WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (31-0, 15 KOs) defeated former WBA 154lb champion Austin Trout by a closer than expected 12 round majority decision on Saturday night on Showtime Boxing at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Boxing News 24 scored it 113-113. The judges scored the fight 113-113, 115-111 and 118-108 for Charlo. The 118-108 score was an absolute embarrassment, because that judge saw the fight as one-sided in Charlo’s favor, and that’s not the case. Charlo gave up 7 rounds to Trout, who was the more consistent fighter.
Charlo was resting too much, especially in the 11th and 12th rounds when he let his foot off the gas and played it safe while sitting on his lead. The crowd at ringside wasn’t exactly thrilled at Charlo’s safety first approach, as they booed him loudly. After the scores were announced, the crowd booed Charlo and the two judges that scored the fight in his favor.
Jermell did NOT do as good a job as his brother Jermall Charlo, who beat Trout by a 12 round unanimous decision in 2016 in winning by 116-112 scores x 3.
Charlo fought in a crazy manner most of the fight, loading up on shots, and swinging wildly. Charlo knocked Trout down in rounds 3 and 9.
I had the fight scored in the following manner:
Round 1: Trout 10-9
Round 2: Trout 10-9
Round 3: Charlo 10-8 – Knockdown
Round 4: Charlo 10-9
Round 5: Charlo 10-9
Round 6: Trout 10-9
Round 7: Trout 10-9
Round 8: Trout 10-9
Round 9: Charlo 10-8 – Knockdown
Round 10: Charlo 10-9
Round 11: Trout 10-9
Round 12: Trout 10-9
Charlo wasn’t aggressive in a consistent enough basis for him to win the fight. Although Charlo won the fight on two of the judges’ scorecards, the judge that seemed to know what he was doing scored it the way the fight actually played out by scoring it a draw at 113-113. This is the second time in Charlo’s career where he’s gotten the nod by the judges in a fight that he didn’t appear to win. In Charlo’s fight against Vanes Martirosyan in March 2015, he was given a 10 round unanimous decision in a fight that he
lost in the eyes of the boxing fans. Charlo struggled in that fight for the same reason he did in tonight’s match against Trout. He wasn’t consistent enough like he had no sense.
The way that Charlo looked tonight, he WON’T beat IBF/WBA junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd. Charlo isn’t consistent enough, and he doesn’t seem to take a shot very well without getting stunned. Trout isn’t a big puncher and he had Charlo hurt several times tonight. Hurd is a much bigger puncher, and he would walk Charlo down and stop him. Hurd did a better job of beating Trout last October in stopping him in the 10th round.