By Jim Dower: WBC World junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (30-0, 15 KOs) stopped the highly hyped No.1 WBC contender Erickson Lubin (18-1, 13 KOs) by a 1st round highlight reel knockout on Saturday night in their co-feature fight on Showtime Championship Boxing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME)
Charlo connected with a monstrous right hand in the final seconds of the 1st round that caught the 22-year-old Erickson Lubin on the jab just as he was dipping down low. The shot knocked Lubin down on his side on the canvas where his arms and legs went into what appeared to be a spasm from the force of the knockout. Lubin was eventually able to get up, but the fight was over with long before that. The referee Harvey Dock stopped the fight immediately after Lubin hit the canvas, as it was clear that he was badly hurt. The official time of the stoppage was at 2:41 of round 1.
Lubin didn’t look that bad in the round. He was landing a few shots here and there, and not getting hit. Of course, Charlo didn’t really throw anything at Lubin until the end of the round, which is when he nailed him with a tremendous shot that knocked him out. Charlo’s low punch output might have lulled Lubin into a false set of security because nothing was being thrown at him. Lubin was boxing and focusing on winning the 1st round. Charlo had other ideas obviously. He was waiting for the right moment to pounce on Lubin in the same way he did in his 2 previous fights against Charles Hatley and John Jackson. Charlo set traps for both of those guys and knocked them out.
Lubin was getting in a little more work than Charlo before he was knocked out by him. Charo was mostly waiting for the right moment to spring his attack on Lubin. That’s how Charlo fights now. He tends to explode on his opponents nowadays rather than throw a lot of shots like he used to do. When Charlo does unload on his opponents, he catches them by surprise with the speed and force of his shots. They’re rarely ready for the big punches that Charlo hits them with.
After the fight, Charlo, 27, called out IBF World junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd (21-0, 15 KOs) for a unification fight. Hurd had earlier beaten former WBA 154lb. champion Austin Trout (30-4, 17 KOs) by a 10th round stoppage in a Arturo Gatti type performance. It would be very surprising if Charlo will get the Hurd fight, because it would be such a mismatch. Hurd has no defensive skills. He leads with his face, taking shot after shot. It was lucky thing for Hurd that Trout couldn’t punch and had been out of the ring for 17 months leading up to tonight’s fight, because he would have been in trouble against a prime Trout.
“Give me another title. I want Hurd,” said Charlo after his win over Hurd. ”Hurd just fought. He just won. Give me Hurd. I want Hurd,” said Charlo.
If Charlo can get a fight against Hurd, it would be great for him and for the boxing fans. I would give the fans a chance to see how good Charlo is against someone his own age. Hurd is 27 like Charlo.
As for Lubin, he needs to go back to the drawing board and get some more experience under his belt before he comes again. At 22, Lubin is far too young to be inside the ring with a fighter as developed as Charlo. Lubin made a rookie mistake in ducking down in front of Charlo. That’s not the thing a fighter should be doing against a big puncher like Charlo, who took advantage of Lubin ducking by tagging him with a chopping shot to the head that knocked him out.
”He caught me with a blind shot. I didn’t see it coming,” said Lubin. ”He landed it. I got up. I felt like I could keep fighting, but it happens. It’s boxing. I wanted to entertain the crowd. I’m one of the best out there. He caught me with a blind shot that I didn’t see. I’m going to stay hungry and get back in the gym and become that champion I know I am,” said Lubin.
What Lubin doesn’t need to do is try and get a second fight against Charlo. That would be a bad idea because Charlo is too quick and too powerful for him right now. I don’t know when Lubin will develop more, but right now he doesn’t look like he’s in the same class as Charlo.
Lubin should maybe go after Jarrett Hurd if he feels he’s capable of winning a world title. I don’t think it’s a good idea for Lubin to do this just yet, but if he wants to go win a world title, then Hurd and his IBF belt or the WBO strap as soon as WBO champion Miguel Cotto vacates the title after he retires at the end of December. Cotto will be facing Sadam Ali on December 2. Ali is expected to lose. If he wins, then Lubin can target him for the WBO title.
Charlo’s brother, Jermall Charlo, previously held the IBF junior middleweight title. Jermall Charlo vacated the belt recently to move up to middleweight to go after the titles in that division. Jermall was always considered to be the more powerful of the twin brothers, but it looks like Jermell has caught up to him in the power department with him knocking out his last 4 opponents.
What’s impressive about that is the fact that Jermell’s last 3 fights were all by KO and not TKO. Jermell has been badly hurting his opposition lately with his knockouts of Lubin, Charles Hatley and John Jackson. If Jermell can keep this up, he’ll dominate the 154 lb. division. The one guy that might give Jermell some trouble is Erislandy Lara, 34. But it’s unclear whether Jermell will ever fight Lara, as they’re friends. If that’s the one guy that Jermell won’t fight, then he at least can still go after the IBF title held by Hurd and the WBO strap once Cotto vacates at the end of the year.
