CHARLO TO DEFEND TITLE VS HOGAN, EUBANK MAKES AMERICAN DEBUT
On Saturday, Dec. 7, WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo will defend his world title against Dennis Hogan at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. This will be Charlo’s second defense after being promoted to world champion in June.
Charlo (29-0, 21 KO) is one of the best talents in a stacked middleweight division, which also features WBA/WBC “franchise” champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, IBF titleholder Gennady Golovkin and WBO champion Demetrius Andrade. These potential unification fights may be difficult to set up due to the promotional divides in modern day boxing.
The most recent outing for Charlo was a 12-round unanimous decision win over “The Contender” (season five) winner Brandon Adams in June. But before his win over Adams, Charlo struggled in a controversial unanimous decision over Matvey Korobov in December of last year. On that same card, Charlo’s brother — Jermell — lost his WBC junior middleweight title to Tony Harrison in a questionable decision.
Hardcore boxing fans may remember Dennis Hogan (28-2-1, 7 KO) from his spirited effort against WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Mungia in April. Although he lost the fight via majority decision, many boxing writers and fans believed Hogan deserved the judge’s nod.
In the co-main event, middleweight contenders Chris Eubank Jr. and Matvey Korobov will meet in a bout for the WBA interim middleweight title. This will be Eubank’s first bout on United States soil, as all of his others have been in his native United Kingdom (with the exception of one fight, which was in Germany).
The only losses for Eubank (28-2, 21 KO) — son of former two-division champion and British boxing legend Chris Eubank Sr. — have come against two-weight champion Billy Joe Saunders and former super middleweight titleholder George Groves. Since the loss to Groves, Eubank had won two fights in a row: a stoppage win over JJ McDonagh and, in his most recent bout, a unanimous decision over former world super middleweight champion James DeGale.
Since his loss to former world champion Andy Lee in 2014, Korobov (28-2-1, 14 KO) has been on a rather long comeback trail. After taking nearly two years off after the loss, he racked up four wins and a against lower opposition before losing the controversial decision to Jermall Charlo last year.
Korobov’s last fight was a draw against Immanuwel Aleem in May. A win for either Eubank or Korobov could set them up against the winner of the main event between Charlo and Hogan.