Jermell Charlo looked terrible tonight in fighting to a highly controversial 12 round split draw against WBO 154-lb champion Brian Castano in their quest for the undisputed championship.
Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs) came into the fight tonight as the IBF, WBA & WBC 154lb champion, but he was badly outworked, hurt and dominated by Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
After the fight, the Texas native Charlo was loudly booed by his own fans while being interviewed inside the ring by Showtime interview Jim Gray. Charlo’s own fans turned on him, knowing obviously that should have been given a defeat, not a draw.
The scores scored the fight 114-113 Castano, 117-111 Jermell, 114-114. Boxing 247 scored the fight for Castano 117-111. He was the far better fighter of the two.
Jermell’s work rate was poor, and he let Castano outwork him in virtually every round of the fight. With that said, Jermell hurt Castano in rounds 2 and 10. Castano had Jermell hurt in round three.
Charlo says he’s not sure if he’ll fight Castano again
What was interesting was that after the fight, Charlo wouldn’t commit to a rematch with Castano, saying that he wasn’t sure if he’ll fight him again. Charlo says he needs to talk to his adviser Al Haymon to see what he wants to do.
So if Jermell doesn’t fight Castano again, it means he’s given up on his goal of being the undisputed champion at 154. For Jermell to give up on his goal, it suggests that he doesn’t feel confident he can beat Castano, and you can understand that.
The two judges that scored the fight 117-111 for Jermell and 114-114, they were watching a different match than everyone else did because Castano dominated Jermell in getting the better of him in 9 of the 12 rounds tonight.
Jermell’s comments after the fight:
“I won this fight. I hurt him way more,” said Jermell Charlo after the fight. “Brian Castano is a tough warrior. He’ll give a lot of problem problems, but like I said, my power is something serious in this weight division.
“My coach told me that I needed a knockout in the last round, and I just know that he knew what he was talking about. This is my first time experiencing something like this.
“This comes with boxing. I knew he was a tough warrior as I said. I know he threw a hell of a lot of punches against almost any opponent that he ever fought.
“With my skills and my ability and power, I just knew I could keep him off of me. I felt like I won this fight. I deserve to go home as the undisputed.
“Not a lot of people in this division have titles. I’m still holding my titles. Shout out to Al Haymon, thank you. He had his guard up pretty high. I was probably moving and not active enough. I don’t have any excuses for nothing that I do.
“I don’t know, we have to see what Al Haymon say,” said Jermell when asked if there will be a rematch with Castano. “I want that, that’s my destiny. We shall see,” said Jermell when asked if he’s going to make another attempt to become undisputed at 154.
PBC is a cancer to boxing