Jermall Charlo picks up his second title defense!
In the main event of the December 7 SHOWTIME boxing telecast, WBC world middleweight champion Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo (30-0, 22 KO’s) stopped Dennis “Hurricane” Hogan (28-3-, 7 KO’s) with one devastating left hook. The impressive knockout victory came early in the seventh round.
In the early rounds, the notably smaller Hurricane enjoyed a good measure of success utilizing his nimble feet and punching on the move. Despite his nifty fighting, it was apparent that Charlo was just a hair off the mark with a number of menacing blows.
That would all soon change!
At the top of the fourth period, the Hit Man caught Hogan with a left upper cut that sent him rolling backwards into the ropes. The knockdown was reminiscent of the one of the two knockdowns Timothy Bradley suffered in his third bout with Manny Pacquiao in April 2016. Bradley was dropped and did a backword-roll back onto his feet!
Hogan performed the same move here and to his credit, he hopped up immediately and defended himself competently. Although, he was on his bike for the remainder of the round.
Actually, the fighting Irishman remained on his bike throughout for the next two rounds. Not able to consistently land combinations, the champion had to settle for single shot punches here and there.
Then once again, at the top of the seventh, the Hit Man connected flush on the chin with another frightfully sharp left hook.
Hogan went down hard and was not so quick to spring up. Following his second trip to the canvas, Hogan rose for a second time. However, the Hurricane swayed like a Bourbon Street drunk which prompted referee Charlie Fitch to waive the contest off.
With this win, Charlo makes his second defense of the WBC title. In the post-fight interview, he mentioned he still has interest in fighting the other champions in the division (Demetirus Andrade, Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez). At this point, one of those match-ups is well overdue and need to happen ASAP!
By: Bakari Simpson
