Two minutes and 41 seconds. That's how it took for Jermell Charlo to make a statement and knock out Erickson Lubin.
Charlo knocked out Lubin in the first round in the co-main event of a Showtime Championship Boxing card at the Barclays Center, retaining his WBC junior middleweight title in the process. The fight ended when Lubin leaned in on Charlo's right side at the same time as Charlo was throwing a swift right uppercut. Lubin was staggered, stunned and unable to get back up by the referee's 10-count.
With the win, Charlo moves one step closer to unifying world titles at boxing's junior middleweight division. Charlo had been wanting to unify titles at 154 pounds for some time, and in the post-fight interview, Charlo called out IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd as one fighter he wants to challenge to a unification fight.
"We're going to unify. The other champions want to fight me and I'll take any of them. Give me another title. I want Hurd. Hurd just won. Give me Hurd," Charlo said.
As for Lubin, the 22-year-old suffered his first loss at the hands of Charlo, but said in the post-fight interview that he's going to bounce back from the loss.
"This is boxing and I got caught with a nice shot on the chin and couldn't recover in time. I didn't see the punch coming, so I have no excuses. I'm young and have plenty of fight left in me. This is just a minor setback. I'll be back sooner than later and hungrier than ever," Lubin said.
Charlo, primarily figured to be the less stronger power puncher between him and twin brother Jermall, has emerged as a real threat to end fights at any time in the past year-and-a-half or so. After only getting 11 KO wins in his first 26 fights, Charlo has won all four of his last fights via KO, including the likes of Charles Hatley and John Jackson.
