Jermell Charlo on his rematch with Brian Castano: ‘This is my moment’

Jermell Charlo on his rematch with Brian Castano on Saturday: “This is my moment.”

Judges? Who needs judges? Not Jermell Charlo.

Charlo and fellow 154-pound titleholder Brian Castano fought to a draw in a fight that was supposed to determine an undisputed champion last July. This time, he has said repeatedly, he plans to maintain full control of the result.

Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs) and Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) will fight a second time Saturday in Carson, California (Showtime).

“I don’t want this fight to go the distance. I don’t get paid for overtime,” he said at a media workout in Los Angles. “I’m excited and I’m ready to go. … Castano is going to have to do something different this fight. If not, he knows he’s getting slept.

“Whatever he does or whatever move he makes, I’m going to be on him. My goal is to knock him out.”

The focus will be on Jermell Charlo this Saturday night. Stephanie Trapp / Showtime

One of Charlo’s biggest victories came in a rematch, his second fight with Tony Harrison in December 2019.

The slick Harrison narrowly outpointed Charlo a year earlier to take the Texan’s title. However, in the rematch, a determined Charlo ended what had been a competitive fight by putting Harrison down twice and then stopping him in the 11th round.

Charlo also sounds particularly motivated for his second meeting with Castano. However, he says his upcoming fight is different from the Harrison rematch.

“I don’t take much from the last rematch I had against Tony Harrison,” he said. “That was a totally different opponent. I’m just preparing for Castaño. There’s no correlation with my last rematch. I’m just focused on who I’m facing.”

Charlo arguably has already built a Hall of Fame resume, with victories over Gabriel Rosado, Vanes Martirosyan, Erickson Lubin, Austin Trout, Harrison and Jeison Rosario.

A victory over Castano on Saturday would be his crowning achievement. He’d become the disputed king of his division, would make it difficult to keep him off pound-for-pound lists (he’s No. 11 on Boxing Junkie’s list) and clinch a spot in the Hall.

Charlo isn’t thinking about the possibility of entering the Hall of Fame one day but “undisputed” definitely has a nice ring to it.

“Being on the undisputed list means more to me than being on pound-for-pound lists,” he said. “I want to be on the top tier and for people to see that I’m undisputed and say that he’s an animal. This is my moment.

“… I don’t worry about pound-for-pound lists and whether I’m on them. If I win these belts, they might have to. If I go in there and knock him out, or handle my business for 12 rounds, that’s it. They won’t be able to deny me.”

Yes, Charlo has a lot to gain on Saturday.

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Jermell Charlo on his rematch with Brian Castano: ‘This is my moment’

Jermell Charlo on his rematch with Brian Castano on Saturday: “This is my moment.”

Judges? Who needs judges? Not Jermell Charlo.

Charlo and fellow 154-pound titleholder Brian Castano fought to a draw in a fight that was supposed to determine an undisputed champion last July. This time, he has said repeatedly, he plans to maintain full control of the result.

Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs) and Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) will fight a second time Saturday in Carson, California (Showtime).

“I don’t want this fight to go the distance. I don’t get paid for overtime,” he said at a media workout in Los Angles. “I’m excited and I’m ready to go. … Castano is going to have to do something different this fight. If not, he knows he’s getting slept.

“Whatever he does or whatever move he makes, I’m going to be on him. My goal is to knock him out.”

The focus will be on Jermell Charlo this Saturday night. Stephanie Trapp / Showtime

One of Charlo’s biggest victories came in a rematch, his second fight with Tony Harrison in December 2019.

The slick Harrison narrowly outpointed Charlo a year earlier to take the Texan’s title. However, in the rematch, a determined Charlo ended what had been a competitive fight by putting Harrison down twice and then stopping him in the 11th round.

Charlo also sounds particularly motivated for his second meeting with Castano. However, he says his upcoming fight is different from the Harrison rematch.

“I don’t take much from the last rematch I had against Tony Harrison,” he said. “That was a totally different opponent. I’m just preparing for Castaño. There’s no correlation with my last rematch. I’m just focused on who I’m facing.”

Charlo arguably has already built a Hall of Fame resume, with victories over Gabriel Rosado, Vanes Martirosyan, Erickson Lubin, Austin Trout, Harrison and Jeison Rosario.

A victory over Castano on Saturday would be his crowning achievement. He’d become the disputed king of his division, would make it difficult to keep him off pound-for-pound lists (he’s No. 11 on Boxing Junkie’s list) and clinch a spot in the Hall.

Charlo isn’t thinking about the possibility of entering the Hall of Fame one day but “undisputed” definitely has a nice ring to it.

“Being on the undisputed list means more to me than being on pound-for-pound lists,” he said. “I want to be on the top tier and for people to see that I’m undisputed and say that he’s an animal. This is my moment.

“… I don’t worry about pound-for-pound lists and whether I’m on them. If I win these belts, they might have to. If I go in there and knock him out, or handle my business for 12 rounds, that’s it. They won’t be able to deny me.”

Yes, Charlo has a lot to gain on Saturday.

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Brian Castano: ‘I’m going to try to hurt (Charlo) more than the first fight’

Brian Castano said, “I’m going to try to hurt (Jermell Charlo) more than the first fight.”

Brian Castano sees no reason to make significant adjustments when he meets Jermell Charlo a second time for the undisputed 154-pound championship Saturday in Carson, California (Showtime).

After all, from his perspective, their draw last July should’ve been scored in his favor.

“Absolutely,” he told Boxing Junkie through a translator. “I thought I won 115-113. Charlo is a strong fighter. We hurt each other equally. I just thought I was the superior fighter that night.

“Maybe they (judges? promoters?) wanted to see a rematch so badly they declared it a draw.”

The rematch between Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) and Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs) was originally scheduled for March 19. However, Castano suffered a minor tear in his right biceps, which resulted in a two-month postponement to give the injury time to heal.

Now at full strength, he has been training in the Los Angeles area to give himself the best chance to have his hand raised.

One area in which he might improve is punch output. Castano has become an elite fighter by applying smart, but relentless pressure on his opponents. However, in the first fight with Charlo, he threw fewer punches (586, according to CompuBox) than he normally does.

Does he need to be busier to win on Saturday? Not necessarily, he says.

“I believe I have to throw a similar number of punches or even less,” he said. “I have to focus on landing quality punches, not hitting his arms, not hitting his guard. It’s quality over quantity.

“I’m going to try to hurt him more than the first fight. That’s the key.”

The 32-year-old Argentine hopes his hard, accurate shots will result in a knockout or catch the attention of the judges so he isn’t disappointed again.

“I’ve been working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he said. “If I get a knockout, obviously that’s great. If not, I’ve been working hard to impress the judges twice as much so there isn’t any doubt whatsoever.

“What I have to do is go out and win every round with twice as much impact. If I do, God willing, the outcome will be different.”

And if he is successful this time?

As it is, not many fighters from Castano’s country have made the impact that he has internationally. If he becomes the first undisputed junior middleweight champ in the four-belt era, he’ll join the likes of Carlos Monzon, Nicolino Locche and Sergio Martinez as true boxing heroes from Argentina.

“You have to keep in mind that no fighter from Argentina has ever been undisputed champion [in any weight class],” he said. “To take it to a level where I’m among the all-time greats from my country, that’s something I’m trying to accomplish.

“To make it would be a dream come true.”

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