Jermell Charlo Is The Best Of His Era, What A Fight.
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This week I went 1-3 in my BETUS boxing odds. I got to do better next week
Charlo Never Looked Better
Junior middleweight Jermell Charlo knocked out Brian Castano in the tenth round to become the seventh fighter in the 4-belt era to become undisputed, thus becoming a legend and more than likely a hall-of-famer.
The bout was action-packed, the fight of the year so far, and also a testament to both fighters for keeping this fight on Showtime and not PPV as this was a PPV quality fight on a $10-a-month premium cable service.
Charlo secured his space as a great and to see him so quiet and humble, showed how much the win meant to him. Jermell hinted at going up to 160 lbs., and looking to do it again. Jermell Charlo currently is one of the major stars PBC has created along with Gervonta Davis, and Errol Spence Jr. Charlo will be a major force as we move forward into the next decade.
I have never seen Charlo look this sharp, and he boxed Castano without putting his back on the ropes for long periods of time.
Editor Note:
You can look at Charlo’s resume and pick it apart, but that goes for any fighter. Charlo has the problem Terence Crawford has had as he has made good fighters look bad, and fought in division where the perception is, his skills are unrivaled.
His title wins in the realms of history will probably not be remembered for how good they were as he beat John Jackson for the WBC world title, Jeison Rosario for the IBF and WBA 154 lbs title, and Brian Castano for the WBO junior middleweight title. In two years, if any of these fighters main event a card, I would be shocked, but Charlo beat the guys in his era, and some of the marquee names of his era, Jarrett Hurd, Julian Williams, and so forth, lost the fights prior to the Charlo bout. Add his rematch win over Tony Harrison in a come from behind knockout, and you see Charlo has won belts in several different ways.
After winning all four belts, Charlo now moves into the #6 spot on ITRBoxing.com’s list of the best current fighters with only these fights ahead of him, #1 Tyson Fury, #2 Terence Crawford, #3 Usyk, #4 Canelo and #5 Errol Spence Jr. Charlo now moves ahead of Dmitry Bivol, Naoya Inoue and Roman Gonzalez based on a sustained run, as all three of these fighters have struggled to stay active.
The omission of Charlo from some boxing media outlet for his achievement is fairly typical. Boxing is the brother to baseball writers, the most jaded and biased media of the bunch. The baseball writers refused to let Barry Bonds in the hall-of-fame, and in a similar manner despite earning a spot on the pound-for-pound list, many writers are looking for any reason to not give Jermell Charlo credit for something great. What does this do, takes away from the sport, and makes a lot of fans anger, and view the sport as against them – when the loudest voice become the most childish and unreasonable.
On another note, Premier Boxing Champions seems to have a more loyal fanbase of their brand of content on the internet, whereas fighters like Terence Crawford, have been great without an internet fanbase, but more of a “real-world” group of loyal fans. PBC’s brand of content which was initially attacked by the mainstream boxing media, has now taught a group of 30-somethings who use twitter to talk boxing how to spew the hatred their favorite promotion once got back at the world.
In short, Charlo is deserving of praise, but because people won’t simply say “good job” to him. We are seeing way too much stuff about everything other than his achievement, which is a shame.
undercard
Welterweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis continues to look like a future legend as he stopped Custio Clayton in two rounds. Ennis is defensively sound and punches hard, and it is clear as day – that he is a future PPV fighter and more than likely the future of the sport of boxing. The guy is seriously good. Boots made a world-class boxer look outclassed.
At this point, Ennis needs Crawford, Spence, or someone with a top ranking to fight him, otherwise, it is seemingly a mismatch.
Kevin Gonzalez got an uneventful decision over Emanuel Rivera Nieves. The fight was close, but not memorable.
Brandyn Lynch defeated Marcos Hernandez, and for some reason, no form of a stream was provided for one of the best fights of the night. I guess, Hernandez dropped Lynch, and Lynch rallied back, but with no stream of the content, who knows – it is 2022, all world-class fights should telecast undercards, in my opinion. Another notable bout, Jerry Perez got a fifth-round KO of unbeaten Erick Lanzas Jr at lightweight.
