Other fighters have a nasty tendency to not stay around long when Jermall Charlo is in the ring. Of his last 15 fights, eight were over by the fifth round. Only one went the distance. It may be a sign for Cornelius Bundrage on Saturday, when the champion defends his world title against Charlo at Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut (NBC, 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT), to try to take the Texas native into the deepest of waters. Strap in and hang on, if you can.
Because if you want to see what Jermall Charlo is capable of when things go his way, take a look at his Greatest Hits. All 10 rounds of them.
3 vs Lenny Bottai, December 13, 2014, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas
The fight against Bundrage could have come sooner. When Charlo took on Lenny Bottai late in 2014, it was a brawl to determine who would become Bundrage’s mandatory challenger.
Bottai, though, was something of an enigma, having fought his entire career in Italy—and even there, almost exclusively in Tuscany.
“It’s hard to study a guy who’s oversees,” Charlo said. “I watched a little bit of what I could. Dude was being real physical with me.”
Good luck with that.
Charlo positively flattened Bottai with a left hook that left the Italian flopping around on the ground like a sailor who burned through back pay during Fleet Week. Bottai was only standing at nine because the ropes refused to let gravity do its job, but referee Jay Nady had seen enough and waved it off for a third-round knockout.
2 vs Antwone Smith, August 9, 2013, at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California
Antwone Smith came into this fight with two clear advantages: experience and weight. Smith had three years and 14 fights on the more inexperienced Charlo. He also weighed in for their 154-pound tilt at 159.75, then swelled to 164 by the time of the fight.
What he didn’t have an advantage in? Power and accuracy.
“That was another fight I trained real hard for,” Charlo said. “I was doubted again. I knew he had been in there with a lot of former champions.”
Champion experience or not, through the first round, Charlo clearly imposed his will, firing off strong jabs and big hooks while Smith only offered a shoulder roll to cover his retreat and the occasional counter.
It caught up to him quickly. Two minutes into the second round, as Smith was turning and retreating behind that shoulder roll, Charlo came over the top and planted a right squarely in Smith’s left ear.
Smith hauled himself up by the middle rope and Bambi-wobbled toward referee Tom Taylor, but Charlo had silenced any doubters with his second-round KO.
1 vs Orlando Lora, April 20, 2013, at the Alamodome in San Antonio
There’s something to be said for atmosphere. On a night with a positively stacked card—Omar Figueroa Jr., Julian Williams, Miguel Flores and Terrell Gausha were all in action supporting the main event of Austin Trout vs Saul “Canelo” Alvarez—Charlo was in the middle of the party in his tilt against Orlando Lora.
It was a raucous Alamodome crowd, with plenty of people filling out a stadium built for basketball, hockey and football. Call it a slightly different vibe than his previous fight, at Our Lady of the Lake University Gym, also in San Antonio.
“There were 40,000 people in the stands,” Charlo said. “I had to control myself.”
“Control,” of course, is subjective. Charlo administered a beating severe enough that Lora quit on the stool after the fifth round. Which makes it a positive marathon, by Charlo standards.
For the full run-up to Bundrage vs Charlo, make sure to visit our fight page.
