Notebook: Smith announces 175-pound arrival in brutal fashion, but Castillo is OK

Munguia-Rosado set; U.S. Olympian going pro; new Eubank foe

Former super middleweight world titlist Callum Smith’s incredibly brutal second-round knockout of former world title challenger Lenin Castillo was about as rough as it gets.

The KO, which took place on the Anthony Joshua-Oleksandr Usyk undercard in London on Saturday, was so severe that Castillo was out cold on his back but with both of his legs quivering above the canvas.

DAZN and Sky Sports cut away from him on the mat while he received medical attention and did not show a replay of Smith connecting with a flush right hand that did the damage. Castillo (21-4-1, 16 KOs), 33, of the Dominican Republic, who had gone the distance in a loss challenging Dmitry Bivol for his 175-pound belt in October 2019, was taken from the ring on a stretcher and to the hospital.

Fortunately, Castillo is OK.

“He was released after a few hours. They did a brain scan. Everything fine. He’s at the airport now,” manager Ryan Burton said from London in a text message Sunday.

Smith (28-1, 20 KOs), 31, of England, was making his light heavyweight debut, having moved up to the division following losing his super middleweight world title by one-sided decision to Canelo Alvarez in December.

“Yea, it’s not nice to see, obviously,” Smith said of seeing Castillo unconscious after the fight. “I pray before the fight and it’s not to win but for me and my opponent to leave the ring safely. It’s a sport at the end of the day. I’ve never been a fan of bad mouthing. It’s just a sport to me and I hope he’s OK.”

For Smith, it was an explosive welcome to the division, where he hopes to compete for another world title.

“There’s been a lot of talk about how’d I’d be at 175, after coming back from a loss and how I’d be with a new trainer (Buddy McGirt),” Smith said. “There was a lot of change so there was a lot of question marks, but I felt really good in there and to win was most important. I would never compare myself to other fighters who beat (Castillo), but I know if the stoppage would come it would be a bonus; it looks better. The reigning (WBA) world champion Bivol couldn’t get rid him and neither could Marcus Brown.”

Smith and Bivol are both with Matchroom Boxing and Smith said he’d like a shot at his title.

“I think Bivol is the easiest fight to make,” Smith said. “He’s at Matchroom so that’s probably the simplest fight to make.”

Munguia-Rosado middleweight fight set

The long-rumored middleweight fight between Jaime Munguia and Gabriel Rosado is on.

The fight will take place on Nov. 13 at a site to determined, Golden Boy Promotions and DAZN announced on Monday.

Golden Boy told Fight Freaks Unite the scheduled 12-round bout, which most expect will be an all-out brawl, likely will take place in Southern California.

“This fight will be full of non-stop action. It will be a war that fight fans will enjoy and a new exciting chapter in the classic Mexico versus Puerto Rico boxing rivalry,” Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya said. “Both fighters are coming off of spectacular performances and knockout victories that showed their power, speed, and resilience.”

The fight has been in the works since soon after Munguia and Rosado both notched knockout wins on the same DAZN card on June 19 in El Paso, Texas.

“Rosado is a dangerous fighter with a lot of experience,” Munguia said. “He is a formidable rival that we have to prepare to be stronger and more intelligent in the ring. He has had the opportunity to fight with great fighters, the best in the middleweight division. I am going to give this fight 100 percent and, as always, give a great fight for fans on Nov. 13.”

On the June 19 card, Munguia (37-0, 30 KOs), 24, of Mexico, a former junior middleweight world titlist, won his third fight since moving up to middleweight in January 2020 by knocking out former world title challenger Kamil Szeremeta in the sixth-round.

In the co-feature that night, former middleweight title challenger Rosado (26-13-1, 15 KOs), 35, a Puerto Rican from Philadelphia, who had been knocked down in the first round, rallied to score a third-round knockout of highly touted up-and-comer Bektemir Melikuziev in a super middleweight fight.

“I’m excited about this fight. It’s a fight in high demand,” Rosado said. “I respect Munguia as a fighter and I will bring my best and I am confident I will be victorious. My last fight I think will end up being knockout of the year and I plan on making this upcoming bout the fight of the year.”

iFL TV interview

I joined my friends at IFL TV on Sunday to discuss Oleksandr Usyk’s impressive unanimous decision victory over Anthony Joshua to take his heavyweight world title belts in upset fashion on Saturday in London. Please check out the video here:

Joshua-Usyk scorecard

Here is a look at the official scorecard from the Joshua-Usyk heavyweight title fight. Judge Howard Foster was awfully generous — putting it nicely — with the way he scored the first two rounds, which for virtually everybody else on the planet were clear Usyk rounds.

U.S. Olympian Johnson goes pro

2020 U.S. Olympian Delante “Tiger” Johnson is going pro and has signed with David McWater’s Split-T Management, the company announced Monday.

Johnson, 23, a welterweight from Cleveland, who began boxing at age 7, advanced to the quarterfinals of the delayed Tokyo Games in July before losing a decision to Cuba’s Roniel Iglesias, the eventual welterweight gold medalist.

