It may not have been the WBC junior middleweight title rematch that Jermell Charlo wanted to have on Sunday night, but capped off a FOX-televised show in Las Vegas in style.
Charlo scored an impressive 1-2 combination that immediately knocked out Jorge Cota late in the third round in the main event of a PBC on FOX card. This was Charlo’s first fight since losing his WBC title to Tony Harrison last year.
The fight saw Charlo first drop Cota in the third round thanks to a right hand and although Cota managed to get back up, he did not fully recover. The fight still went on and Charlo immediately knocked Cota out with a left-right combination that split Cota’s guard, ending the fight and giving Charlo’s first win of 2019.
.@twincharlo closes RD1 with a sneaky left hook. #CharloCota #PBConFOX pic.twitter.com/wquNjzFdFF
— PBC (@premierboxing) June 24, 2019
---- #LIONSONLY #JorgeCota #PBConFOX pic.twitter.com/OzZ2RSnLby
— PBC (@premierboxing) June 24, 2019
Originally, Charlo and Harrison were supposed to have a rematch on this date, but Harrison suffered an inner and outer ankle sprain with torn ligaments in his right ankle, leaving him unable to train for 10 weeks. Hours after the news of Harrison’s injury was revealed, PBC announced that Charlo would face Cota instead.
Charlo won the WBC title back in 2016 and made three defenses of the title before losing the title to Harrison. Harrison won a 12-round decision against Charlo last December in Brooklyn to capture his first world title.
