By Rocky Morales at ringside
Photos: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME

WBC super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo (31-0, 15 KOs) scored a twelve round majority decision over former world champion Austin Trout (31-5, 17 KOs) on Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Charlo pressed the action, throughout, and dropped Trout in each the third and ninth rounds, while Trout was content to mostly safely box even when he was seemingly way down on the scorecards.

Trout, 5.5 years removed from being world champion, and 0-4 in subsequent title challenges, looked like an old fighter in the ring but an old fighter with enough boxing smarts to frustrate Charlo and stretch him to the distance to break a four fight knockout streak for Charlo. Charlo’s hand and foot speed was superior but Trout worked distance well. Besides the knockdowns, Trout appeared wobbled on numerous occasions but used his experience to survive.

By the end of the bout, Charlo looked like the easy winner which was why it was a shock to all in the arena to hear a majority decision verdict. By scores of 118-108, 115-111 and, insanely, 113-113, Charlo retains his WBC super welterweight title. Meanwhile, Trout drops his fifth, and hopefully final, title challenge in a row.