Triller
One of the best light heavyweights of the modern era, Sergey Kovalev moved up to cruiserweight and beat Tervel Pulev pretty soundly. The younger brother of world title contender Kubrat Pulev, had nothing for Kovalev, who was technically sound for Pulev, who just kept eating shots.
undercard
A shocker was seeing Kubrat Pulev look like a 25-year-old and defeat Jerry Forrest, who sat in the locker room for an hour, looking for a boxing glove that fit his hand. I didn’t see this outcome, and Pulev now should have a fight with Michael Hunter in the near future.
All three Vargas brothers got wins on the undercard of the Triller card, as long vignette packages played talking about them.
An electrical with a record closer to 50-50 in terms of wins and losses, Jurmain McDonald, knocked out Evan Holyfield, the son of Evander Holyfield in a major upset on the Triller card.
Martin Bakole Upsets Tony Yoka
In a bit of a shocker, heavyweight Martin Bakole defeated 2016 Olympic gold medalist Tony Yoka, in Yoka’s home country of France, via a 12-round majority decision in fight that was not close. The tone of the fight was set early as Bakole dropped Yoka in the very first round. Yoka, just couldn’t handle the size of Bakole, who with the win, could contend for the spot Dillian Whyte has had, as a big brute with a lot of power that is supposed to make up for other things.
As for Yoka, the loss isn’t good. Yoka is in his sixth year as a pro, and despite being a good amateur, Yoka hasn’t been featured on TV America much, if at all.
Creator Clash
Boxing has not been a sport that has embraced change. Probably the sport with the most outdated views of the world, society, business and innovation, has been stuck in its own way, rather than delivering the best sport in the world to fans.
On Saturday, we saw the Creator Clash, in which YouTube personalities trained for a boxing bout with the goal being entertainment. An idea most boxing cards miss, even if the talent is vastly better.
Even at the highest level of the sport, boxing is getting away from storytelling, and crafting narrative archs, especially as we near a financial recession – the second in nearly 15 or so years.
The Creator Clash saw the former world title contender, Radivoje Kalajdzic known as “Hot Rod”, who once fought Marcus Browne to a close fight, as well as got beat soundly by Artur Beterbiev. This was also on the same card, a internet personality named “Dad” fought, with each being treated in the same manner, as people were excited just to see some good fights rather than being bitter.
Boxing has a defeatist culture, and what The Creator Clash showed was, boxing can be entertaining and fun. Something that when we view and learn the social norms of boxing we often get burnt out on why we love the sport so much.
Zurdo
Light heavyweight world title contender and ITRBoxing.com #3 light heavyweight Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez knocked Dominic Boesel in four-rounds. The fight showed why sanctioning bodies have lost the trust of the fans. Ramirez looks like a world champion level fighter, and Boesel didn’t. The fight was too different level, but due to sanctioning rankings, Ramirez had to fight Boesel, because he was more than likely the highest ranked opponent he could fight with Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol, Jean Pascal and Joe Smith Jr., all having fights.
This was one-sided, and showed why Ramirez is one of the better light heavyweights.
undercard
Lightweight William Zepeda took years off his career fighting in a 10-round unanimous decision over Rene Alvarado. The fight was just a lot of punching, but I am not sure it translates to the next level. I like Zepeda, but he needs to improve.
Katsuma Akitsugi is making a strong case for being in the running for Prospect of the Year or comeback fighter of the year, as he got a technical decision win in his bout, and continue to have one of the best resumes in all of boxing for a fighter below the world title level. Honestly, if boxing was a true sport, and not the political stuff it is, Akitsugi would be close to big money fights and big opportunities. I hope everything works out for him since he has fought tougher opponents and stayed undefeated than some current world champions.
John “Scrappy” Ramirez knocked his opponent out of the ring for a highlight-reel KO. Ramirez shares the same management as Zurdo Ramirez.
Results from Sacramento, CA
Notable bouts, Malikai Johnson fought for the first-time after losing his father, got a stoppage win fighting above his usual weight class, Cain Sandoval stopped David Minter in one round, as Minter took the fight on 24 hours notice and Sandoval moved up to 145 from his regular 135 lbs to take the fight. Other notables include, Kevin Montano stopped his opponent as well, Kenny Lopez got a decision win over an undefeated opponent, and Stockton, CA’s Irving Xilohua got a 2nd round KO win, he trains with Leonal Salas.
