Houston Native Looks to Become Undisputed in Clutch City

The Jermell Charlo vs Brian Castano rematch for undisputed supremacy of the 154-pound division is being moved to Houston on March 12th or 19th and will take place in Hoston at the Toyota Center. Houston hasn't done much winning all year at the Toyota Center the past few seasons and the 31-year -old Charlo, a Houston native looks to reverse the trend and set the record straight against Brain Castano of Argentina. The two fought to a disputed draw, last July in San Antonio.  The Houstonian started off slow but rallied the last few rounds to at least get the draw in his home state. 

Charlo sports a record of 34-1-1 and suffered his only loss back in December of 2018, a very disputed and hotly debated decision loss to Tony Harrison. Charlo righted the wrong and removed all doubt and stopped Harrison 364 days later in the 11th round of the rematch to reclaim his WBC junior middleweight strap. He then added the WBA & 1BF titles in his only fight in 2020 and stopped Jeison Rosario with a body shot in the eighth round.  The only belt of the major four he has not captured is the WBO the belt currently held by Castano. The Argentine captured the title when he outpointed heavy-hitting Brazilian Patrick Teixeira over 12 one-sided rounds. That bout was just 12-months after he emerged on the scene out of nowhere where he fought Cuban legend Erislandy Lara, who also trains in Houston, to a disputed draw. A fight the vast majority of viewers that he eeked out, in what was a highly entertaining and competitive contrast in styles. 

The bout was originally scheduled for February 26th and potentially in Houston. The location was confirmed and the date was pushed back a few weeks. There will be a potential conflict with another Texas fighter who may be making a homecoming appearance. Top-rated welterweight prospect Vergil Oritz who hails from the Dallas area is confirmed by promoter Golden Boy, to be fighting on March 19th and that fight will likely be in Dallas as well. Ortiz has fought in the DFW metroplex three times since 2019, the other two fights were during the height of the pandemic and were in "The Bubble" in Indio, California