CHARLO AND HARRISON MEET AGAIN IN GRUDGE MATCH

WBC junior middleweight champion Tony “Superbad” Harrison (28-2, 21 KO) will defend his title in a rematch against former titleholder Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo (32-1, 16 KO) on Saturday, Dec. 21 at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA. Harrison lifted the WBC belt from Charlo last year, winning their first fight via unanimous decision.

Though all three of the official judges agreed unanimously that Harrison won the first fight with Charlo, the decision was disputed by many observers who thought Charlo did enough to win. The official scores read 116-112 and 115-113 (X2), all in favor of Harrison.

The controversy called for a rematch, so both Harrison and Charlo signed a contract to meet in the ring once again in June of this year. However, Harrison pulled out of the scheduled bout with an ankle injury.

As a result of Harrison’s withdrawal, Charlo had to face a replacement opponent in junior middleweight contender Jorge Cota on the same date. Charlo knocked out Cota in the third round, putting himself back in the win column after the first defeat of his professional boxing career.

Since he had to pull out of the scheduled June 23 date with Charlo due to injury, Harrison has been out of the ring for a whole year.

Also on the card is Nigerian prospect Efe Ajagba (11-0, 9 KO) against Iago Kilzade (26-4-1, 18 KO).

Being a professional for only two years with 11 fights on his record, Ajagba has wins over two notable names in world heavyweight boxing.

In 2018, Ajagba scored a win over contender Curtis Harper via a bizarre disqualification, as Harper literally walked out of the ring and back to his dressing room after the bell sounded to start the first round. Then—in March of this year—Ajagba earned a win over veteran contender Amir Mansour, stopping him after two rounds.

The most recent showing for Ajagba was a 10-round decision over Ali Eren Demirezen on the undercard of Manny Pacqiuao’s fight with Keith Thurman in July.

Ajagba’s opponent, Iago Kilzade, has been in the ring against some of the best up and coming heavyweights in boxing. However, he was knocked out by the all three of the most popular names on his resume: Adam Kownacki, Michael Hunter and Joe Joyce. All of those losses took place consecutively in 2018.

Kilzade’s most recent bout was a draw against Robert Alfonso in May, which means that he has not earned a win in over two years.