Brian Castano didn’t just win a 154-pound title on Saturday night. He seized it.
Castano used nonstop pressure to overwhelm Patrick Teixeira, giving Castano a one-sided decision and the WBO belt at Fantasy Springs in Indio, Calif.
The Argentine is now in position to fight three-belt champ Jermell Charlo for all the major titles if that fight can be made.
Teixeira (31-2, 22 KOs) tried to use his height and reach advantage by jabbing and moving in the first half of the fight. However, that didn’t work. Castano, a relentless puncher, was able to cut off the ring and do damage in side.
The Brazilian then tried his hand at inside fighting. That didn’t work, either, as that’s Casatno’s wheelhouse. Teixeira got in some licks but Castano (17-0-1, 12 KOs) got the better of almost all exchanges.
Thus, in the end, Teixeira took a beating and lost a wide decision. The scores were 120-108, 119-109 and 117-111. Boxing Junkie scored it 118-110 for Castano.
The punch statistics helped tell the story. Castano through 1,136 punches (landing 373), almost 100 per round. More remarkable, he threw 927 power shots (landing 344). Teixeira (197 of 972 overall) simply couldn’t match his opponent’s effectiveness.
In other preliminary fights, former titleholder challenger Ronny Rios (33-3, 16 KOs) of Santa Ana, Calif., outworked veteran Oscar Negrete (19-3-2, 7 KOs) to win a near-shutout decision in a 10-round 122-pound fight.
Rios turned in an impressive performance, outworking an opponent know for his work rate. His body attack was particularly effective. The scores were 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91.
Negrete moved up from 118 pounds for the fight.
Shane Mosley Jr. (17-3, 10 KOs) of the Los Angeles area knocked out Mexican Cristian Olivas (20-8, 17 KOs) after five rounds of a scheduled 10-round super middleweight bout.
Olivas, who has never been stopped, couldn’t continue because he right eye was swollen shut as a result of an effective attack from the son the Hall of Famer of the same name.
Mosley, 30, has won four consecutive fights.
And light heavyweight prospect Bektemir Melikuziev (7-0, 6 KOs) of Uzbekistan stopped last-replacement opponent Morgan Fitch (19-5-1, 8 KOs) of Pittsburgh at 2:08 of Round 3 of a scheduled eigh-round bout.