Notebook: Charlo plans to knock out Castano in undisputed 154 title rematch

The chat returns; WBO pulls Andrade-Parker sanction; Quick hits; Show and tell

May 14, 2022

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Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano settled nothing last time they met. Now, they aim for a clear result as they fight once again for the undisputed junior middleweight championship.

The immediate rematch will take place on Saturday (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET) at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California — 10 months after they fought to a draw at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

After their hard-hitting and highly entertaining fight last July 17, most viewed WBO titlist Castano as the close, but rightful winner. However, the fight was ruled a split draw. Judge Steve Weisfeld scored it 114-113 for Castano, Tim Cheatham had 114-114 and Nelson Vazquez wound up with a roundly criticized score of 117-111 for WBC/IBF/WBA titleholder Charlo, who won the 10th, 11th and 12th rounds on all three scorecards to secure the draw.

The high-strung Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs), 31, of Houston, who will be making the third defense of his second title reign, believes he won the first fight and said he does not plan on leaving it to the judges this time around.

“Knocking people out is what the fuck I do,” Charlo said at this week’s news conference. “That’s what I’m known for. I’m known for the power and I’m known for the speed. That’s what I’m doing.

“I didn’t finish him (last year) so I think that was the only mistake I made. I’m usually a closer. I have that on the back of my mind. Once he’s hurt again, and hopefully it’s earlier than later, it’s over. There’s nothing he’s going to be able to do when we drop these bombs on him Saturday. I just have to be dominant. I have to be the best Jermell Charlo that y’all are yet to see. I’m going to dominate this fight way differently than I did the last fight.”

Castano, who suffered a minor right biceps tear in training in mid-February that forced the bout to be postponed from March 19 to Saturday, was unmoved by Charlo’s KO boasts.

“He can say whatever he wants. I could care less if he wants to knock me out,” Castano said through an interpreter. “Let’s go out there and see if he can withstand my punishment for 12 rounds.

“The lack of respect he has for a fellow athlete bothered me. He said a lot of things that I thought were out of line. I don’t know why he’s all edgy and screaming and nervous. I’d rather him show that energy in the ring.”

Argentina’s Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs), 32, who will be making his second defense, believed that fighting in Charlo’s home state of Texas in their first fight influenced the judging, since Charlo was the big crowd favorite. He said he is more comfortable fighting in California.

“I thought fighting in his home state was a factor with the judges last time,” Castano said. “I still think I’m the visitor here, but it has more of a neutral feel to it than San Antonio did. My lesson I learned is to always have my guard up and be ready for whatever comes my way.

“It is going to be special to show everyone what I’m capable of, especially in front of the Latin fans here. This is the culmination of years of work. I’m anxious to go out there and prove that I’m the champion and give the Latin fans the show that they deserve.

“There isn’t one specific weapon I have that’s better than him, because I tailor my style to my opponent. Charlo is going to see what I have in store for him. I’m more than ready to show that what I’ve prepared is more than enough to get the win. Charlo is a top-tier fighter. That’s definitely true. But at this level, everyone has power. Only one opponent has sent me to the mat, and it wasn’t Charlo. He’s strong, but there’s nothing about his power that truly stands out to me compared to other fighters I’ve faced.”

There has never been an undisputed champion in the 154-pound division during the four-belt era. The last time there was an undisputed champion in the division, during the three-belt era, was when then-IBF titlist Winky Wright pulled the upset decision against WBC/WBA counterpart Shane Mosley in their first fight in 2004.

Assuming there is a winner on Saturday, he would become the seventh male boxer of the four-belt era to be an undisputed world champion, joining super middleweight Canelo Alvarez (2021), junior welterweight Josh Taylor (2021), cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk (2018), junior welterweight Terrence Crawford (2017) and middleweights Jermain Taylor (2005) and Bernard Hopkins (2004).

In the co-feature, 2020 prospect of the year Jaron “Boots” Ennis (28-0, 26 KOs), 24, of Philadelphia, and Custio Clayton (19-0-1, 12 KOs), 34, of Canada, meet in an IBF welterweight title eliminator that will make the winner a mandatory challenger for unified titlist Errol Spence Jr.

The telecast will open with junior featherweight Kevin Gonzalez (24-0-1, 13 KOs), 24, of Mexico, facing Puerto Rico’s Emanuel Rivera (19-2, 12 KOs), 32, in a 10-rounder.

Live chat and weekend preview

TJ Rives from Big Fight Weekend and I were live via StreamYard on for our second edition of the return of the Friday afternoon boxing chat — but in video form instead of the old days when I took questions from the Fight Freaks and typed out the answers for hours. We took questions from viewers via our social media platforms and also discussed what is going to be a busy boxing weekend. You can check out the replay on the Big Fight Weekend YouTube channel. Make sure to subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss any of our videos.

Andrade-Parker sanction pulled

The WBO on Friday terminated its sanction of an interim super middleweight title bout between Demetrius Andrade, its middleweight world titleholder, who was moving up in weight, and Zach Parker (22-0, 16 KOs), 27, of England.

The WBO sent a letter to promoter Frank Warren informing him of the decision. Warren, who promotes Parker, won a purse bid to put on the fight, which was scheduled for May 21 at Pride Park Stadium in Derby, England.

