IBF/WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) came through with his power in the tenth round on Saturday night to stop previously undefeated WBO champion Brian Castano (17-1-2, 12 KOs) to become the undisputed champion at 154 in their rematch at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Charlo, 31, dropped Castano twice in the tenth round to get the knockout. In the knockdown, Jermell caught Castano with a short left hook to the head that caused him to go down in a slightly delayed reaction.
Surprisingly, the referee allowed the 32-year-old Castano to continue despite him being badly hurt & still staggering when the action was allowed to continue.
With Castano severely hurt and out on his feet, Jermell went for the kill, backing up the Argentinian to the ropes, landing several head-snapping shots before catching him with another powerful left hook that shook him to his boots, sending him down for the second & final time of the round.
The referee then stopped the contest rather than letting Castano continue fighting.
Just like the previous fight between the two 1154-lb champions last year in July, tonight’s undisputed clash between Charlo & Castano was action-packed and very close at the time of the stoppage.
Castano appeared to be slowing down from the seventh round, as he wasn’t throwing as many shots as he had in the first half of the contest, and he looked like he never fully recovered from being hurt in the sixth by a powerful left hook from Jermell.
It was a great fight, and now we’ll get a chance to see where Charlo goes from here. Unfortunately, Jermell has ruled out fighting his gym-mate & good friend Errol Spence Jr.
With that fight off the table and Charlo saying he’s not interested in fighting Terence Crawford, these would be good choices for him:
Sebastian Fundora
Tim Tszyu
Liam Smith
Jaron Ennis stops Custio Clayton
It’s too bad Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis isn’t interested in going up to 154 right now, as there are many boxing fans that would favor him over Charlo with the way he fought tonight.
Charlo is an excellent fighter, but he’s vulnerable and would likely get picked apart by Ennis if that fight happened next.
Boots Ennis (29-0, 27 KOs) looked exceptional tonight, stopping Custio Clayton (19-1-1,12 KOs) in the second round in an IBF welterweight title eliminator in the chief support bout tonight on the Charlo vs. Castano 2 card tonight.
Ennis landed a hard right hand to the head of Clayton in the second round that bowled him over like a bowling pin. Clayton, 34, staged to his feet, but he was staggering too much for the referee to allow the fight to continue.
The victory for Boots Ennis makes him the IBF mandatory challenger to champion Errol Spence Jr. However; it doesn’t seem likely that Spence will elect to fight Ennis at 147, as he wants to move up to 154 after he faces Terence Crawford next.
