By Robert Segal: Former WBO junior middleweight champion Brian Castano is picking Canelo Alvarez to stop Jermell Charlo on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In Castano’s two fights with Jermell, he showed that pressure was something that the Texas native struggled with, especially when trapped against the ropes.
In their rematch last year, Jermell used a lot of movement to negate the pressure from Castano and capitalized on him getting reckless in the tenth round. It was still a very competitive fight up until the end.
Castano is well familiar with Jermell, having fought him twice, and in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans, won the first fight in July 2021, which the Texas judges scored as twelve round draw.
Canelo’s intelligence and punching power is why Castano is picking him to defeat Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) in their 8:00 p.m. card on Showtime PPV.
While some would argue that Castano is still bitter about losing to Jermell by a tenth round knockout last year in their rematch, he seems to really believe that Canelo is the better guy and will win.
Canelo will have “difficult” time with Charlo
“This is a big fight. I think Canelo will win this fight. I think it’s difficult for Charlo to make this distance. Canelo, I think he can win by knockout,” said Brian Castano to Fighthype, picking Canelo Alvarez to KO Jermell Charlo.
“Canelo is intelligent, and Charlo moves more. Canelo is a hard puncher. I think Canelo wins, but this fight is very difficult for him. Canelo is a great person,” said Castano.
Canelo will need a good set of wheels to get to Jermell because he’s likely to use the same gameplan he utilized effectively against Castano to stay out of harm’s way.
It’s just that Canelo is a harder puncher and a better body puncher, and he’ll make it difficult for Jermelltomove all night.
“That motivates me because I have the opportunity to show why I’m one of the best and why I’m here,” said Canelo to Little Giant Boxing when asked about his thoughts on Jermell calling him out.
“Idon’tknow. I’m just focused on this fight, and then we’ll see what happens next,” said Canelo when asked if he’ll continue defending his four 168-lb titles after Saturday.
“I don’t know what happened to him because he always talks s**t about me and calls me out and says things about me, and now he’s trying to be nice,” said Canelo.
Alvarez plans to attack Jermell’s body
“I couldn’t work on the pads with Eddy because of my injury,” said Canelo about what his injury prevented him from doing in training for his last fight. “I couldn’t do that since my fight with Caleb Plant, but right now, I feel great.
“Yeah, I wasn’t able to train 100%, and that’s why I didn’t get conditioned. You’ll see on Saturday night. All the fighters train for the knockout. To say no is a lie. Sometimes, it doesn’t come, and you need to prepare for twelve rounds. I’m going to try on Saturday.
“I don’t need to knockout him because he’s a great fighter. I don’t get credit for anything. These guys always talk s**t about me. I don’t credit for them or anything, but I don’t care.
“There’s a lot of people like him,” said Canelo about David Benavidez calling him out.
“No, everything wants to fight with me, so it’s fine,” said Canelowhen when asked if he’s bothered that Terence Crawford is calling him out at 168.
“It’s crazy when you’re asking about that because he’s welterweight. So, it does make sense, but if the fight makes sense, why not? There are a few people that deserve the #1 pound-for-pound, so it’s fine.
“A lot of boxing shots,” said Canelo when asked how he the fight on Saturday.
