HOUSTON ? Jermall Charlo?s hometown title defense wasn?t quite as easy or as brief as many might?ve expected.
Brandon Adams made their middleweight title fight tricky at times for Charlo on Saturday night at NRG Arena. The unbeaten Houston native did more than enough during their 12-rounder, however, to win a unanimous decision and retained his WBC championship in the main event of a Showtime tripleheader.
All three judges ? Don Griffin (120-108), Steve Morrow (120-108) and David Sutherland (119-109) ? scored their fight for Charlo (29-0, 21 KOs).
Los Angeles? Adams (21-3, 12 KOs) was a huge underdog and appeared reluctant to engage early in their fight. Once he got comfortable, though, Adams was able to land occasional clean shots on the champion, showed some defensive skill that made it tough at times for Charlo to hit him and was able to take the bigger, stronger Charlo?s power all the way until the final bell.
Adams had won four straight bouts before Charlo defeated him, but each of those wins were recorded as part of the fifth season of ?The Contender? reality series last year. Adams defeated Shane Mosely Jr. in ?The Contender? finale November 9 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, but Charlo is much more accomplished and dangerous than Mosely or anyone else Adams fought as part of that show.
Charlo clipped Adams with a straight right hand and a left hook as Adams backed into his own corner late in the 12th round. Charlo connected with several hard shots toward the end of the 11th round, but Adams didn?t seem badly hurt.
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Cole warned Charlo for a low blow early in the 10th round. Charlo caught Adams with a right uppercut and then a straight right hand that appeared to hurt him later in the 10th round.
Charlo and Adams traded left hooks toward the end of the ninth round, when Adams displayed confidence from what he was doing.
With Charlo backed against the ropes, Adams nailed him with a straight right hand just prior to the end of the eighth round. That made Charlo throw hard shots back at him, but Adams landed another short right hand before the round concluded.
Adams landed a short right hand approximately 30 seconds into the seventh round. Charlo came back with a short right of his own several seconds later.
Adams landed a short left hook just before the halfway point of the sixth round. A short right uppercut by Charlo caught Adams about 30 seconds later.
Adams initiated a good exchange near the ropes toward the end of the sixth round.
Charlo began landing clean shots on Adams during the fifth round. Two right hands and two left hooks by Charlo caused Adams to hold him near a neutral corner late in the fifth round.
A short left uppercut by Charlo caught Adams about 30 seconds into the fourth round. An overhand right by Charlo landed to the side of Adams? head just after the midway mark of the fourth.
Charlo had difficulty landing his overhand right for much of the third round, as the shorter Adams ducked and dodged away from it. Charlo connected with a couple flush punches once they were tied up inside and drilled Adams with a right uppercut Adams acknowledged just as the third round ended.
Adams made Charlo miss with some overhand rights early in the second round. Charlo connected with an overhand right to the side of Adams? head with about 1:10 to go in the second round.
Charlo trapped Adams in a neutral corner later in the second round, but Adams tied him up.
Adams mostly kept his distance from Charlo throughout the first round and only really tried to land jabs to Charlo?s body. Charlo caught him with a right uppercut, though, with about 10 seconds to go in the opening round.
