Charlo brothers vow to use experience as fuel in 2019 as judges get decision wrong again

Mark Lelinwalla

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Charlo brothers vow to use experience as fuel in 2019 as judges get decision wrong again image

Well, what can you say at this point? This happens far too often in boxing. And it’s still happening.

Saturday night was just the latest example.

Jermell Charlo fought until the 12th-round bell against a game Tony Harrison. Despite a scrappy effort from Harrison, Charlo clearly did enough to walk out of the ring after the co-main event and hear “and still” by a comfortable margin.

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And Jimmy Lennon Jr.’s announcement started off that way.

“Ladies and gentlemen, after 12 rounds of action, we have a unanimous decision,” he said, reading off the judges’ scores of 116-112 and 115-113 twice, while Harrison shook hands with Charlo, seemingly congratulating him for the successful title defense.

Journalists were waiting to hear Charlo’s name — a mere formality at that point — to update their live blogs and fight stories.

Fans were waiting on the confirmation for what they just witnessed.

Then, Lennon uttered the words, “all three in favor of the winner and … the new WBC super welterweight champion of the world, Tony ‘Superman’ Harrison,” who yelled in jubilation, looking every bit the recipient of a winning lotto ticket.

You can’t blame Harrison for the judges’ scores nor his excitement. For everyone else, shock set in.

The live gate of 9,177 fans erupted with boos. Twitter did the same with anger and cries of Charlo being robbed.

In the ring, Jermell let it be known that he won the fight.

“They took that fight from me. I was pressing the action. He didn’t win that fight,” Charlo said. “I’m going to get my belt back. I still want Jarrett Hurd. I know my brother knows I won that fight. I might have given away a few rounds, but I won that fight.”

Backstage, during his post-fight interview, the 28-year-old Charlo broke down, forced to accept that he was screwed out of his title in a unanimous decision that clearly should have gone his way.

After letting the media know that he plans on appealing the decision, that there’s a rematch clause and he and Harrison will be back in the ring within four months, Charlo continued sharing his disgust for the way the judges ruled it.

“If I don’t get this knockout or if I don’t get what I’m looking for, the judges have their own way of thinking — they’re biased,” Charlo told a pool of reporters. "I definitely feel like I won that fight. I pulled out way more rounds than he did.”

Moments later, while continuing to address the shock over his loss, Charlo broke down in tears, lifting his shades to wipe them off his face.

“I ain’t no loser. I don’t f—ing take losses easy. I don’t even play video games because I don’t like losing.”

Saturday night wasn’t Charlo’s best performance, but he clearly did enough to win the fight in the eyes of nearly everyone watching. Sporting News had it 116-112 in favor of Charlo. CompuBox punch stats showed that while Harrison landed five percent more blows, Charlo threw over 170 more punches — clearly the aggressor and winner.

Clear to everyone except for the three judges. Charlo walked Harrison down, with Harrison's counterpunches not as clean as Charlo's shots.

Jermall Charlo watched his twin brother’s co-main main event verdict in shock, before having to go out and defend his own WBC interim middleweight title against Matt Korobov.

Unlike his brother, Jermall got the unanimous decision in his favor by the scores of 119-108 and 116-112 twice, punctuating his win with a 12th round that almost had him finishing the game Russian with a flurry of punches. (The 119-108 scorecard was lopsided, also begging the question as to what the judges were watching).

"I used everything that happened [Saturday night] as motivation in the 12th round,” Jermall said of watching his brother’s first loss before his match. “I haven't been that far in a fight in a couple of years. It felt good to be in there, get hit and bang with someone. He was an experienced guy who will make me better.”

It should have been both Jermell and Jermall hauling their titles back to Houston just in time for Christmas. Instead, only Jermall has his championship strap diagonally draped over his shoulder.

“My brother won that fight,” Jermall said during his post-fight press conference with a distraught Jermell sitting beside him.

While Jermall could look forward to a possible showdown with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin or Daniel Jacobs next, Jermell’s grand plans have taken a turn into uncertainty thanks to three judges’ inexplicable decision.

Yes, he’ll look to win his WBC junior middleweight title back via an appeal or rematch and win against Harrison. But the clash with WBA/IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd is up in the air now.

Hurd told Fox Sports that Charlo deserved the decision Saturday night, but that any prospects of him putting his undefeated record and titles up Charlo’s perfect ledger and championship have lost their luster.

“I don’t think the match is going to be what it used to be,” Hurd said, before adding that perhaps he’ll just try to move up in weight from 154 to 160 to face Jermall, instead.

So, add this unanimous decision awarded to Harrison to the likes of Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield, Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad and Timothy Bradley-Manny Pacquiao as examples of judges getting it blatantly wrong. (Though it's arguable that those decisions were worse.)

But Jermall vows that he and his twin brother will learn from this experience and use it as fuel to power their 2019.

“The Charlos … and still!” he told the media in the waning moments of their post-fight press conference. “Trust me — we’re going to grind even harder now that we know we got real haters out there. Like real. That only motivates us, man. Jet fuel. Lions only forever.”

Mark Lelinwalla

Mark Lelinwalla Photo

Mark Lelinwalla is a contributing writer and editor for DAZN News. He has written for the likes of the New York Daily News, Men's Health, The Associated Press, Sports Illustrated, Complex, XXL and Vibe Magazine.