Big Charlo Returns to Houston

WBC Middleweight champion and Houston Native Jermall Charlo is set to return to the ring. Stephen Espinoza, of Showtime Sports, made a major announcement concerning the elder Charlo twin. He will defend his WBC title against long-time Polish contender Maciej Sulecki on June 18th in Houston. A venue has not been selected yet. However, the Toyota center seems most likely as the Houston Rockets will be long over. It will be one day short of a full year since Jermall Charlo steppedinto the ring. He last fought on June 19th, 2021, and dominated Juan Macias Montiel, also in Houston, at the Toyota Center. Charlo scored a wide unanimous decision over a game and rugged Montiel. 

Charlo won the WBC  middleweight interim belt in 2018 and was awaiting a showdown with Canelo Alvarez. That fight never came to fruition. Canelo was tagged "Franchise Champion" and Charlo was promoted to WBC world champion. He defended the initial defense of his strap against Brandon Adams in Houston and has defended three more times since. Once in Brooklyn, once in Connecticut, and then in Houston. He will return to H-Town to battle Sulecki who sports a 30-2 (11) record and has been a top 10 middleweight for several years. He has had one other major world title shot, back in June of 2019 he dropped a lopsided decision to Demetrius Andrade for the WBO strap in Andrade's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. It was the second loss of the Polish contender's career. He has scored two tune-up victories in his two-fight since the Andrade loss. Most recently he outpointed in an eight-round affair in Poland back in December.

Charlo was long rumored to be in advanced talks with Golden Boy's middleweight and fan-favorite Jaime Munguia. In what was a highly anticipated fight, talks fell apart at the last minute. Munguia has a large following throughout the Lone Star State, having fought not only in Houston but having sold well in San Antonio and El Paso as well. Fans almost unanimously wanted the Munguia fight and the initial reaction to the Sulecki fight was not positive at all.

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.