This is why fights are fixed.
On Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the folks at Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) aired their debut card on Fox, showcasing fighting twins on the cusp of stardom, Jermell and Jermall Charlo.
If everything had gone according to plan, both brothers would?ve committed on-air manslaughter on national TV. Interim WBC middleweight titlist Jermall would?ve been able to add more fuel to his burning demands for a bout with Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin and WBC junior middleweight champ Jermell would?ve been headed to a Fight of the Year 154 lb. unification battle with IBF/WBA champ Jarrett Hurd.
But things DIDN?T go according to plan.
Good, but not great, Tony Harrison, who twice failed in previous attempts to overcome next-level opposition, picked and prodded his way to a controversial unanimous decision win over previously undefeated Jermell to take his belt.
Then, late replacement Matt Korobov put Jermall in a hole early on, winning the first quarter of the fight by upsetting the defending champ?s rhythm with some tricky veteran timing moves from the southpaw stance and all-around making the one-minute-older Charlo twin look more like a competent pro than a raging young lion. Jermall would eventually establish firm control in the bout and even hurt Korobov late, but his unanimous decision win was hardly the showcase moment the folks at PBC had hoped for.
In a boxing world as corrupt as it?s painted to be, there?s no way Harrison would?ve taken that decision over Charlo, especially in a really close fight where not much was going on and most rounds were close enough to go to either man. The money was on Jermell and a showdown with Hurd later in 2019, not on a mild-mannered spoiler like Harrison, who just may lose the WBC belt in his very first defense.
As for Jermall?original opponent Willie Monroe Jr. was an odd choice for a showcase network squash. Even under the best of circumstances, the quick and athletic Monroe, with his raw ability, alone, could?ve made Charlo look less-than-stellar, despite having failed twice in next-level tries against Golovkin and Billy Joe Saunders.
When Monroe was pulled from the fight after testing positive for a banned substance just about a week before the contest, late replacement Matt Korobov presented an even more complicated task for Charlo. The highly decorated Russian amateur star, a southpaw like Monroe, had the skills and maturity to possibly give Charlo and his straight up-and-down style, fits. And, yeah, that?s pretty much what happened, at least enough to make Jermall?s true believers start to question his chances against middleweight elite while feeding serial critics with an ?I told you he was nothing special? moment.
All in all, Saturday?s big network coming out party for the sport?s next big stars was a poorly-executed mess from a business perspective. The matchups were not flattering to the money fighters, who were being hyped as young, hungry lions with a talent for brutality, and, as a result, the Charlo twins left Barclays Center as diminished entities.
The real-world answer to this would be to simply demand that the young stars up their level and be ready to shine against any opponents with any styles. But boxing is not the ?real world.? In boxing, a matchmaker?s acumen in choosing the right fights for his guy is essential and a promoter?s ability to maneuver the right officials into the right spots is the ultimate safety net to guard against unpleasant surprises. Somewhere in between, the fighters fight.
The two Charlo bouts were as honest as any big fights get at this level of the sport?honest matchmaking, honest judging, honest officiating?and all that honesty blew up in the faces of those with money invested into the showcasing of two new and dynamic stars. Honesty got the PBC folks stuck with Tony Harrison, a hard-to-promote stylist already starched by Hurd last year, as junior middleweight champ, plus, it got a wet blanket tossed over previously red-hot Jermall Charlo.
This is what happens in honest sporting events, though. Sometimes the Colorado Rockies eliminate the favored and much more marketable Chicago Cubs from the playoffs and life is what it is.
But, after seeing what went on in Brooklyn last Saturday, one can certainly understand why there?s a temptation to do a little jerry-rigging here and there to keep money flowing and preserve the viability of bigger and better fights down the line. As any fight fan comes to learn soon enough, boxing is a business.
