Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano will finally suit up for a rematch this May, for the undisputed junior middleweight championship.
The 154-pound bout for all four title was originally set for the 19th of March, taking place in LA, but was postponed after Castano (17-0-2) sustained a minor right biceps tear.
The injury occured when Castano was accidentally elbowed in the arm by junior middleweight and well-known fighter, Terrell Gausha, but Castano was quickly able to resume training in the following weeks.
Gausha was preparing for a fight with Tim Tszyu, the son of Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu, on the undercard. The WBO called for Castano to defend his title against mandatory challenger Tszyu rather than face Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs) after the postponement, but PBC was able to appease the Australian and the Puerto Rico-based organisation with an impromptu March 26 Showtime card in Minneapolis headlined by Tszyu-Gausha, sources said.
PBC also had to satisfy Main Events, which promotes Bakhram Murtazaliev, the mandatory challenger to Charlo's IBF title (he also holds the WBA and WBA belts). Murtazaliev will once again receive step-aside money to allow Charlo to compete in a more meaningful fight, sources said.
The WBO pushed for Charlo-Castano to take place no later than April 30, but the boxing schedule is stacked from April 16 through May 7; May 14 was the earliest viable date. The organisation finally approved the title fight late Thursday evening.
The rematch was set to take place at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena, but with multiple NBA teams and an NHL team that could potentially have playoff games, there's no location finalised at this time.
When Charlo and Castano first met in July, they produced an exhilarating fight worthy of the undisputed championship. Castano appeared to deserve the decision but was forced to settle for a draw in a highly controversial verdict.
One judge scored the fight for Castano, 114-113, while another turned in a puzzling 117-111 scorecard for Charlo. A third judge scored it 114-114.
Charlo is 1-0 in rematches. The 31-year-old Texan's only pro defeat came via disputed decision against Tony Harrison in 2018. One year later, Charlo exacted revenge with an 11th-round KO. The twin brother of middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, Jermell is ESPN's No. 2 junior middleweight.
Castano, who is training in Southern California but resides in Argentine, won the title with a unanimous-decision victory over Patrick Teixeira in February 2021. ESPN's No. 1 junior middleweight also drew with Erislandly Lara in one of the best fights of 2019.
Not, ten months on after the first fight and the injury postponement, Castano is ready to face the current champ, and this time, will be totally different because he now knows what the American’s weaknesses are, or so he says.
"I will not discuss details of my strategy, but he needed this fight to vindicate me, to show that it was no coincidence. At home he saw that I beat him. They all cheered for me. But this time I need to knock him out. He says he'll knock me out, let him prove it, I'll be waiting for him. I don't need anything extra to beat him. He knows it's going to hurt, he's going to suffer," Castano said at a press conference.
"The biceps rupture is something that can happen to any athlete, what was wrong is to talk shit, as he said that I postponed the fight because I needed more time.
"The truth that doesn't surprise me, that's the kind of person he is. He always tries to dirty his rivals. That's how he is. Insecurity makes him like that, that's what he needs (to talk bad).
"It bothers me how little respect he has for the athlete in front of him, why would he want to have more time to beat him. The first fight was close, but the second one he knows will be worse, because I'm going to knock him out.
"If he goes down before 12 (rounds) it's fine, if not I'm going to beat the crap out of him. Jermell didn't show it at all in one fight, so much so that now he needs another one. I'm going to finish him."