New York
Jab Hook’s Epilogue Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York, December 22nd, 2018
Part 1- Epilogue Barclay Center, Brooklyn, New York: Jermell Charlo was unable to get Tony Harrison‘s respect, he lost a few rounds and his corner began to get nervous. Tony Harrison was boxing nicely, defending and deflecting most of Jermell’s pretty combinations, while fighting from the back foot. “Super Bad’s” footwork, balance, counter-punching, quickness and accuracy was very good. And his defense was so much better than in the Jarrett Hurd loss, it was impressive.
Jermell fought back hard and won the middle rounds, pulling ahead on points. But Charlo was trying too hard, neglecting accuracy, forcing his power hand, and looking desperately for the KO. Harrison’s corner was calm and Tony’s eye and his timing took advantage of Jermell’s careless tactics. The later rounds were taken by Harrison’s blocking of shots and counter-punching, though Jermell did win the 12th round. Jab watched the bout again with no sound, no distractions, scoring one round at a time. My final score was 115:113 for Tony Harrison, and new WBC junior middleweight title holder.
Jab predicted the upset correctly, but assumed a split decision for Tony Harrison.
Part 2– Jermall Charlo struggled against Matt Korobov and was behind on Jab Hook’s scorecard until the 8th round, when he started to fight his way back. Jab could sense the weight of Jermell’s loss to Harrison on Jermall’s shoulders as he fought with urgency, more than skill. Korobov looked great for a guy who had 13-month (2015) and 16-month (2017) breaks from boxing, and only a week’s notice for the main event bout. Give Matt more bouts against the best, he showed that he deserves it, he fought very well and looked sharp. Jab predicted correctly, but was surprised at how close Matt Korobov came to winning.
Part 3- The Calibration of the Charlo Twins – In engineering and technology we speak of calibration, in medicine and chemistry it’s titration. In boxing we call it “cutting someone down to size”. It is just a means of getting a better measurement and correcting the assessment of something by using a comparator, a “known quantity”. The 1st calibration of the Charlo Twins happened when they both had mediocre performances against Austin Trout, who was a “known quantity” as a boxer. And in their PBC/FOX debut with all the hype, we had a valuable re-calibration of Jermell and Jermall vs the comparators Harrison and Korobov. The result was the same as the 1st calibration, namely that the Charlos slide down the scale of boxing excellence and remain in the B class, having yet to prove themselves. This is Jab Hook’s honest opinion of the Charlo brothers. They can change the situation, but it will take “hard work and dedication”, as well as risk taking and honest match making.
Get ready and do it, or fade into “Dirrell brother syndrome”.
“Jab Hook”, aka “Brooklyn” Joe Healy is an aficionado that wears many hats in the boxing world. Born in Brooklyn and living in Munich, “The Sweet Science” is his passion. Please feel free to contact him as Jab Hook on FaceBook, or at AficionadoKO@gmail.com.
