HOUSTON - Jermall Charlo didn't imagine Brandon Adams would be as tough and durable as he was on Saturday Night. In front of sold out crowd of 6,408 at NRG Arena, Charlo (29-0, 21 KOs) was able to grind out a unanimous decision as he defended his WBC middleweight title.

All three judges, Don Griffin (120-108), Steve Morrow (120-108) and David Sutherland (119-109) scored the fight in favor of Charlo.

It was a star-studded event in Houston as names like rapper Z-Ro, former NFL wide receiver Andre Johnson, Errol Spence, Anthony Dirrell, WWE Hall of Famer Stevie Ray (Harlem Heat), Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans and a host of others were all in attendance.

Adams (21-3, 12 KOs) got off to a slow start and seemed a bit hesitant to mix it up with Charlo in the first few rounds. He began to pick up the pace slightly as the fight wore on and was able to frustrate Charlo with some elusive head movement being the shorter fighter.

Charlo however, denied that he was frustrated by Adams.

"I wasn't frustrated. This is boxing, He came out to fight and I came out to fight."

Charlo was able to land the uppercut with relative ease throughout the duration of the fight. Observers from ringside were astonished that Adams was able to absorb so many flush uppercuts without being stunned. Other than the uppercut, he seemed to be telegraphing many of his punches. Adams could see several of them coming from a mile away.

Brandon Adams just wasn't busy enough. The overhand right was actually finding home for Adams, but he was just too reluctant to let his hands go. Whenever he did land, he would do his best imitation of William Joppy by sitting back just admiring his work.

"I was trying to match whatever he was coming with," Adams said. "His size wasn't going to make me back down. I'm going to talk to my team and figure out what's next. I'll be back."

In the second round Charlo stated that he suffered a severe hand injury by landing a left hook. He was able to fight 10 more hard rounds with one hand. There was no update on how long the injury will keep him out of action.

"My hand will be alright," Charlo said. "I hurt my left hand in like the second round but I kept throwing it. I was obvious my jab wasn't flowing".

WHATS NEXT FOR JERMALL CHARLO

In the press conference Charlo continued to call out Canelo Alvarez. He stated that the fight between them will eventually happen sooner or later and that Canelo can't retire without seeing him first.

Before shifting his focus to Canelo Alvarez, Charlo will have to get back to work as soon as possible to shore up the holes in his game. Adams was able to frustrate Jermall by not putting himself in situations to be knocked out. He was able to disrupt Charlo's momentum and cause his punches to lose accuracy in the later rounds.

Although he won a unanimous decision, it was far from perfect. However, Adams was the ideal opponent for Charlo to work the kinks out before he steps in with the likes of Canelo, GGG or Andrade.