By Dan Ambrose: Brian Castano says he views last Saturday night’s 12 round split draw against Jermell Charlo as a victory for him, and he’s now ready to fight the Texas native anywhere, including in his hometown of Houston. Castano took over the crowd with his performance, endearing himself to the Texans with his gutsy performance.
In the unkindest cut of all, the home fighter Charlo found himself being booed by his own loyal boxing fans, who let him have it during his post-fight interview inside the ring.
I guess they wanted to hear Charlo sound humble and admit that he’d met his match, but instead, he claimed that he should have won. In other words, Charlo wasn’t going to take the high road and show some class by complimenting his opponent Castano, giving him credit.
Now it’s up to Charlo, 31, and his advisor Al Haymon whether they want to take the rematch with Castano.
WBO junior middleweight champion Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) marched into foreign territory last Saturday, seemingly getting the better of the three-belt champion and favorite to win Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs) at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
In the end, the judges turned in this set of scores that made no one happy: 114-113 Castano, 114-114, 117-111 Charlo.
The 117-111 score turned in by judge Nelson Vazquez showed what Castano was up against going into Texas to try and beat the home fighter Charlo.
Jermell said he still needs to talk with Al Haymon before saying for certain that he”ll fight Castano again. Haymon might have other ideas for Charlo, such as a title defense against Tim Tszyu, Erickson Lubin, or Israil Madrimov.
Those are three fights that would attract a lot of interest from boxing fans, and Charlo could sell the fights on SHOWTIME PPV, as he could a rematch with Castano.
If Charlo is uncomfortable with the style of Castano, it would be better for him to fight Lubin, Madrimov, or Tszyu next.
Those guys don’t pressure as much as Castano, and Charlo wouldn’t need to worry about being machine-gunned with rapid-fire combinations.
Castano ready to set up the rematch
“Let’s do the rematch. I have one belt, and he still has three belts,” said Brian Castano at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night.
“I know it was a draw, but it tasted to me like victory. Anyway, it’s about the belts, so let’s do it,” said Castano.
It was as plain as day that Castano and his manager Sebastian Contursi viewed the fight as a victory, drinking up the applause from the Texan fans, noting the boos that Jermell was receiving.
It was clear to Castano and Contursi that they were viewed as the winner by the fans. When Charlo’s own fans saw Castano as the winner, that said a lot.
If Charlo and his manager Haymon decide to walk away from this fight without attempting to set up a rematch, the outcome will be viewed as a loss from boxing fans and other fighters.
This is the type of fight that you can’t walk away from without the stretch of robbery following the gifted fighter [Charlo] wherever he goes for the remainder of his career.
Charlo was already involved in a highly controversial decision with his win over Vanes Martirosyan in 2015.
Jermell’s twin brother, Jermall Charlo, had his own controversial decision in his fight with Matt Korobov in 2018, in which he was given a gift victory.
Jermell needs to decide
It looked like a clear loss for Jermall, but the judges gave it to him. Rather than clear up the controversy, Jermall walked away and never fought Korobov again.
If Jermell is anything like his brother, he’ll choose not to give Castano and rematch and continue to claim victory while ignoring the boxing public that saw him as the loser.
“As I said before, I’m used to being the underdog and the visitor. So I’m used to going anywhere to fight anyone so that we can do it anywhere anytime.
“I can’t tell what was in the judges’ minds. I was hurt in the second, tenth, and eleventh rounds.
“So maybe they [the judges] saw something there, but I had my moment throughout the fight,” said Castano in trying to make sense of the judges’ reasons for scoring the Charlo fight a draw. “So I can’t really tell you about that.
“He’s a natural counter puncher, and he can really punch, but that doesn’t mean a fight. So again, I feel I was the winner tonight,” said Castano.
“We can do it [Charlo vs. Castano 2 rematch] in Houston,” said Sebastian Contursi, the manager for Castano.
If Contursi is serious about Castano taking the fight with Charlo in Houston, you can bet that PBC will jump on that idea and stage the rematch in that location.
Contursi should be pushing for the fight to be staged in a neutral venue so that he doesn’t have to worry about being robbed by the judges. Coming events cast their shadows before.
Castano already found out firsthand what it’s like to fight Charlo in his home state; why would he want to make it worse by going to his hometown of Houston, Texas, to fight him?
Castano and his manager should push to have the rematch with Jermell take place in either Las Vegas or New York. By staging the fight in one of those two areas, it would be a somewhat neutral area.