Johnson is expected to sign promotionally with Top Rank.

“Signing with Split-T Management is a dream come true,” Johnson said. “I have a great relationship with Dave McWater. He has seen me fight as a youth, and has followed my amateur career very closely. I am very comfortable with Dave and his team because he has taught me a lot about life outside the ring, and has given me great advice. Being that comfortable has helped me in the ring.”

McWater said he been watching Johnson box for years.

“Tiger is just such a special kid. I first saw him in Reno in January of 2016, and I immediately knew that he was going to be a star,” McWater said. “I am excited to be part of his journey.”

Johnson, who is trained by Renard Sefo and former professional fighter Prenice Brewer, was 188-17 as an amateur and won a gold medal in the 2016 Youth World Championships and bronze at the 2019 Pan American Games, among other notable tournament finishes.

New Eubank opponent

Middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. will now face Anatoli Muratov in the main event of a Sky Sports card on Oct. 2 after the SSE Arena, Wembley in London.

Eubank (30-2, 22 KOs), 32, of England, will face Muratov (24-2-1, 17 KOs), 33, of Germany, because original opponent Sven Elbir (18-1, 14 KOs), of Germany, has tested positive for Covid-19.

“The opponent has changed but my objective remains the same,” Eubank said. “Oct. 2 is my night and nothing is going to stand in my way.”

Muratov, who has fought around the world, including in Turkey, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary and the United States, had no issue taking the fight on short notice.

“This is a fantastic moment for me,” Muratov said. “It will be an honor to fight at the SSE Arena, Wembley and to test my skills against a boxer like Chris Eubank Jr. I’m jumping on this opportunity because that is what warriors do. Anytime, anyplace, I am ready to fight anyone. I’m looking forward to an exciting fight. I’m coming to win and I will give it my all.”

The fight headlines the first card of the new multi-year deal that Boxxer has with Sky Sports, which saw a longstanding partnership with Matchroom Boxing end in June. That is when Matchroom began a new deal with DAZN to stream its events in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

In making its Sky deal, Boxxer also made a deal with Wasserman Boxing to co-promote Eubank.

“First of all, I would like to wish Sven Elbir a speedy recovery,” said promoter Kalle Sauerland of Wasserman Boxing. “A change of opponent this close to a fight is never ideal but I know Chris remains focused on what he needs to do on Saturday night. Muratov was on standby. He was in the gym preparing for a fight next week when the opportunity came.”

Quick hits

Golden Boy’s deal to put on cards for DAZN is up at the end of the year and it has no shows scheduled with the streaming service beyond the Nov. 13 event topped by Jaime Munguia versus Gabriel Rosado. However, they are in talks about additional cards if they can reach an agreement on an extension, a source with knowledge of the discussions told Fight Freaks Unite. Golden Boy has offered DAZN, for example, an attractive fight between lightweights Ryan Garcia and Joseph Diaz Jr. Golden Boy also promotes rising welterweight star Vergil Ortiz Jr., light heavyweight contender Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez and others that have been on DAZN.

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Although WBO light heavyweight titlist Joe Smith Jr. was forced to postponed his Oct. 30 mandatory defense against Umar Salamov at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, due to coming down with Covid-19, Top Rank will still put on an ESPN+ card that night at the venue. According to Top Rank, the new main event will pit junior welterweight contender Jose Zepeda (34-2, 26 KOs), 32, of La Puente, California, who has won four fights in a row, including knocking out former titlist Ivan Baranchyk in the fifth round of the knockdown-filled 2020 fight of the year, against fellow southpaw Josue Vargas (19-1, 9 KOs), 23, a Bronx, New York-based Puerto Rican.

Show and tell

Oleksandr Usyk’s unanimous decision win against Anthony Joshua to take his three major heavyweight world titles in an upset on Saturday in London was impressive. It is the crowning achievement thus far in Usyk’s already superb career. In December 2016, I was ringside covering a card on which Usyk defended his cruiserweight world title for the first time in a ninth-round knockout of Thabiso Mchunu at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The fight was on the undercard of Bernard Hopkins’ final fight, when he got knocked out of the ring by Joe Smith Jr. Seidman Productions, which has produced programs and other merchandise for boxing events for decades, produced a very limited amount of programs for the Hopkins-Smith show. There were four cards inserted into the program, two different Hopkins cards, the rookie card of Joseph Diaz Jr., who was also on the undercard, and this Usyk card. I wrote the backs for the cards so, of course, I have them in my collection.

More show and tell

Before Usyk’s considerable professional success, he was an all-time great amateur. The pinnacle of his amateur career was winning the heavyweight gold medal for Ukraine in the 2012 Olympics. That summer Panini produced a multi-sport card set of Olympians and in that set was the rookie card of Anthony Joshua, who went on to win the super heavyweight gold medal, and Usyk’s rookie card. Here’s an Usyk card in my collection.

Smith-Castillo photo: Ian Walton/Matchroom Boxing; Eubank photo: Wasserman Boxing

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