LAS VEGAS – Jermall Charlo still considers a return to the middleweight division a realistic possibility for his next fight.

The unbeaten WBC middleweight champion remains confident that he can get down to the division’s limit of 160 pounds, even though he came in 3½ pounds over the contracted catch weight of 163 pounds for his 10-round, unanimous-decision victory over Jose Benavidez Jr. on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena. Houston’s Charlo views his mandatory challenger, Carlos Adames, and IBF/WBO champ Janibek Alimkhanuly as appealing opponents in middleweight matches, yet he is obviously very interested in remaining a super middleweight and challenging Canelo Alvarez.

The Mexican superstar could consider Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) as his opponent for his likely May 4 return to the ring. Fans and media most want Alvarez to defend his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles against David Benavidez, but Alvarez hasn’t publicly expressed much interest in battling Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs).

Phoenix’s Benavidez stopped Demetrius Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs), a southpaw from Providence, Rhode Island, after the sixth round of their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event Saturday night. The 26-year-old Benavidez called out Alvarez again, but Charlo previously welcomed what would be the biggest, most profitable fight he could land before Benavidez arrived at their press conference.

“Pick me,” Charlo said when he was asked if he had a message for Alvarez. “Yeah, I know y’all seen him fight my twin brother, but it’s a whole different twin. You know, I’m not bashing nothing my brother did. He dared to be great, jumping up two weight classes to go fight Canelo. You know, technically, that was my time to shine, but you know, I wouldn’t have felt as good going into that fight, like I did tonight.

“I mean, you know, not saying anything about Benavidez and comparing those two, but you know, Canelo’s on a way [higher] level from Benavidez. So, I think that fight woulda made me get up for it. I really wasn’t like motivated by this fight, but I got it done, you know?”

Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) was boxing’s undisputed 154-pound champion when he agreed to move up two weight classes, 14 pounds altogether, to challenge Alvarez. An extremely cautious Charlo lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs), who dropped him in the seventh round and won by huge margins on all three scorecards (119-108, 118-109, 118-109) on September 30 at T-Mobile Arena.

That bout became available to Jermell Charlo because Jermall Charlo wasn’t in the right frame of mind in June to accept that type of challenging, high-profile fight. Jermall Charlo, who has been open about his mental health issues, eventually agreed to battle Benavidez Jr. (28-3-1, 19 KOs) in what was Charlo’s first fight in 29 months.

If Alvarez isn’t interested in defending his titles versus David Benavidez in his first fight of 2024, Premier Boxing Champions founder Al Haymon could match Alvarez against Jermall Charlo and sell their pay-per-view fight as Jermall attempting to avenge his brother’s defeat. Jermall Charlo acknowledged later Saturday night, however, that his estranged brother hasn’t returned his phone calls since Jermall attended Jermell’s fight with Alvarez almost two months ago.

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