WBC junior middleweight champion Tony Harrison’s chin betrayed him in the 11th round with Jermell Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs) stopping him in a come from behind victory in their rematch on Saturday night at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.
The stoppage was a little questionable with referee Jack Reiss halting the contest after Charlo flurried on a hurt Harrison in the 11th. The shots hit nothing but gloves, but Reiss stopped the fight anyway. This is the same referee that chose not to stop the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury fight in the 12th round last year in December.
Wilder knocked Fury out cold, and Reiss chose to give a count while Fury was lying their motionless. It was an odd picture. But tonight, Reiss was quick on the trigger in stopping a fight with Charlo hitting gloves. Wasn’t the greatest stoppage. It’s like Reiss went in the opposite direction of how he officiated the Wilder-Fury fight. Fury was far more hurt than Harrison was, and yet Reiss gave him a count.
Charlo knocked Harrison down three times in the fight. Once in round 2, and twice in the 11th round.
At the time of the stoppage, Boxing 247 had Harrison up 9 rounds to 1. Charlo had won the 2nd round after dropping Harrison, but he appeared to lose all the other rounds.
Charlo threw everything with power for the entire fight, and this made it easy for Harrison to nail him with shots. Other than a flash knockdown in round 2, Charlo was getting a boxing lesson by the better skilled Harrison.
Charlo’s focus on throwing everything with power finally paid off in the 11th round when he dropped Harrison twice with big hooks. Referee Jack Reiss stopped the fight after Charlo landed a number of hard shots after Harrison got up from the second knockdown in the 11th round. The official time of the stoppage was at 2:28 of round 11.
The win for Charlo gives him the last laugh, as Harrison had made fun of him frequently during the build up to the fight by saying he can’t talk, and that he’s “retarded” and makes no sense when he speaks.
Charlo is going to need to work on his game big time, because he’s vulnerable to getting out-boxed, and he doesn’t pressure well. The flaws that Harrison exposed in Charlo’s game have been there from day one since he turned professional. He’s gotten away with having gaps in his game due to the match-making that’s been done. He’s not fought any of the talented guys at 154 like Erislandy Lara, Jarrett Hurd, Julian Williams or Bakhram Murtazaliev.
Some believe that the only reason that Harrison was picked for the first fight with Charlo is because he’s been knocked out by Hurd and Willie Nelson in the past. So in other words, Harrison was supposed to be a winnable fight for Charlo, but unfortunately his training from the legendary Kronk Gym proved to be his undoing. It would have been the same tonight if not for Charlo bailing himself out with his power.
