By Ian S Palmer
Former WBC World Jr. Middleweight Champion Jermell Charlo of Richmond, Texas will be taking on Jorge Cota of Mexico this Sunday, June 23rd. The 12-round tilt from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada can be seen live in the USA on Fox and Fox Deportes and on Fox in Canada. Charlo lost his unbeaten record and his title the last time out in December when he dropped a controversial unanimous decision to Tony Harrison. Cota last fought in April when he lost a 10-round split decision to Jeison Rosario. Charlo had won the vacant title in May, 2016 when he stopped John Jackson in the eighth round and lost it to Harrison in his fourth defence.
The 29-year-old Charlo will climb into the ring with an impressive mark of 31-0 along with 15 Kos. He turned pro back in 2007 and has boxed 212 rounds since then. Charlo doesn’t have as much power as his twin brother Jermall as his current knockout ratio is just 47 percent and that may have cost him against Harrison. However, one of the reasons he has a lower percentage than his brother could be the better grade of opponent he’s faced up to now such as Harrison, Jackson, Austin Trout, Joachim Alcine, Vanes Martirosyan, Gabriel Rosado, Demetrius Hopkins, Harry Joe Yorgey, Charles Hatley and Erickson Lubin.
Charlo typically relies on his slick boxing skills to win fights but does have enough power to stop a foe with an accumulation of well-placed and timed punches, which is what he did with former world champ Alcine. He stands 5-feet-11-inches tall and has a reach of 73 inches. Although he has slick boxing skills, Charlo isn’t usually an overly-exciting boxer to watch. Up to meeting Harrison he’s been just a little bit too good for the opposition and the bouts haven’t resulted in much action or drama. Hopefully for the fans things will be a bit different against Cota on Sunday night.
Cota is a relative unknown 31 year old who has fought everywhere from welterweight to super middleweight and all divisions in between. He carries around a record of 28-3 with 25 big Kos. He’s an exciting fighter to watch since 27 of his 31 bouts have resulted in stoppages. Of course he owns 25 of them for a current knockout ratio of 81 per cent and he’s been stopped twice himself in his three defeats. Erickson Lubin stopped him in four rounds in March of 2017 and Marco Antonio Rubio halted him in seven in 2012 for the vacant IBF International Middleweight Title.
Incidentally, Charlo stopped Rubio in the first round seven months after Rubio stopped Cota. The Mexican made his pro debut in 2009 and has boxed 128 rounds since. He’s 5-feet-11-inches tall with a 73.5-inch reach so is basically the same size as Charlo. Cota has fallen short when stepping up in class against Lubin and Rubio with his most notable wins being against Luis Ramon Campas and Joel Juarez. In fact 14 of his 31 opponents have had losing records when they met so he’s definitely stepping up in class again against Charlo but has a puncher’s chance.
Prediction…
Charlo’s probably a but underrated when it comes to skills and power and he should have enough to take care of Cota but power’s the great equalizer in boxing and it appears Cota has plenty of it. Charlo needs to be aware of this and utilize his skills instead of being goaded into a slugfest. As long as he does so he should be able to take care of Cota.
