Jermall Charlo masters a determined Brandon Adams

Jermall Charlo defeated tougher than expected Brandon Adams in his first fight in Houston in seven years in front of an adoring sellout crowd.

The fight was essentially Charlo counterpunching while Adams looked for home run shots. Adams was expected as piecemeal, but showed excellent defense and even landed a few looping punches here and there.

Meanwhile, Charlo who usually uses his power jab, hurt his hand in the second round and thus threw less punches, but most were meaningful and accurate.

There were a few occasions when Adams was on the ropes, but he managed to evade getting stopped with head movement and ducking.

Overall, Charlo won every round with activity and accuracy. He is now full WBC Middleweight champion, but one wonders who his next opponent will be due to promotional and television interests of rivals in his divisions.

On the undercard, Erickson Lubin ended Frenchman Zakaria Attou with a blinding flurry across the ropes in the fourth round. Attou looked flabby and didn’t offer much besides some wrestling tactics. He stated after the fight that he injured his bicep, which makes sense.

In the first televised bout, Claudio Marrero unleashed the matrix against Mexican Eduardo Ramirez. Marrero looked like a Pernell Whitaker prototype at times as he evaded punches with his hands down and landed crisp combinations. That being said, Ramirez never stopped trying and occasionally landed some shots of his own. Despite being a tactical affair, the fans never grew weary and were polite all the way.