Charlo Makes History at the "Punch Bowl"

Jermell Charlo, of Houston, made history last night at the venue dubbed "The Punch Bowl"  by stopping WBO 154-pound world champion Brian Castano to become the undisputed junior middleweight champ.  He came up just short of accomplishing the feat in July of last year when the two settled got a hotly disputed draw in his home state at the Alamo in San Antonio. Little Charlo becomes just the seventh fighter, and the first Texan, to become undisputed in the four-belt era. His stablemate and fellow Texas, Errol Spence jr, may get the chance to accomplish the feat in the division directly south, the welterweight division. It seems like Spence and WBO welterweight champion Terrence Crawford may come to an agreement. 

Charlo becomes the first Jr Middleweight to get all the belts in the four-belt era in what will be a candidate for fight of the year. Things started off well for the Houston-based champion who was able to score with his jab and establish his rhythm and scored the best punch of the opening round when he scored with a thudding left hand that stopped Castano in his tracks. He started the fight much more aggressively than he did in the first fight putting some early rounds in the back as Castano, applying constant pressure on and swarming Charlo cutting off the ring and scoring with a thudding right hand at the end of the fourth that seemed to hurt the Texan. Castano seemed to have seized the momentum after six but Charlo regrouped in the seventh. He got back to moving and outboxing his opponent and seemingly regaining control of the fight taking the eighth and ninth rounds. In the middle of a heated exchange, Charlo scored with an uppercut that stunned Castano. Charlo jumped on his opponent like a dog on fear and rocked his opponent with another picture-perfect left hook that Castano put Castano down in what looked like a delayed reaction. The referee allowed Castano, who was clearly out on his feet, after beating the count, but the writing was on the wall, and Charlo, an excellent finisher, closed the show and secured the stoppage at  2:33 of the tenth round.

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

Houston Hero Returns Home For Biggest Fight

One of Houston's favorite sons, Jermell Charlo returns home in his second bid to become an undisputed jr middleweight champion. The younger Charlo Twin will do battle with Argentine Brian Castano for the second time, on February 26th at the Toyota Center in his home city. The two champions have agreed to terms for the highly anticipated rematch for undisputed supremacy of the division.

Charlo and Castano memorably battled to a draw back in July, in the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Although Charlo enjoyed home state advantage he was unable to secure the victory. In a highly entertaining and competitive fight that Charlo rallied late in was declared a draw despite the majority of the fans thinking it was not Charlo but the Argentinian who deserved the nod. 

Castano bought the pressure and in the eyes of most built up a lead in the early and mid-rounds.  However, with the heart of a lion, Little Charlo came roaring back and rallied late to steal most of the late rate rounds to earn the draw. Charlo seemed cautious and didn't let his hands go in the early and mid rounds seemingly giving rounds away. However, showed superior skills in spots as well. Which led him to say "I do believe I won the fight; I don't believe it was that close should be undisputed right now."

Charlo holds the WBC, WBA,& IBF version of the 154-pound world title and sports a terrific 34-1-1 (18) record will get another chance to capture Castano's WBO version and become the first fighter ever to simultaneously hold all four belts in the 154-pound weight class. He will also look to become just the fifth man ever to hold all four belts in any weight class. The other four are Middleweight Bernard Hopkins, Jr Welterweights, Terence Crawford and Josh Taylor, and cruiserweight  Oleksandr Usyk.