Carlos Adames Unfazed by Time Off, Jermall Charlo or Terrell Gausha Fight

Middleweight Carlos Adames isn’t sweating the small stuff. In fact, to hear him tell it, there seems to be nothing these days capable of breaking his stride.

Adames is preparing to take on Terrell Gausha in a middleweight clash in the opener of the pay-per-view card headlined by Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Frank Martin on June 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The 30-year-old Adames (23-1, 18 KOs), a newly elevated middleweight titleholder, after the stripping of former champion Jermall Charlo, is coming off almost a full year of inactivity. But he says he doesn’t fear any ring rust.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in the ring,” he said, “but I’ve been in the gym for a long time getting into the best shape possible, mentally and physically.”

Adames aims to eventually unify the 160-pound weight class, a division that historically has been very strong and featured blockbuster bouts between Gennady Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2017 and 2018. But in the years since, middleweight has become hollowed out as Canelo climbed to higher weight classes and several middleweight contenders tried to chase him for a huge payday.

Gausha (24-3-1, 12 KOs), who began his career fighting in the mid-160s and who has spent his career bursting at the junior welterweight seams, beefs up the middleweight division’s ranks. He may have several blemishes on his record, but he has been more active than Adames in recent years – and none of his losses have been soft. Gausha has fallen only to Tim Tszyu, Erickson Lubin and Erislandy Lara, and he won a handful of rounds in each outing.

“I’m not concerned about Gausha’s resume or who he’s fought, because I’m the best fighter he’s gonna face,” Adames said. “I’m the best fighter in the 160-pound division, so he better be ready for what he’s coming up against. I’m not underestimating anyone, but I’m not worried about his experience.”

Adames came into possession of the WBC title due to previous champion Charlo being stripped following his arrest earlier this month. A decision win over Jose Benavidez Jr. last November was Charlo’s first fight in more than two years, and many believe the WBC should have stripped him earlier.

“What I really wanted was for Jermall Charlo to fight me,” Adames said, “but he made his choice.”