By Max Schramm: Jermell Charlo is still bitter about the 12-round draw from his last fight against Brian Castano, and he wants to make sure that he takes the judges out of the equation in their rematch on Saturday night.
It could be a mistake for Charlo to put too much emphasis on shooting for a knockout, as it means he could give away a lot of rounds like in his first fight trying to get Castano out of there.
IBF, WBA & WBC junior middleweight champion Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs) that he’s going to make sure he knocks out WBO champion Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) so that there’s no doubt who the winner is in their undisputed 154-lb championship.
Charlo vs. Castano are headlining this Saturday, May 14th, in a Premier Boxing Champions event on Showtime from the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. The card will begin at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Last year, Jermell, 31, and the Argentinian Castano, 32, fought to a 12-round draw on July 17th in San Antonio, Texas.
Many boxing fans felt that Castano had done enough to deserve the win, as he landed more shots, was the busier fighter and was in Jermell’s face the entire night.
Whatever chance Charlo had of winning the fight, he threw it away by fighting in spurts in a Canelo-esque manner. He loaded up too much, trying too hard to score a knockout.
Over the last few years, Jermell has picked up a bad habit of relying too much on his power, loading up way too much, and forgetting about his boxing.
That’s the chief reason Jermell was beaten by Tony Harrison in 2018 and why he was, he was losing the rematch until he knocked him out in the 11th round in 2019.
The scores were:
- 117-111 – Jermell
- 114-113 – Castano
- 114-114
Castano is coming bicep injury, which caused their previously scheduled bout to be delayed until now.
If Jermell is smart, he’ll not fight in spurts like he always does and focuses instead on being consistent with his offense.
Unfortunately, Charlo doesn’t have the ability to throw with power the entire round, as he gasses, losing steam on his punches.
He’s so obsessed with getting a knockout that he lets Castano dominate the action for long stretches, hoping to land the perfect shot.
You can argue that Jermell’s one-punch knockout of Erickson Lubin in 2017 went to his head, making him believe he’s a KO artist, and he’s clearly not.
Jermell doesn’t possess Julian Jackson’s type of power, and he never will. Though he has good power, it’s not superior to many of the other fighters in the division.
The reason Charlo has knocked out a handful of guys in the last four years is more indicative of the 154-lb division being a weak one like the 160 & 168-lb divisions.
“I don’t want this fight to go the distance. I don’t get paid for overtime,” Charlo said of his fight on Saturday night against Castano. “I’m ready to destroy.”
