By Allan Fox: WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo says he and his twin brother Jermell (33-1, 17 KOs) are looking for huge fights in the tail end of 2020. Jermell won back his WBC 154-lb title last Saturday night in stopping Tony Harrison (33-1, 17 KOs) by an 11th round knockout at the Toyota Arena, in Ontario, California.
Jermall, 29, is hoping that he and his lighter punching brother Jermell can be involved in big fights in 2020. The prospects for Jermell aren’t that great unless he wants to fight one of these guys:
- Erislandy Lara
- Jarrett Hurd
- Julian Williams
There’s not much to choose from at 154 unfortunately for Jermell, and he would be better off moving up to 160 to get a big fight. Jermell is probably not going to do that though, because the guys are 160 would give him problems with their power and skills.
Jermell was getting out-boxed by Harrsion, 29, and he looked like he was on his way to losing the fight when he caught him with a big shot in the 11th. Charlo then knocked Harrison down twice, and got the knockout with a follow up flurry. The referee Jack Reiss stepped in a little early though, because only 2 of the 6 punches Jermell threw during the barrage actually landed.
The rest of the shots from Charlo in the final sequence either missed or hit Harrison on his gloves, but the fight was stopped anyway by referee Reiss. That was a bad stoppage, and it took away from the fight. A lot of boxing fans were angry at the stoppage, and rightly so.
Jermall told Jermell to control his anger
“It’s part of boxing, you know. He did his job, and I’m happy for him,” said Jermall Charlo to secondsout following Jermell’s win over Harrison. “I told him to stay focused. Don’t release none of the anger yet,” Jermall said in revealing the advice he’d given to Jermell before the fight in response to Harrison insults.
“I told him to stay aggressive, do your thing, and do what you normally do,” said Jermall. “He got the job done, and that was the main thing. We’re going to set the tone for next year, and keep some explosive fights coming. Hopefully, we get the big fight by the end of the year. ‘It’s your turn,'” said Jermall when asked what he told Jermell moments after his 11th round knockout win over Harrison. “He did it.”
The advice that Jermall gave Jermell about controlling his temper didn’t sink too well, as he was going off constantly. Harrison made Jermell look silly during the build up to the fight. If not for Harrison getting lazy in the 11th, he might have won.
Jermall has a much better chance of getting a big fight in 2020 than his twin does, because he’s fighting in a better division. There’s bigger names at 160 than there is at 154, and he’s able to fight guys at 168 as well. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn wants to sign Jermall to a short term contract.
Vergil Ortiz Jr – Harrison got lazy in the 8th and 9th
“Before the fight, I was definitely pumped up to watch the fight, and that was one fight I was actually looking forward to watching,” said welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr. to All Access Elite Boxing on the Harrison vs. Charlo 2 rematch.
“In the first three rounds, he knocked him [Harrison] down, so Charlo probably edged them out. But I think Harrison was controlling the fight, but then there came a point in the 8th or 9th rounds where he started getting lazy. He was acting like the punches weren’t affecting him, and he was being kind of nonchalant. I think he got careless and got caught,” Ortiz Jr. said of Harrison.
It did seem like Harrison got lazy after the 7th round, as he started trading with Charlo more, and getting hit with big shots. Harrison’s dad/trainer Ali Harrison said that the plan-B for the fight was to pressure Charlo if boxing him failed to work.
That’s a strategy that would work if Harrison had better stamina, and if his chin was good enough to take the shots from Jermell. He couldn’t hang with the pace of the fight, and Jermell eventually got him out of there in the 11th.
Harrison lost focus against Charlo
“The game plan was, we wanted to box, and we actually did start off boxing,” said Harrison’s dad Ali Salaam to secondsout in talking about the Charlo rematch. “But we also had a plan-B, and the plan-B was to bully the bully. We were forced to implement it when he got knocked down in the 2nd round. He got up, and ‘you know what we got to do.’ So he got up, and started making the fight. He started moving forward, and backed Jermell up, and took the fight away from him, and it was a good fight.
“Yes, we did,” said Ali when asked if Harrison trained for an aggressive Charlo. “We had a camp, and it was a difficult camp, and we wanted to be in the pocket. We trained to be in the pocket the majority of the camp, and we had to be there to dance. I did. When he got back to his corner, I told him, ‘You got to be focused, son. Stay on the fight plan.’
“He joked around a little too much for me, you know what I mean?” said Ali about Harrison joking too much during the fight. “We live and we learn, and we’ll get the next one. Well, basically, we’re going to continue to be on a roll, and continue doing what we’ve been doing,” said Ali about the plans for Harrison.
“All Tony has to do is stay being Tony, and stay focused the entire fight. Mainly, you got to stay focused. It’s a business, and you gotta do what you got to do for 12 rounds. We make mistakes, and sometimes it costs us,” said Harrison’s dad, Ali.
Harrison was focused, but he didn’t have the chin or the conditioning to fight the brawl.
