Jermall Charlo: I wanted to knockout Sergiy Derevyanchenko

By Boxing News - 09/27/2020 - Comments

By Chris Williams: WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo was a little disappointed that he wasn’t able to knock out his opponent Sergiy Derevyanchenko in the central portion of last Saturday’s Showtime card at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Charlo (31-0, 22 KOs) tried his best to get the badly bruised Derevyanchenko (13-3, 10 KOs) out of there, but he proved to be resident in absorbing the endless punishment.

The smaller fighter, 5’9″ Derevyanchenko, 34 had a difficult time getting in punching range of the 6’0″ Jermall, and when he did get close, his shots lacked the power to give Charlo problems.

Nevertheless, the fight proved to be a real battle from start to finish, which is precisely what Jermall, 30, needed to impress boxing fans and to give the people that purchased the Showtime pay-per-view card an entertaining fight.

The judges scored the fight as follows: 116-112, 117-111, 118-110. While two of those scores may have seemed a bit high, the judges had it right.

At best, Derevyanchenko won three rounds. No more than that. Chris Williams only gave the Ukrainian fighter two rounds, as he was getting hit with too many shots, and he had a lot of problems trying to get in range to land anything.

We didn’t see any head movement from Jermall, and he seemed stiff and upright most of the time. But Jermall’s ability to absorb Derevyanchenko’s best shots like they were nothing, and then fire back with his vast punches, that was too much for his smaller opponent. Charlo’s size enabled him to take whatever Derevyanchenko dished out without any problems.

Image: Jermall Charlo: I wanted to knockout Sergiy Derevyanchenko

Charlo’s win superior to GGG and Jacobs over Sergiy

Also, Charlo’s power advantage was evident throughout the contest. He had much better power than Derevyanchenko, and that showed by the way Sergiy’s face looked afterward. Both Derevyanchenko’s eyes were bruised, cut, and blackened from the heavy punches that Charlo had landed during the 12-round contest.

Even Charlo’s jab was more potent than the Derevyanchenko’s power shots. All around, Charlo was the far superior puncher of the to.

Charlo’s win over Derevyanchenko was much better than Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs, who won questionable 12 round decisions against him. In contrast, Jermall left no doubt who the better fighter was last Saturday night with his 12 round dominating performance, and the comprehensive scoring reflected that.

GGG and Jacobs were both lucky to get wins over Derevyanchenko, considering that he took over both of those contests after the first round. Against Charlo, it was a different story. Derevyanchenko couldn’t get into the fight to be competitive, no matter what he tries. His usual pressure tactics failed to work against the much bigger Charlo, seeing that he had too much size and power for him.

I must say that Charlo was far from perfect last night. His defense was porous, and he was easy to hit when Derevyanchenko came in close.

Charlo kept hurting Derevyanchenko with big shots, and that took away the ambition for the challenger. In the third round, Jermall caught him with a monstrous uppercut that had him on his heels. It was a surprise that Derevyanchenko stayed upright after taking that punch. Even Jerrmall looked a little shocked that he didn’t go down from the energy.

Jermall: I never let Derevyanchenko turn it up

“I made my team proud, I did what I wanted to do, and I went in there and executed,” said Jermall Charlo after his win over Derevyanchenko. “Ronnie Shields said that I passed the test. It’s the biggest test of my career.

“I passed the test, and I’m happy. Get back to the drawing board and see what’ next. I knew he was going to be tough. And I knew he was going to come to fight. I just didn’t know how, and I didn’t know when he was going to try and turn it up. It felt like I never let him turn it up, so I knew I was sticking to my game plan,” said Charlo.

Image: Jermall Charlo: I wanted to knockout Sergiy Derevyanchenko

Derevyanchenko looked like he was afraid to attack Charlo last night, as he paid a steep price whenever he did come forward looking to attack. Charlo was hitting Derevyanchenko with massive shots on the way, and his power-jab was a constant deterrent.

When Derevyanchenko did get in close, he had nothing on his shots to worry Jermall, and he was slow. Jermall landed big uppercuts on the chin of Derevyanchenko in close, and that was probably one of the reasons he chose to hold rather than work.

We didn’t see any of the nifty footwork from Derevyanchenko in which he would change angles to work the body of Charlo. He had done that in his previous fight against Gennady Golovkin last October, but he wasn’t willing to try that against Jermall.

The reason for that is simple. Jermall was picking Derevyanchenko off with huge shots when he’d get closed, so he was hesitant about wanting to position himself in the firing line for any length of time.

Jermall wanted to knockout Sergiy

“I studied well. I didn’t let any of the being in The Bubble or any of them get to my head,” Jermall Charlo said. “So I fought through it. That’s what I want you to do. I want you to continue to fight and not let any of the negative interrupt any of your positive, and we going to stay strong and get through this.

“And I stayed poised, I stayed composed, and I executed the game plan. I stayed behind the jab. And I went away from it sometimes, but Ronnie Shields brought me back to it. I did want to knock him out and make a statement, but getting the victory and shutting him out, that was a statement enough,” said Charlo on his victory over Derevyanchenko.

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The only time Derevyanchenko took a concerted risk in the fight was in the last minute of the 12th round. That’s when Derevyanchenkostopped fighting scared, and he went after Jermall with a final all-out assault. But it was too little and too late for Sergiy to pull out the win because, by that point in the contest, he needed a knockout, not a decision to win.

Derevyanchenko was spending most o the time on the outside, where he was out of range from Jermall. The Ukrainian fighter’s decision to stay out of range was a survival mechanism and a way of showing that he was there to survive and not win.

Charlo to let his team make the decisions

“On to the bigger names and the bigger statement in boxing, you know?” Charlo said. “The Charlo twins are here; I’m trying to tell you all. I’m not into making the fights.

“The bigger fights are out there. As you see, I’m stepping up the competition. I’m steady growing; I’m steady learning. I let my team make the decisions, and they make the best decisions. I’m well taken care of. We study well.

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“The Charlo twins, we’re in the building, man. We’re here to burst the bubble. Thank you, fans from all around the world. We love you. I’m ecstatic right now from putting on a great performance in front of my people. Team Charlo, we’re in the building. Lions only forever,” said Jermall.