Floyd’s Fight Called Off
Club Shows
40-year-old Australian heavyweight Paul Gallen lost a ten-round decision to Kris Terzievski for a form of a vacant title.
On this card, the ballet dancing 2020 Olympian Harry Garside won a lightweight bout by seventh-round KO. In his third pro fight, Garside is now in ten-round fights. They’re moving him FAST! Minor details, Garside lost in the Olympics to Andy Cruz, the Olympic gold medal winner, so guys like Cruz, Keyshawn Davis, Charlie Sheehy, and Ernesto Mercado all could be future opponents.
Nikita Tszyu got a first-round KO on this show as well.
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Super flyweight Angel ‘Tito’ Acosta got a first-round KO of Janiel Rivera as Acosta wasn’t even hit once in the fight. The bout marked the first time Acosta had a full camp with Joel Diaz, the famed Indio, California boxing coach. After the fight Acosta said this.
“I saw an opportunity to end the fight early and I took it. I had a great camp with Joel Diaz and I feel he got me ready for this. Naturally, we trained to go the distance, but fortunately, we ended it early and got a great victory. We want to go back to the gym train and look for another world championship shot, hopefully, Julio Cesar Martinez or McWilliams Arroyo.”
Undefeated featherweight Victor Morales was pushed to the limit by Alberto Torres, as despite dropping Torres twice, Morales got buzzed a few times by straight left hands from Torres that made for a good club-level fight. Morales should get a chance at the next level soon.
130 lbs Rudy Garcia took on Diuhl “Elegante” Olguin, who is known for beating prospects, as Garcia won an eight-round decision.
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Wild Card’s Callum Walsh might just be the most heavily touted club show guy in America currently. Walsh is getting a lot of attention early in his career and got a knockout over an opponent with an undefeated record, but a less than stellar resume.
Ernesto Mercado got a second-round knockout of an opponent, Keyshawn Davis had just fought. Mercado is 6-0 with 6 KOs and is being fast-tracked into contention, he returns next month as well.
Marco Deckmann, a cruiserweight from Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club defeated Richmond, Ca’s Jasper McCargo via a six-round decision. Deckmann dropped McCargo and punched while down, losing a point in the fight. Deckmann appeared to be punching a bit behind the back of the head at times.
Chelsey Anderson defeated Jessica Juarez via a six-round decision, Anderson dropped Juarez in round six.
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A barnburner of a club show bout saw former Canelo Alvarez opponent, Avni Yildirim and Yusuf Kanguel split knockdowns, in a fight that was vastly more fun than it should be and probably showed why neither man, will win at the world-level, but will make for great regional bouts. We saw Kanguel stop Yildirim in nine rounds. Even more bizarre, Yildirim had just beaten Kanguel in his last fight by an unanimous decision making you wonder why the fight even happened.
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Heavyweight Sonny Conto knocked out a regional opponent in Philly. Shinard Bunch got a first-round KO on this card, both of these guys should get marquee bouts this year.
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In upstate New York, Mikiah Kreps got a fifth-round KO. One of the best flyweights prospects in the world, Anthony Olascuaga got a six-round stoppage over Gustavo Perez Alvarez. We featured Olascuaga on our YouTube years ago.
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Hannah Rankin defeated Alejandro Ayala by way of a tenth-round knockout. Rankin was making a world title homecoming.
MMA in 500 Words Or Less
UFC
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz stopped Aleksandar Rakic in the third round due to injury. Blachowicz is a former champ, who never truly got respect for his feats, and could get another shot at the title.
Other notables, Ryan Spann submitted Ion Cutelaba, Katlyn Chookagian got a split decision over Amanda Ribas, Viviane Araujo got a decision over Andrea Lee, and Davey Grant got a 3rd KO over Louis Smolka.
Invicta FC Results
Strawweight Emily Ducote got a second-round KO, as she looks to have found a home after losing a slew of fights with Bellator MMA, Invicta is fairly successful rebuilding her career.
Stockton, Ca’s Chelsea Chandler got a win in the co-main, after the fight she simply stated she wants to fight more often, and that she welcomes a fight at 145 lbs in the UFC.
The most exciting moment of the night is above.
