Charlo vs Adams: Staff picks and predictions

This Saturday night from Houston, Jermall Charlo (28-0, 21 KO) returns to defend the WBC middleweight title, for whatever that’s worth now, against Brandon Adams (21-2, 13 KO) in a Showtime main event.

The BLH staffers make their picks.

Scott Christ

On paper, it’s another lousy Showtime main event in 2019, as the premium cable partner of PBC gets another mismatch scrap thrown their way. Brandon Adams made it to the finals of a pair of Boxcino tournaments and won a Contender tournament that no one watched. Otherwise he’s just a guy. I honestly hate to sound so shitty and dismissive because Adams is going to do his best and he’s a man taking the risk going in there, but come on. Charlo KO-3

Wil Esco

This ain’t reality TV. No disrespect to Adams, who obviously puts it on the line whenever he steps into the ring, but Jermall Charlo is by far the best opponent he will have ever faced. As they say, ‘there’s levels to this shit’ and quite frankly I don’t see how The Contender winner matches up well with Charlo. I expect Adams to do the best he can, but I think Charlo is just better in every area. I’m going to pick Charlo to break him down by the mid-rounds to force a stoppage. Charlo TKO-6

Patrick L. Stumberg

I’m not quite ready to say that Charlo belongs in the same tier as the Canelo-Golovkin-Jacobs triumvirate; as destructive as he was at 154, I’m going to need more than knocking out Jorge Sebastian Heiland and Hugo Centeno before scraping past Matt Korobov. I don’t think anyone can reasonably argue that he’s not a level or two beyond the likes of Adams, though.

Adams is a decent mid-tier contender who got a golden ticket; beating Ievghen Khytrov and Shane Mosley Jr. is no preparation for a destructive force like Charlo, who delights the hometown crowd with a quick stoppage. Charlo KO-2

Lewis Watson

Jermall will be looking to silence the critics against Adams following his controversial win last December against Korobov. The Russian had plenty of success against Charlo, with his southpaw stance allowing left hand after left hand to connect. Adams is better suited to the champion, with the challenger expected to keep his distance in a fight where he needs to stay out of range of Charlo’s length. Adams may try and outbox the champ in the early stanzas but will eventually be backed up – as soon as the pair engage in a fire-fight there will only be one outcome. Adams has shown improvements over The Contender series, but this is a huge step up. Charlo TKO-7

And the staff winner is

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

Jermall Charlo (4-0!)

Bad Left Hook will have live coverage for Charlo vs Adams on Saturday, June 29, starting at 9 pm ET on Showtime