By Jim Calfa: Jermell Charlo posted on social media on Monday, telling injured Brian Castano that he wants to see the doctor’s report for his right bicep problem that caused their March 19th rematch to be postponed.
Charlo posted a training picture of him, and he looks in great shape right now. He’s fighting in fighting shape, and he’s not the one holding up the match from going forward.
Hopefully, Castano has the doctor’s report so that he can forward it to Charlo’s team so they can look it over. As former U.S president Ronald Reagan once said, ‘Trust but verify.‘ IBF/WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell is suspicious about the injury, and obviously not happy about it.
When you see fighters getting injured and needing more time, sometimes it’s a training issue. For example, if a fighter is out of shape, they need more time than what’s available. Presto, they get injured and then have all the time in the world to melt the weight off.
Charlo sees something suspicious about the delay for Castano, but he’s not going to lose his concentration for his training over this.
Some boxing fans suspect that Castano was overweight, and wouldn’t have been able to trim all the weight off before March 19th.
When you see a fighter postpone a fight like this, the natural inclination is to suspect that they put on too much weight celebrating after their last contest.
Jermell, 31, says he’s in the “WAR mode” and wants to see a doctor’s record and he wants Castano to take his “VADA testing.” Charlo believes that Castano pulled out so he can “buy time” for a bigger beating than the last time they fought in July 2021.
The fight was scored a 12 round draw, leaving fans unhappy and wanting to see a rematch. Charlo landed the better shots, and had Castano hurt three times in the fight.
Jermell looked like he was hurt once, but Castano got it much worse. Given how arduous it was for Castano last time he fought Jermell, you can see what he’s up against in the rematch.
In Jermell’s rematch with Tony Harrison in 2019, he was like a killer, showing huge improvement over their first fight in 2018, and teeing off on him. Jermell still fought well enough to deserve a win in the first fight with Harrison, but the judges favored him based on his technical skills.
If we see the same improvements in Jermell’s game in the rematch with Castano, it’s going to be awfully tough for the Argentinian to see the final bell.
Despite their fight being delayed, Charlo says he’s not stopping him from continuing to work hard preparing.
Last week, it was revealed that WBO junior middleweight champion Castano (17-0-1, 12 KOs) had suffered a bicep injury in training for his second fight against IBF/WBA/WBC champion Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs) on March 19th at the Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California.
As of now, the Charlo-Castano rematch is postponed with a possible May or June rescheduling. However, the fight remains up in the air due to Castano’s WBO mandatory Tim Tszyu and his team pushing the World Boxing Organization for his title shot.
As of now, the Charlo vs. Castano II fight is still going ahead, and they’re waiting for it to be rescheduled with a concrete date. The winner of the Charlo-Castano 2 fight will be the undisputed champion at 154, and take their career to the next level.
The downside of the winner of the fight is all the mandatory defenses that will bog down their career, forcing them to fight less than popular contenders that they never would have wasted their time on.
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