if he had made the charge. He responded yes and they told him to have the charge submitted again.
“The waitress went to run it again and came back saying she could not find the card. Jermall was upset that his card was missing since it was a debit card tied to an account with a substantial amount of money.”
The filed incident report was where the two sides disagreed over what happened next. Charlo—who was in town in support of his twin brother Jermell Charlo in his undisputed junior middleweight championship clash with Brian Castano—was understandably distraught over the establishment not being able to locate his debit card. By that point, he saw his license sticking out from a check presenter at which he took it back as “he didn’t want her to lose that, too” according to his attorney.
Police responded to a call from the establishment at roughly 2:00 a.m., according to the report. It was believed by officials detailed to the case that there existed enough evidence to proceed with the case, with arrest warrants executed August 7, according to Bexar County court records. The sense from Charlo’s legal team that it would be resolved, which ultimately proved to be the case.
Charlo (32-0, 22KOs) has been out of the ring since a twelve-round, unanimous decision win over Mexico’s Juan Macias Montiel last Juneteenth at Toyota Center in his Houston hometown. The win marked the fourth successful title defense for Charlo since his reign was upgraded from “interim” to “World” champion in June 2019.
The next fight for Charlo has yet to be revealed by Premier Boxing Champions (PBC). However, his name has remained in headlines primarily as the leading candidate to next face pound-for-pound king and undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (57-1-2, 39KOs).
The rumored fight is targeted for a May 7 Pay-Per-View in Las Vegas, in celebration of Cinco De Mayo and with Charlo moving up in weight in attempting to become a three-division titlist. Such talks come as his twin brother Jermell awaits a firm fight date for his undisputed junior middleweight championship rematch with Castano.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox