Jermell Charlo saw his twin sibling Jermall score a career-best win earlier in the night over Sergiy Derevyanchenko, then came out and closed the Showtime PPV with a 8th round knockout of Jeison Rosario, unifying 3 titles at 154 pounds and establishing himself as the leading junior middleweight on the planet.
Charlo (34-1, 18 KO) had three knockdowns total in the fight, and scored a rather uncommon looking KO at 21 seconds of the eighth round, dropping Rosario (20-2-1, 14 KO) with a jab to the body, had Rosario gulping breaths of air and sent his legs stiff. It was a scary scene for a moment, but Rosario end up leaving under his own power and whatever.
Heres the KO if you didnt see it:
” Im more than just a puncher, but I also showed that Im a puncher,” Charlo stated. “I stay with my game strategies. I d grade myself an A, because of the fact that everything my coach informed me in training camp, I did. Its been a journey for me. Im certainly bringing home the straps like my family told me to do.”
” I dont know. I know Im gon na talk with the sanctioning bodies and find out whats going on,” he stated. “Im the lineal champion. I hold the crown, Im the king. Ill talk with my group and see whats next.”
At the time of the blockage, two judges had the fight 67-64 for Charlo, as Rosario did have success in some rounds and won his share, and the other judge had it even better at 66-65 in Charlos favor. BLH had it 66-65 and 67-64 on two different cards at the time of the KO.
Charlo scored a preliminary knockdown on Rosario with a clipping left hook high up on the head, which sent out Rosarios legs all over the location. He dropped Rosario once again late in the sixth, which time Rosario was hurt for sure, and was probably fortunate the bell got him out of the round before Charlo could do more damage, as he stumbled wearily back to his corner.
The win provides the 30-year-old Charlo the WBC, WBA, and IBF title belts, with only Patrick Teixeiras WBO belt not in the Houston locals possession now, and other than the WBO and Teixeira, I dont believe anyone is going to argue that Charlo isnt now clearly the leading guy at 154.
Charlo said Rosario “does strike hard,” which he never ignored his challenger at all, understanding that Rosario threatened.
” I believe it was due to previous punches I had actually thrown. That jab got to the body, it must have hit an excellent point, I do not understand,” Charlo said after the battle. “It appeared like he was having a seizure.
After a tentative seventh round, Charlo opened the 8th with that jab to the body, a punch that rather unpredictably ended the battle.
Charlo likewise stated, rather not surprisingly, that hes not truly sure what follows for him.
” I understood he was going to keep coming, and he did, he continued for 4 or five rounds before I floored him again,” he said. “Im growing, and I understand that the knockout just comes. I know I have explosive power in each one of my hands. Today I used my jab more than I did any other punch.”
Luis Nery UD-12 Aaron Alameda
Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME
That said, Nery (31-0, 24 KO) absolutely did not look like the interesting, power punching dynamo people are used to seeing. Possibly part of that is working with fitness instructor Eddy Reynoso and trying to modify his style a bit, and possibly part of it is simply that he flat-out resisted a fellow southpaw in Alameda, who hadnt fought anyone, actually, as a pro, but was a solid amateur fighter and revealed good, if rather standard abilities in this fight. In some cases that can be adequate to ruin at least, and it certainly was here.
This was most likely not the official debut Luis Nery wanted at 122 pounds in regards to looking great, however he now has the WBC title, which was vacant entering this fight, as Rey Vargas has been called “champion-in-recess,” and hes officially in the mix at junior featherweight.
Alameda did way better than generally anybody expected, Nery did way even worse, however ultimately I dont believe there was any terrific difference between what they really accomplished in the ring, and even the punch statistics had them generally even on the whole. There were a lot of rounds I thought could have gone either way.
Daniel Roman UD-12 Juan Carlos Payano
Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME
With this win, Roman, 30, is now in line to get another title fight at 122. He lost the WBA and IBF titles to Murodjon Akhmadaliev in January, and this sets him up for a crack at the WBC belt, as this was a WBC remover. Payano arguably got the short end a little bit here, but hes a difficult matchup for a great deal of guys, and in the end Roman did just enough for the judges; and honestly, offered my 114-114 card, Roman would have had a 114-113 rating for me if that 12th round knockdown had actually been counted, as I think it needs to have been. And Roman was the one who did the actually great when it seemed he needed it most, with Payano fading late due to Romans body work and perhaps a bit due to his age, plus a cut troubling him. Tough to be upset about the result, actually.
It was a great battle, extremely competitive, with the 36-year-old veteran Payano, born in the Dominican Republic and now fighting out of Miami, moving up to 122 after a long run at 118, and still looking plenty capable. Hes always been a good, difficult fighter, and only great fighters have ever beaten him, with only Naoya Inoue and Luis Nery– still, in my view– truly convincingly beating him.
We had a little possible late drama in this fight, as Roman appeared to score a knockdown just– and I imply just– inside the bell to end the 12th round, which looked like it might have made a big difference on the cards here, possibly. The shot wasnt counted, and Roman got scores of 116-112 from all three judges, anyhow, so it didnt ultimately make a distinction.
That jab got to the body, it must have hit an excellent point, I do not understand,” Charlo stated after the battle.” Im more than simply a puncher, but I also proved that Im a puncher,” Charlo said.” I knew he was going to keep coming, and he did, he pushed on for four or 5 rounds before I floored him once again,” he stated. Possibly part of that is working with fitness instructor Eddy Reynoso and trying to modify his design a bit, and maybe part of it is simply that he flat-out struggled versus a fellow southpaw in Alameda, who hadnt fought anyone, actually, as a pro, but was a solid amateur fighter and revealed good, if rather fundamental abilities in this fight. Payano arguably got the short end a little bit here, but hes a tough match for a lot of guys, and in the end Roman did just enough for the judges; and honestly, offered my 114-114 card, Roman would have had a 114-113 score for me if that 12th round knockdown had been counted, as I believe it needs to have been.
When it comes to whats next with Roman, he stated in a post-fight interview that hes not just going to wait for a WBC title shot, despite the fact that he has the right to one now, which is probably wise. He pointed out a possible WBA/IBF rematch with Murodjon Akhmadaliev or a WBO title battle with Angelo Leo as something hes open to doing, too.
BLH had this battle 114-114 even, with Payano (21-4, 9 KO) building a nice lead on our card in the first half, and after that Roman (28-3-1, 10 KO) coming on late and winning the last 4 rounds to even things up. The fight in fact seemed relatively easy to score to me, however as Showtimes Steve Farhood kept in mind, in some cases judges essential quite a bit on The Guy Coming Forward, and there were probably a couple Payano rounds on my card you could have shaded to Roman based on that.