However, last week the fight was postponed when Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs), 34, of Providence, Rhode Island, withdrew due to a right shoulder injury suffered in a sparring session.

Andrade’s team submitted medical documentation to the WBO indicating that he would need at least four months of rehabilitation in addition to the required time to train for the fight.

In the ruling, the WBO wrote that it had sanctioned the vacant interim title bout “considering that the WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez was moving up to light heavyweight to challenge Dmitry Bivol as well as procuring to keep the super middleweight division active. Furthermore, there are reports that Canelo Alvarez is returning to super middleweight for a trilogy fight versus (Gennadiy Golovkin).”

Because of that, the WBO said “it is hereby ordered to terminate the sanction approval granted for the WBO super middleweight interim championship title” effective immediately.

The WBO said it would refund Warren’s Queensberry Promotions $366,810, which represents the 20 percent deposit made on the winning purse bid of $1,834,050. From that purse bid, Andrade would have gotten 65 percent ($1,192,132.50) and Parker 35 percent ($641,917.50). Andrade still has one fight remaining on his contract with Matchroom Boxing.

Quick hits

Weights from Ontario, California, for Golden Boy’s card Saturday (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET): Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez 174.8 pounds, Dominic Boesel 174.2 (WBA light heavyweight final eliminator); William Zepeda 134.4, Rene Alvarado 134.6; John Ramirez 114.6, Jan Salvatierra 114.6; Katsuma Akitsugi 124.6, Jose Gonzalez 125.8; Jorge Chavez 128.4, Eduardo Melendez 129.6; Japhethlee Llamido 126.4, Edgar Figueroa 127.2; Carlos Nava 135, Yampier Hernandez 133.6; Kareem Hackett 178.6, Josue Obando 179.4.

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Weights from Carson, California, for the Premier Boxing Champions card Saturday (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET): Jermell Charlo 152.75 pounds; Brian Castano 153.75 (rematch for undisputed junior middleweight title); Jaron Ennis 146.25, Custio Clayton 146.5; (IBF welterweight eliminator); Kevin Gonzalez 121, Emanuel Rivera 121.75; Brandyn Lynch 159.6, Marcos Hernandez 160; Jerry Perez 135, Erick Lanzas Jr. 134.4; Marlon Tapales 124, Jose Estrella 126; Jose Perez 130, Anthony Chavez 130; Anthony Cuba 135, Oscar Acevedo 134.4; Jose Mejia Jr. 143.4, Matthew Reed 147.8; Luciano Miguel 202, Adrian Silva 205; Gurgen Hovhannisyan 280, Jesse Bryan 220; Geovany Bruzon 232, Daniel Najera 230.

Weights from Inglewood, California, for Trillerverz on Saturday (FITE, 9 p.m. ET): Sergey Kovalev 196.5 pounds, Tervel Pulev 197.5; Kubrat Pulev 248.5, Jerry Forrest 233; Emiliano Vargas 133.5, Mark Salgado 133.5; Evan Holyfield 153, Jurmain McDonald 153.5; Fernando Vargas Jr. 151.5, Terrance Jarmon 148; Amado Vargas 130.5, Anel Dudo 128.5.

Showtime on Friday announced it will chronicle the build up to the fight between secondary lightweight titlist Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Rolando Romero with a two-part “All Access” series. The first part debuts May 21 at 9:30 p.m. ET (immediately preceding the David Benavidez-David Lemieux card) with the epilogue episode debuting on June 4 immediately following the conclusion of Stephen Fulton Jr.-Danny Roman card. Davis and Romero square off in the main event of a Showtime PPV card on May 28 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Mexican legends Erik Morales and Jorge Arce appeared at a news conference Friday and announced they would face each other in an exhibition bout promoted by BXSTRS on June 3 in Zacatecas, Mexico. Morales (52-9, 36 KOs), 45, a Hall of Famer, won titles in four divisions (junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight and junior welterweight) during his 1993 to 2012 career. Arce (64-8-2, 49 KOs), 42, also won titles in a four divisions (junior flyweight, junior bantamweight, bantamweight and junior featherweight) during his 1996 to 2014 career, but was at his peak when he held an interim flyweight title. “We are going to hit the chubby Erik,” Arce said. “I hope that he is also preparing thoroughly and that we finally give people a great exhibition, which is what we always did, give people memorable fights.”

Show and tell

British star Amir Khan was a 2004 Olympic silver medalist at age 17 and unified two junior welterweight world titles during his 17-year professional career. He also faced a who’s who of his time in many major fights that usually delivered excitement and drama. On Friday, Khan (34-6, 21 KOs), 35, announced his retirement — three months after ending a 2½-year layoff and getting stopped in the sixth round by longtime rival and countryman Kell Brook in their long-awaited showdown on Feb. 19. In honor of Khan’s retirement, here is a mint site in my collection from his professional debut in his hometown of Bolton, England. He knocked out David Bailey in the first round on July 16, 2005. By the way, the advertised main event of Matt Skelton versus Danny Williams did not take place. Williams fell out of the fight and Skelton instead knocked out Mark Krence in the seventh round of a British heavyweight title bout.

Charlo-Castano and Ennis-Clayton photos: Stephanie Trapp/Showtime; Ramirez-Boesel photo: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy; Kovalev-Pulev photo: Sye Williams/Triller Fight Club

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