Charlo twins split title fights in disastrous 'PBC on Fox' debut

The first card of the new “Premier Boxing Champions on Fox” series, which debuted Saturday from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, was designed to push the Charlo brothers toward stardom.

It turned out to be disastrous, however.

Tony Harrison handed Jermell Charlo the first defeat of his career, and took his WBC super welterweight title with a controversial unanimous decision in which the judges preferred his accurate punches to Charlo’s seemingly harder shots.

Judges Julie Lederman and Ron McNair had it 115-113 each for Harrison, while Robin Taylor had it 116-112 for the new champion. Yahoo Sports had it 116-112 for Jermell Charlo.

In the main event, Charlo’s twin brother, Jermall Charlo, retained the interim WBC middleweight championship with a unanimous decision over late-replacement Matt Korobov. Korobov got the fight about a week earlier when Willie Monroe failed an anti-doping test because of elevated levels of testosterone.

Jermall Charlo won by scores of 116-112 twice and 119-108 in a bout which Korobov made competitive, even if he lost the majority of the rounds.

Jermall was able to keep a belt in the family, but it was his brother’s fight that stole the show.
Jermell was hoping to use the exposure to set up a big 2019 unification bout with IBF-WBA super welterweight champion Jarret Hurd. Harrison, though, had other ideas.

Harrison (28-2, 21 KOs), who had been knocked out in the ninth in each of his two losses, did a lot more than survive. He showed a sturdy chin when Jermell connected and did a good job keeping his distance. Jermell outlanded Harrison, 160-128, but Harrison connected at 34 percent to 29 percent for Charlo.

According to CompuBox statistics, Charlo outlanded Harrison in nine of the 12 rounds. Charlo thought he was robbed and the crowd agreed with him, booing lustily.

“They took that fight from me,” he said.”I was pressing the action. He didn’t win that fight. I’m going to get my belts back. I still want Jarret Hurd. I know my brother [Jermall] knows I won that fight. I might have given away a few rounds, but I won that fight.”

Charlo appeared to land the harder punches, and seemed to have Harrison hurt a few times.

But Harrison never panicked and landed a number of good shots to the head. His corner pleaded with him to go to the body, which he never did with any regularity, but he never had a doubt that he had done enough despite the reaction of the audience.

“I dictated the pace,” Harrison said. “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.”

Korobov couldn’t pull off the second huge upset of the night, though he performed admirably considering the late change in opponent and Jermall’s ability.

But Jermall was too quick for him and was frequently able to beat him to the punch. Korobov was badly hurt twice in the 12th, but was able to remain on his feet.

“I used everything that happened tonight as motivation in the 12th round,” Jermall said. “I haven’t been that far in a fight in a couple of years. It felt good to be in there, get hit and bang with someone. He was an experienced guy who will make me better.

“I had fun in there with an opponent like that. I got the win and that’s the main thing. I still feel I’m the best in the world. I just need to prove it to the rest of the world.”

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