Jermell and Jermall Charlo each pick up the win against Jeison Rosario and Sergiy Derevyanchenko in super-welterweight and middleweight title bouts
Making their first appearances since December of last year, the hard-hitting Charlo brothers of Louisiana, USA, put in impressive performances on last night's pay-per-view card from the Mohegan Sun Arena, Connecticut.
First up, WBC middleweight champion, Jermall, took on the tough Ukrainian, Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a gruelling twelve rounder that saw Charlo take a hard-fought but well deserved unanimous decision.
In just his 16th professional appearance, Derevyanchenko entered the fight with excellent credentials, previously having taken Daniel Jacobs to a split decision, and going the distance with the former middleweight king, Gennady Golovkin.
Once again though, the Ukrainian came up just short as Charlo proved himself a level above, taking the fight 116-112, 117-111 and 118-110 on judges scorecards.
While the unanimous decision was undoubtedly the right one, a mere look at the cards does little justice to the skill and durability shown by Derevyanchenko over the 12 rounder - it was by no means an easy night's work for Charlo.
The win takes Jermall's record to an impressive 31 - 0, cementing his position as one of the top names in a stacked middleweight division that includes the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Demetrius Andrade, Billy Joe Saunders, and Canelo Alvarez.
In his post-fight interview, Charlo said: "I did what I was supposed to do. I went in there and I executed the gameplan . . . I passed the test you know, it was the biggest test that I was supposed to have in my career".
"I did want to knock him out, you know, I wanted to knock him out, make a statement, but getting the victory - shutting him out - that was a statement enough . . . on to bigger names and bigger things in boxing."
With victory safely in the bag for Jermall, it was twin brother and WBC champion, Jermell, up next as he took on WBA (super) and IBF champion, Jeison Rosario, in a super-welterweight unification match.
Rosario was coming in off the back of impressive stoppage win against Julian Williams in which he claimed the WBA and IBF titles.
Charlo, making his 35th professional appearance, last fought in December when he avenged his only career loss and reclaimed his WBC belt by stopping Tony Harrison in the 11th round.
The drama unfolded quickly last night with Rosario hitting the canvas in the first round after being caught with a glancing blow to the top of the head. He recovered well and took centre-ring - keeping Charlo on the back foot and investing well to the body which made for some competitive early to middle rounds.
In the 6th, however, Charlo landed cleanly with a solid left hook that had Rosario down once more. As Rosario got to his feet, the bell rang out to end the round, allowing him the chance to clear his head.
Despite the success Rosario was having, he never looked particularly steady on his feet, and you felt it was just a matter of time before Charlo caught him again. When the end did come, however, it was far from what anyone would have expected. With just seconds gone in the 8th round, Charlo threw a relatively light jab to the body which had Rosario gasping for air on the canvas - an unexpected end to the evening that shows just how devasting a body punch can be when it lands in the right place.
Charlo now moves to 34 - 1 in his career and plants himself firmly at the top of the 154lb division.
Afterwards, Charlo said: "I'm growing, and i'm realising that the knockout just comes . . . I knew I have explosive power in each one of my hands. Today I utilised my jab more than I did any other punch and that's what got me all of these straps".
Have an opinion? Leave a comment...