Jermall Charlo dominates, but can't stop Juan Montiel

Let the criticism begin.

Jermall Charlo dominated Juan Macias Montiel in defense of his middleweight title, winning a near-shutout decision Saturday night at Toyota Center in Houston.

However, he couldn’t do what almost everyone thought he would do — stop the overmatched Mexican, which certainly will have brought out the doubters.

Charlo gave Montiel credit for his effort.

“It took a real warrior to get in the ring with me,” he said. “He fought each and every round as hard as he could and I could tell by his eyes that he’s a true warrior from the beginning and he wanted to fight.

“It didn’t matter what I hit him with, he wanted more. I love that spirit. He’s going to be great.”

Charlo, making the fourth defense of his belt, outclassed and outworked Montiel, picking the challenger apart much of the fight with his jab and hard, accurate power shots.

The Houston native landed 46% of his power shots, according to CompuBox. He also outlanded Montiel overall 258-127.

And, yes, there were a few moments when it seemed as if Charlo would end the fight inside the distance. He hurt Montiel early in Rounds 5 and 6 and followed with barrages meant to finish the job.

However, Montiel, obviously durable and in excellent condition, survived it all and actually had his best rounds down the stretch.

Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) continued to land more punches than his opponent but Montiel (22-5-2, 22 KOs) connected on some hard, eye-catching blows in the last third of the fight, when it was clear he needed a knockout to win.

Montiel wasn’t particularly good but he definitely was resilient, although that wasn’t reflected on the scorecards. Charlo won 120-108, 119-109 and 118-109. Boxing Junkie scored it 120-107 for Charlo.

And it should be noted that all of Montiel’s victories have come by knockout, meaning he can punch. Thus, Charlo also demonstrated a good chin.

Of course, some will give Charlo credit for a convincing victory. Others will question his power, particularly in light of the fact that Jaime Munguia stopped Montiel in 2017.

Bottom line: He got the job the done and it wasn’t close. He’ll now focus on getting big-name opponents into the ring. And he said the search will be for fellow 160-pounders for now.

“A hundred sixty pounds is my weight division,” he said. “I want to unify. I want to get [Gennadiy] Golovkin in the ring. I want to bring him to Houston. I want to get Canelo [Alvarez] to come to Houston if he’ll come down to 160. This is my weight division. I’m going to stay here and reign here.

“This is my fourth title defense and I have many more to come. I’m young. I’m hungry.”