By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Jermell Charlo lost a title he might’ve deserved to retain Saturday night at Barclays Center.

In the following fight, his brother, Jermall, won a wide unanimous decision over Matt Korobov in a 12-round middleweight title fight that appeared abundantly closer than at least one of the scorecards suggested. Judges Max DeLuca (116-112), Larry Hazzard Jr. (119-108) and Steve Weisfeld (116-112) each scored Charlo the winner of the main event of an eight-fight card in Brooklyn.

Houston’s Charlo retained his WBC interim middleweight title, remained undefeated (28-0, 21 KOs) and is still the mandatory challenger for Canelo Alvarez’s WBC 160-pound championship.

“I used everything that happened tonight as motivation in the 12th round,” Jermall Charlo said. “I haven’t been that far in a fight in a couple of years. It felt good to be in there, get hit and bang with someone. He was an experienced guy who will make me better.

“I had fun in there with an opponent like that. I got that win and that’s the main thing. I still feel I’m the best in the world. I just need to prove it to the rest of the world.”

Unofficial CompuBox punch stats credited Charlo with landing 42 more overall punches than Korobov (170-to-128). According to CompuBox, Charlo connected on more jabs (56-to-9), whereas Korobov landed more power punches (119-to-114).

Jermall Charlo admitted that his brother’s upset defeat to Tony Harrison in the prior fight made him fight harder. Detroit’s Harrison (28-2, 21 KOs) defeated the previously unbeaten Jermell Charlo (31-1, 15 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder to take the WBC super welterweight championship from him.

“I felt like Jermell made his fight harder than it was,” Jermall Charlo said. “I had a really tough opponent, but he wasn’t better than me. There was a lot on my mind in the ring.”

Charlo made the first defense of the WBC interim middleweight championship he won by knocking out Hugo Centeno Jr. (26-2, 14 KOs, 1 NC) in the second round April 21 at Barclays Center.

His decisive defeat aside, Russia’s Korobov (28-2, 14 KOs) fought well and challenged Charlo in every round until the 12th. Charlo hurt him badly with a counter left hook early in those final three minutes, but Korobov survived until the final bell.

Korobov’s performance was particularly impressive because he took this difficult fight on just six days’ notice. He replaced Charlo’s original opponent, Willie Monroe Jr. (23-3, 6 KOs), once the Rochester, New York, native tested positive for a “steroidal substance,” according to a statement released Monday by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.

The 35-year-old Korobov, of Lantana, Florida, jumped at the chance to replace Monroe because he was already training for a non-televised, eight-round fight on the Charlo-Monroe undercard against Colombia’s Juan DeAngel (21-9-1, 19 KOs). If nothing else, Korobov’s performance helped him overcome the stigma from his sixth-round, technical-knockout defeat to Andy Lee in their WBO middleweight title fight four years ago.

Korobov, like Monroe, is a southpaw. He’s a stronger puncher, however, and a skilled boxer who earned Charlo’s respect early in their battle by repeatedly landing hard left hands.

A resilient Charlo changed their fight 40 seconds into the 12th and final round by blasting Korobov with a counter left hook that buckled Korobov’s legs and sent him stumbling backward. Charlo tried to finish him, but Korobov held him tightly, moved and somehow avoided another damaging blow by the hard-hitting Charlo.

With 30 seconds to go in the fight, a rejuvenated Korobov landed two straight left hands that temporarily fended off the hard-charging Charlo.

Charlo and Korobov traded punches throughout a competitive 11th round.

A left-right combination by Charlo made Korobov take cover temporarily with about a minute to go in the 10th round. Korobov continued, though, to land lefts to the body and trade with Charlo from close distances.

Charlo and Korobov traded hard shots in the center of the ring 15 seconds into the ninth round. Korobov continued to take Charlo’s hardest shots well and added another straight left to keep Charlo from punching.

A hard, straight right hand by Charlo stopped Korobov in his tracks about 20 seconds into the seventh round.

Soon thereafter, Korobov clocked Charlo with a short right hook that knocked Charlo off balance. Korobov added a straight left later in the seventh.

Charlo had a strong sixth round, when he landed several hard right hands. He also avoided Korobov’s straight left hand, something he was unable to do in the previous four rounds.

Korobov hit Charlo with a straight left hand early in the fifth, when it was clear Charlo was having trouble making a defensive adjustment to avoid that shot. Charlo caught Korobov with a short right hand at about the 30-second mark of the fifth.

Korobov blasted Charlo with a hard left to the body as Charlo came forward in the middle of the fourth round. Korobov connected with another straight left that caused Charlo to reset his feet later in the fourth.

A straight left hand by Korobov backed up Charlo about 50 seconds into the third round.

Just after the halfway point of the third round, Charlo connected with a left hook to Korobov’s head. Korobov quickly countered with a right hook.

With about 20 seconds to go in the third, Korobov drilled Charlo with a straight left that knocked him backward.

Korobov caught Charlo with a combination in the center of the ring when there were about 40 seconds to go in the second round. Korobov also landed a counter left hand toward the end of the second round.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.