ONTARIO, California – Jarrett Hurd doesn’t simply see his fight Saturday night as a chance to shed some of the ring rust that has accumulated over the past 21 months.

The former IBF/IBO/WBA 154-pound champion considers his 10-round, 162-pound bout against Armando Resendiz as a perfect opportunity to move into prime position to secure the fight Hurd wants most. Jermall Charlo is expected to end his own long layoff in June, but the unbeaten WBC middleweight champion doesn’t have an opponent.

If Hurd (24-2, 16 KOs) can overcome Mexico’s Resendiz (13-1, 9 KOs), he would gladly challenge Charlo for his 160-pound championship in three months.

“Please make my dreams come true,” Hurd told BoxingScene.com following a press conference Thursday at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Ontario Airport. “That’s the fight I want, man. The Charlo guys, we got a lotta history together, you know, a lotta back and forth and it’s time to put up or shut up, man. I’m back in the sport and that’s the fight I want the most.”

The 32-year-old Hurd lost his last fight to Luis Arias (20-3-1, 9 KOs), who was an 8-1 underdog, by split decision in June 2021 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The inactive Accokeek, Maryland native isn’t listed in the top 15 of the WBC’s middleweight rankings, either, yet that clearly could change if he defeats Resendiz in the co-feature of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader at Toyota Arena (9 p.m. ET).

“He got the WBC belt, the green belt I always wanted,” said Hurd, who is listed by most sportsbooks as a 5-1 favorite versus Resendiz. “I feel like that fight would be pretty easy [to make]. If I can get that fight next, trust me, it’s gonna happen.”

Charlo and Hurd both work with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, which is why Hurd considers theirs a fight that can be put together relatively easily. Hurd and Charlo also have history, as Hurd mentioned.

Though Hurd noted that his problem primarily is with Jermell Charlo, the fully unified 154-pound champion, there is some animosity between Hurd and Jermall Charlo. Hurd got into a public confrontation with the Charlo twins at the Canelo Alvarez-Caleb Plant fight in November 2021 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Jermall Charlo intervened on his brother’s behalf that night on the arena floor and went nose-to-nose with Hurd. That led to Hurd shoving Jermall Charlo as Hurd attempted to take a swipe at Jermell Charlo, who stood behind his brother.

“Me and Jermall, it’s more just he has to defend his brother and, you know, I understand it,” Hurd said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a real beef or anything like that. But it’s – I would wanna whup his ass.”

Jermall Charlo hasn’t fought since he unanimously out-pointed Mexico’s Juan Macias Montiel in June 2021 at Toyota Center in Charlo’s hometown of Houston. The 32-year-old two-division champion has boxed just twice in the three years since he stopped Ireland’s Dennis Hogan in the seventh round of their December 2019 bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

If Hurd wins Saturday night, he believes that getting a fight in before Charlo can end his hiatus would help him if they were to fight in June.

“I’m gonna take advantage of that, man,” Hurd said. “He had a long layoff. I had a long layoff. If I fight him next, I’ll have one fight in between. I’ll just take advantage of getting my ring rust off [Saturday] night and going in there [with Charlo].”

Hurd understands that Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) will still be a dangerous opponent, even after a two-year layoff that was caused by a back injury sustained while Charlo trained to fight Maciej Sulecki last June 18 and personal issues away from boxing.

“He got a lotta power,” Hurd acknowledged. “You know, of course I see myself coming out victorious. I just gotta look out for his big punches. I see him doing a lotta loading up with his shots. Just be on point with my defense and get the victory. Walk him down, like I always do.”

Detractors criticized Charlo for his performance against an awkward Montiel (23-6-2, 23 KOs), despite that the former IBF junior middleweight champion won by large margins on all three scorecards (120-108, 119-109, 118-109).

“He had a pretty good chin against Sergiy Derevyanchenko,” Hurd said in reference to Charlo’s impressive points victory over the Ukrainian contender in September 2020. “But in his last fight, against Montiel, he didn’t look as good. So, hopefully with this layoff, he’ll bring that Charlo that fought Montiel.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.