Lubin Doesn't Think Much of Jermell Charlo's Knockout of Hatley

By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Jermell Charlo’s knockout of Charles Hatley is considered one of the best performances of Charlo’s career.

Charlo beat up the trash-talking Hatley, dropped him in the third round and knocked his mandatory challenger unconscious in the sixth round. Erickson Lubin wasn’t overly impressed with what the unbeaten WBC super welterweight champion did to Hatley.

The powerful southpaw, who’ll challenge Charlo next month, was surprised Charlo didn’t get rid of Hatley earlier in their scheduled 12-round fight April 22 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“I was calling Hatley out when I was 8-0,” Lubin told BoxingScene.com. “I’m not really surprised at what he did to Hatley. I thought he would do it earlier. I thought he got touched a little bit too much against Charles Hatley, but he did what he had to do. You know, it was an impressive knockout. He put him to sleep, but I did the same thing to Jorge Cota and it’s time for the top dudes at 154 to collide.”

Lubin, of Orlando, Florida, stopped Mexico’s Cota (25-2, 22 KOs) in the fourth round of their March 4 bout at Barclays Center. That win solidified Lubin, who’ll turn 22 on Sunday, as the No. 1 challenger for Charlo’s title.

Lubin is confident he would’ve done the same thing to Dallas’ Hatley (26-2-1, 18 KOs) that Charlo did to him.

“I’ve seen Hatley knocked out in his hometown,” Lubin said. “He got dropped and they counted 20 seconds, and they let him recover, and he ended up winning the fight. Other than that, I was never impressed with Hatley.”

The scheduled 12-rounder between Houston’s Charlo (29-0, 14 KOs) and Lubin (18-0, 13 KOs) will be part of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader October 14 at Barclays Center. The telecast will include two more 154-pound title fights.

Cuban southpaw Erislandy Lara (24-2-2, 14 KOs), the WBA/IBO super welterweight champion, will encounter Cleveland’s Terrell Gausha (20-0, 9 KOs) in the main event. Jarrett Hurd (20-0, 14 KOs), of Accokeek, Maryland, is set to defend his IBF junior middleweight championship against Austin Trout (30-3, 17 KOs), of Las Cruces, New Mexico, in the opener of Showtime’s three-bout broadcast.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.