In the second main event of Showtime’s doubleheader pay-per-view, we had a world title unification between super welterweight WBC world champion Jermell Charlo (34-1, 18 KOs) and WBA/IBF world titleholder Jeison Rosario (20-2-1, 14 KOs).

 

The first round was tactical until Jermell threw a wide left hook that barely caught Rosario on top of the head. Rosario went down and made the count administered by referee Harvey Dock.

 

After that, though, Rosario won the next four rounds on my card. He applied constant pressure to Jermell, and despite Jermell having better feet, Rosario continued coming forward, stepping wide, and catching Charlo with his punches enough that it kept Jermell’s hands at home more than not.

 

Importantly, Jermell appeared uncomfortable. He clearly didn’t like the feel of Rosario’s punches when they landed and even when they were blocked. Rosario went downstairs a lot, and those shots in particular kept Jermell moving laterally.

 

Charlo allowed Rosario to come forward and get full power and extension on his punches during those rounds. But in the 6th, Jermell seemed to have figured something out. He continued to let Rosario move forward, but Charlo began moving one way and then quickly reversing direction. This kept Rosario slightly off balance, and it took a lot of the sting off Rosario’s punches. It was a brilliant strategy. If you can’t back Rosario up, and you can’t or don’t want to take it on the inside, this was a highly effective way to reduce the effectiveness of Rosario’s heavy punches.

 

In that 6th round, Jermell landed a combination and ended with a clean right hand that again wobbled Rosario’s legs—only worse than in the first knockdown. Down Rosario went. Again, he made the count, but his legs were bad and were clearly wobbly as he walked to his corner after the bell.

 

Rosario continued to pursue Jermell in the 7th, coming forward as before, but he was still hurt and no longer had the same sting in his punches. Jermell was now comfortable, moving this way and that. He knew he’d figured something out.

 

At the very start of the 8th round, Charlo threw a jab upstairs followed by a jab to the body. Rosario immediately fell backward to the canvas as if he’d been shot; it was clear he had lost control of his body as there was no indication of him trying to resist the knockdown or break his fall.

 

Rosario’s body seized as he lay on his back. Referee Harvey Dock administered the count, but Rosario struggled mightily to get his body to respond to what his mind wanted it to do. Finally, at the count of nine, Rosario was able to roll over almost onto his hands and knees, but that was the most he could do and the referee waved it off.

 

Rosario was in obvious pain, grimacing as he lay on his back again. His body didn’t seem to respond correctly and he looked limp. After a little time had passed, thankfully he was able to make it to his feet and seemed okay.

 

The replay showed that it was, truly, a jab to the solar plexus that hurt Rosario so tremendously. It was a shocking result—a body shot knockout isn’t too unusual, but one that resulted in the injured fighter losing control of his body and seizing as if he’d been hit with a hook or uppercut to the head certainly was.

 

Rosario is a very good fighter and he beat Julian Williams in a tremendous performance for the WBA and IBF titles in his last bout. In this fight, Rosario showed incredible heart as always and he has a way of making his strengths and weaknesses work in his favor most of the time.

 

Jermell really showed something special tonight. It wasn’t just the stupendous knockout; it was the way he overcame the adversity dished out by Rosario. It was the fact that he kept a cool head in the face of difficulty and found an intelligent and effective way to beat his opponent. It was also that, just like in his rematch with Tony Harrison, when he was losing rounds Jermell never stopped really trying and knowing he could find a way to win.

 

The way Jermell Charlo defeated Rosario tonight was incredibly impressive. If you have a pound-for-pound list, it seems to me Jermell would have to be on it at this point.

 

Hopefully, next, we can see Jermell against the only other world champion in the 154-pound division, Patrick Teixeira, and we can see an undisputed champion in the weight class.

 

Previously, 122-pounders Luis Nery (31-0, 24 KOs) and Aaron Alameda (25-1, 13 KOs) fought in a 12-rounder for the vacant WBC world super bantamweight belt. Both men are southpaws, and though Nery is known as a power puncher, he’s now training with Eddy Reynoso (Canelo Alvarez’s coach) and Reynoso clearly had his man fighting a smarter, more measured fight in an effort to get Nery to think more and not take so many punches.

 

Alameda fought a measured fight as well, and honestly if he’d moved his feet a little more he probably would have won more rounds from Nery, who struggles with his footwork. But he did well at blocking a fair amount of Nery’s punches as well as landing some of his own.

 

Nery, though, began to gradually turn up the pressure as the rounds progressed. By the end, he was clearly winning the majority of the rounds by landing more and being more effective.

 

The official scorecards read 115-113, 116-112, and 118-110 all for Luis Nery.

 

Earlier, super bantamweight former world champions Danny Roman (28-3-1, 10 KOs) and Juan Carlos Payano (21-4, 9 KOs) faced off in a 12-round bout.

 

Payano, an experienced southpaw, dictated the pace and geography of the fight from the beginning. Roman tended to follow the 36-year-old around and looked for counter shots, but Payano was first and continued to move when and where he wanted.

 

The rounds continued like that throughout, until finally in the 10th Payano slowed down a touch and Roman became more aggressive and threw more punches. Before that round, it seemed to me the most that could be scored for Roman might be a single round; from 10 on, Roman won the rounds, but despite the unofficial scorecard on Showtime being very close, that’s just not what I saw.

 

At the very end of the 12th, Roman landed a left hook that landed at the bell. Payano fell backward into the ropes and down to the canvas, in what should have been a knockdown. Referee Johnny Callas didn’t call it a knockdown and seemed unaware of the ABC rule “You can’t be saved by the bell in any round…including the 12th and final round.”

 

The official scorecards were unanimous and all three read 116-112 for Roman. The judges—Kevin Morgan, David Sutherland, and Don Trella—should be ashamed of themselves. I honestly don’t understand how one could score 8 rounds for Roman. It seemed that they simply scored for the “name” guy. It was disgraceful and a true embarrassment for the sport.

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Results from Part 1 of Charlo Doubleheader PPV

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