Showtime World Championship Boxing Results:
By: William Holmes
Mayweather Promotions and TGB Promotions televised three title fights in the junior middleweight division as the WBA, IBF, and WBC belts were up for grabs. Five the top six fighters in the junior middleweight division competed on tonight’s card.
Showtime networks televised the bouts live from the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, despite the fact three world titles were on the line a lot of empty seats were seen inside the venue.
Photo Credit: Amanda Westcott/Showtime
Jermell Charlo (27-0) and John Jackson (20-2) opened up tonight’s broadcast with for the WBC Junior Middleweight Title.
Charlo, a large favorite, was giving up a few inches in height to Jackson. Jackson used his jab effectively in the opening round and even had Charlo briefly caught in the corner. Jackson attacked more to the body in the second round and was able to end the round with a strong counter right on a forward moving Charlo.
Charlo continued to have trouble finding his rhythm in the third round as Jackson was the more accurate puncher and was landing some good shots to the body. Charlo tried in vain to chase Jackson around the ring and trap him, but Jackson was throwing and landing more combinations than his opponent.
Charlo landed his first hard clean shot of the night in the fifth round with a sweeping left hook in the fifth round that got the attention of Jackson. Charlo was also able to put together a good body head right hook combination near the end of the round.
Jackson was able to go back to his lateral movement in the sixth round and was able to touch Charlo often with quick jabs and crosses before moving out of the way. Charlo was much more aggressive in the seventh round and was able to land some hard right crosses to the chin of Jackson, but Jackson was still able to land combinations of his own.
Charlo was able to get in close to Jackson in the opening minute of the ieghth round and blasted him with a right hook that had Jackson frozen and unable to defend himself, and he then followed it up with a left hook that hard Jackson falling back into the corner and out on his feet.
The referee quickly jumped in and stopped the fight before Jackson could get hurt any more. Jermell Charlo won by TKO at 0:51 of the eighth round.
Jermall Charlo (23-0) faced Austin Trout (30-2) in the co-main event of the night for the IBF Junior Middleweight Title.
Trout has been in the ring with high level competition such as Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto, but he was in the ring with a taller and younger boxer with a high level ceiling.
Jermall Charlo is considered by many to be the stronger puncher of the twin brothers.
Charlo had a strong jab in the opening round and Trout was throwing his jab to the body and connected with a left uppercut to the chin. Their feet got tangled up and Trout slipped to the mat. Charlo was able to land a good straight right lead in the final minute of the round.
The second round was close to call, but Charlo landed the hardest punch of the round with a short left hook. Trout however, was able to land more punches, especially to the body. The difference in power was evident in the third round, as Charlo was able to land several hard right hands to the cin of Trout which got the crowd roaring in approval.
Trout showed good head movement in the fourth round and was able to pepper Charlo from the outside. Trout stunned Charlo in the fifth round with a lead right hook, and he remained elusive enough to avoid the hard shots of Charlo. Charlo came on in the second half of the fifth round and was able to cause some swelling around the right eye of Trout.
It was clear that Charlo was not afraid of Trout’s power in the sixth round and he continued to come forward and was able to land some clubbing right hands.
Trout was able to land some solid counter left crosses and short uppercuts in the seventh round, but you could tell that Trout was very cautious of the power of Charlo. Charlo was able to land a hard straight right hand in the final seconds, but still, the seventh round was a good round for Austin Trout.
They both stepped off the gas pedal a little bit in the eighth round, but Trout was looking more confident in throwing and landing his combinations. Charlo stepped up his aggression in the ninth round and was effective with his heavy jabs.
A cut opened up over the right eye of Austin Trout in the tenth round, and boxers landed their fair share of punches, but Charlo was definitely landing the harder shots.
Trout likely needed a knockout in the final two rounds to win the bout. But he fought well and could have won these rounds on some of the judges’ scorecards.
Unexpectedly, the judges scored the bout in favor of Jermall Charlo with scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 116-112.
The main event of the night was between Erislandy Lara (22-2-2) and Vanes Martirosyan (36-2-1) in a rematch for the WBA Junior Middleweight Title.
Lara, a southpaw, was using a lot of up and down movement and was active with his jab in the opening round. Martirosyan was most effective when he threw to the body, but Lara landed more to the head.
The second and third rounds were slow, but the slow pace favored the style of Lara who was able to pop shot Martirosyan and move safely out of the way.
Lara was aggressive at the start of round, and a hematoma started to form on the head of Martirosyan. Martirosyan was warned again in the fourth round to keep his body punches up.
The fifth round featured more action than the previous round, with Lara’s best punch being the straight left to the head and Martirosyan’s best punches being the hooks to the body. The same theme repeated itself in the sixth round, but Martirosyan’s body punches were beginning to land with more frequency.
In the sixth round, Lara’s high guard was getting banged by the shots of Martirosyan and some were sneaking through. Martirosyan’s activity was much higher than Lara in this round.
The seventh round was close but Martirosyan was able to land some good body shots. Lara opened up the eighth round with quick combinations and more aggression. Lara landed clean to the nose of Martirosyan with a hard straight left hand near the end of the round.
Martirosyan fought a good ninth round but constantly coming forward and attacking to the body and threatening the chin with short quick uppercuts. Martirosyan had Lara fighting while moving backwards in the tenth round by pressing the pace and banging hard hooks to the body and head of his opponent. A clash of heads occurred in the tenth and Martirosyan hit Lara with a low blow and received a hard warning for the referee.
Martirosyan hit Lara with another low blow in the eleventh round and was deducted a point by the referee. Martirosyan was infuriated, and fought with fury for the remainder of the round but was unable to hurt Lara. Martirosyan went hard for the knockout in the final round and likely won it, but Lara fought defensively and safely and was never in danger of getting knocked down.
Erislandy Lara retained his title with scores of 115-112, 116-111, and 116-111.