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PLH: The Charlos Are Human And Dillian Whyte Presses Forward

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From lions to mortals.

The Charlo twins veneer of invincibility took a backseat this weekend when Jermell lost his WBC strap. The brothers were the headliner for Premier Boxing Champions and FOX with undesirable results.

In the co-main event, Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo lost highly a controversial decision. Through 12 rounds, the New York State judges saw his opponent Tony Harrison as the unanimous victor.

In a back-and-forth war, Detroit’s Tony Harrison (28-2, 21 KOs) pulled off the upset over Jermell Charlo (31-1, 15 KOs). Harrison captured the WBC Super Welterweight Championship during the twins Lions Only promotional debut.

“I dictated the pace,” said Harrison post-fight. “That’s what champions do. He wound up for big shots and I kept my defense tight. All we worked on was defense. I kept my composure and I did what champions do.” Charlo joined the booing Barclays Center crowd with his disagreement with the judges’ decision.

From Lions to Men

“They took that fight from me,” said Charlo post-fight. “I was pressing the action. He didn’t win that fight.” Harrison was effective with his jab as he attempted to keep the power-punching Charlo at bay. Harrison landed his biggest punch of the fight in round five when a straight left appeared to temporarily stun Charlo.
Charlo was able to land several effective power punches throughout the 12 rounds. He also landed an overhand right late in round five that wobbled Harrison. Round nine saw significant action leading to an exchange where Charlo urged Harrison to keep coming forward.
“After every round (my corner) told me to just keep doing what you’re doing,” said Harrison, “You’re dictating the pace they said. That’s what champions do. Champions don’t just try to knock people out. That’s all he wanted to do. I dictated it”
However, the power punches in rounds 11 and 12 by Charlo seemed to win him the fight by many. Still, Charlo lost the decision.

Jermall Keeps The Gold

WBC Interim Middleweight Champion Jermall Charlo (28-0, 21 KOs) won a hard-fought unanimous decision over Matt Korobov (28-2, 13 KOs) to defend his title in the main event.

Kororbov was a last minute replacement for Willie Monroe, Jr., and he gave Charlo more than enough problems. The southpaw Korobov had success early countering Charlo with straight left hands that landed cleanly, even if they didn’t deter Charlo from coming forward. Korobov was successful countering to the body as well and ended the fight with a 119 to 114 advantage in power punches landed according to CompuBox.

“I felt like Jermell made his fight harder than it was,” said Charlo post-fight. “I had a really tough opponent, but he wasn’t better than me. There was a lot on my mind in the ring.”

KO Across The Pond

Dillian Whyte delivered a lethal left hook in the eleventh taking out Derek Chisora in London’s O2 Arena on Saturday. The heavyweight wasted no time in immediately calling out unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

Joshua, who called the fight ringside for Sky Sports, went face-to-face with Whyte following the bout.

“That left hook is my money shot. That shot is going to put a lot of people away,” said Whyte post-fight, whose only professional loss came to Joshua in 2015. “Whoever wants it can get it. I want Joshua next! Let’s do this. Rematch!”

Joshua has an April 13th date scheduled for Wembley Stadium with no opponent yet for the DAZN broadcast.

“Let’s forget about what’s happened in the past. We were at British level in our last fight and now we’re at world level,” replied Joshua, who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles. “It was a good fight back then but let’s see where we’re at right now. If anybody deserves a world title shot, I think it’s Dillian. Deontay Wilder is the target, but if it’s not him, it’s Dillian Whyte.”

Boxing ended 2018 with a bang and the clear upset of the year is bringing the heavyweight division back.

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