FIGHT WEEK
JERMELL CHARLO AND BRIAN CASTANO FACE OFF FOR ALL THE MAJOR JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLES SATURDAY IN SAN ANTONIO ON SHOWTIME.
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JERMELL CHARLO (34-1, 18 KOs)
VS. BRIAN CASTANO (17-0-1, 12 KOs)
- When: Saturday, July 17
- Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio
- TV/Stream: Showtime
- Division: Junior middleweight (154 pounds)
- At stake: Charlo’s IBF, WBA, WBC, and Castano’s WBO titles
- Pound-for-pound ranking: Charlo No. 12
- Odds: Charlo 2-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Also on the card: Bakhram Murtazaliev vs. Khiary Gray, junior middleweights
- Prediction: Charlo KO 10
- Background: Charlo is one of the hottest fighters in the world. The big puncher from Houston has stopped all three of his opponents since he lost a close decision to Tony Harrison in December 2018, Jorge Cota (KO 3), Harrison in a rematch (KO 11) and Jeison Rosario (KO 8). The victory over Rosario this past September unified three of the four major 154-pound titles. Charlo also has victories over Gabriel Rosado, Vanes Martirosyan, Erickson Lubin and Austin Trout, giving him one of the better resumes in the sport. He’ll have the advantage of fighting in front of his fellow Texans on Saturday. Castano, a relentless pressure fighter from Argentina, is coming off a one-sided decision over Patrick Teixeira that gave him the WBO belt and made him a prime target for Charlo, who wants to be undisputed champion. Castano made waves by outpointing Michel Soro in 2017 and then drawing with Erislandy Lara in 2019, evidence that he is no ordinary junior middleweight. And he underscored that with his dominating victory over Teixeira. Consensus says that Charlo had better be prepared for stiff challenge.
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Also fighting this weekend: Ronald Cruz faces Chris Gray in a scheduled eight-round welterweight bout on Saturday in Rock Rapids, Iowa (FITE).
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