Monday Morning Boxing Coach: Brian Castano Becomes The Guy At 154 lbs
Brian Castano Becomes The Guy At 154 Lbs
Despite not winning the fight, Brian Castano won the story of the fight, not unlike when Kell Brook beat Shawn Porter, Castano outwilled Jermell Charlo, in Charlo’s home state of Texas, in a solid fight on Showtime, as we didn’t get an undisupted world champion at 154 lbs, as the two fought to a draw, but saw a new face in boxing emerge.
Charlo didn’t like the smart pressure of Castano who used good feints, and a change of looks with his hand placement, as Charlo put himself on the ropes, early and often. The saving grace for Charlo was his power, which would bail him and rock Castano, but Castano’s mixing up his shots, had Charlo looking a bit spooked in the fight, as this was the most reserved, I had ever seen Charlo ever fight. In short, Charlo felt something in there.
Charlo had the path to victory, but he didn’t throw, and Castano had more heart in this fight, as even when Castano was hurt, he pushed forward.
With the deck stacked against Castano, a fighter who hadn’t been built to this position, taking a b-side title fight with Erislandy Lara to get a draw, then going to a rival promoter and network to get a world title from Patrick Teixeira, Castano came up the hard way. That being said, I felt like I knew so little about each fighter in the build up to this bout, and the ending left for an unsatisfying feeling.
“I won the fight,” said Castaño after the fight. “There were some rounds that he did hit me and he hit me hard. But I won this fight. I want to thank San Antonio. I want to thank SHOWTIME and Al Haymon for this fight. It was a great opportunity.”
For such a big fight, it was telling see half of my friends more interested in the NBA Finals, then this bout for all four belts as an undertone I picked up is with a lot of people the 154 lbs division feels not unlike the cruiserweight division.
Looking at the number by way of CompuBox, Charlo landed 151 of 533 (28.3%) punches in the fight to Castaño’s 173 of 586 (29.5%). With Castaño holding an advantage in power punches, landing 164 of 400 (41%) to Charlo’s 98 of 246 (39.8%) while Charlo out-jabbed his opponent by a significant margin, landing 53 of 287 (18.5%) to Castaño’s 9 of 186 (4.8%).
“He threw a hell of a lot of punches. My skills and my ability and my power – I felt like I won this fight and I deserve to be going home undisputed,” said Charlo. “I am glad to have fought for undisputed. It’s different. I still hold my titles. I can’t wait to get home to my babies, take a break from boxing and then get back to the drawing board and see what’s next. I want to be undisputed. That’s what I want. That’s my destiny.”
More than likely, Jermell Charlo will next be mandated to face Vergil Hunter-trained Bakhram Murtazaliev, who is the #1 contender for the IBF 154 lbs title. Castano’s mandatory for the WBO is Tim Tsyzu.
I hope I am wrong, but I don’t think we will see these two men fight again for the undisputed titles at 154 lbs, though they might rematch later down the road.
Undercard Results
Rolly stops Yigit, Calls Out “Tank” Davis
Rolando Romero is one of the nicest people outside of the ring anyone could ever meet, but he has found a way to make the average boxing fan, look at him as the bad guy. Romero knocked out Anthony Yigit, a former world title contender, in seven rounds, and impressed me with his toughness.
Romero, who trains with Coach Bullet, is a big puncher, who is awkward and tough, and will make any fight at the highest level entertaining with his pre-fight build-up.
“The punches he landed clean, I saw them coming,” said Romero.” I have to work on more combinations. I had a bad camp – at the beginning I hurt both of my ankles and my right hand. I was in a car accident a week and a half ago. My body was still sore from that yet I still took the fight.”
After the fight, Romero took the mic and called out Gervonta “Tank” Davis, and the post-fight press conference compared Devin Haney to Amir Khan.
“I need to go to 140. It’s my natural weight class. I feel I’ll be a lot stronger. I was at 135 for, what, four years now? It’s about time I move up.”
Vidal wins a close one over Aleem
Amilcar Vidal looks promising and has a similar method of attack as another good, and emerging Sampson managed fighter, Sebastian Fundora. Many felt Immanuwel Aleem, who worked with Ronnie Shields for this bout, may very well have edged him out for this bout, as the two fought to a close majority decision.
“I thought that was in my favor,” Aleem said. “I didn’t feel like he won seven rounds. I expected him to be strong but when we fought on the inside in the later rounds, I thought I won those. When I was moving early on, I didn’t think he had anything on me. I thought I won the later rounds too. If we can, I’d love to run it back.”
The fight was a solid, and entertaining bout that saw Vidal and Aleem trade back-and-forth, the pivotal moment being Vidal winning the sixth round, and then Aleem winning the next round, the seventh, showing he wasn’t going away.
Off-TV notable wins were Pablo Rubio Jr., an undefeated L.A. boxer who fought for the first time in two years, and 18-year-old featherweight Xavier Nunez getting a fourth-round KO , who seems to have a solid fanbase in the Texas-area, where he is from.
Fights Announced
Ortiz vs. Mean Machine – August 14th – DAZN, Tickets Now On Sale
One of the best prospects in the U.S. welterweight Vergil Ortiz Jr. (17-0, 17 KOs) faces his toughest challenge yet as he faces 2008 Lithuania Olympian Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas (22-1-1, 18 KOs) in a 12-round defense of his WBO International Welterweight Title, which should mandate a #1 contender for Terence “Bud” Crawford’s WBO welterweight title. The fight will take place on Saturday, Aug. 14 at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, and will be streamed live on DAZN.
Early Thoughts: Ortiz looks like a really good fighter, and “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas is a proven great amateur, and a world-class top-10 professional, if Ortiz were to fight Terence Crawford, as he spoke of in his last fight, these are the type of fights he needs to get the experience for such a bout. That being said, Kavaliauskas is a live dog with a lot of experience, as this is a very competitive and exciting bout.
Visit Golden Boy Promotions for ticket information
Jake Paul vs Tyron Woodley PPV Set For, Tickets Now On Sale
Social media superstar and global icon turned professional boxer Jake “The Problem Child” Paul will face former UFC champion Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley in the main event of a professional boxing event on Sunday, August 29 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, live on SHOWTIME PPV.
Paul is from a suburb of the Cleveland area. The bout will take place a 190-pound catchweight, and the 39-year-old Woodley is training with a generational great boxer, Floyd Mayweather in the lead-up to this fight.
The two made a bet at the press conference, that the loser will get a tattoo that says “I love [the winning fighter’s name]” on their body.
Amanda Serrano, one of, if not the best current women’s boxer in America, will be featured defend her world title on the undercard.
Early Thoughts: Paul is one of the biggest draws in boxing and his use of social media is second-to-none in all walks of life. Paul will need his A-game to beat Woodley, who appears to be very serious about this fight, but Paul appears committed to the sport, along with naturally bigger than Woodley, but Woodley has been in with big punchers like Robbie Lawler and Darren Till, who probably hit just as hard. This fight feels to me like how much has Woodley got to give to the sport, as the end of his UFC run, ended poorly.
Tickets for the live event will be available for purchase at RocketMortgageFieldHouse.com.
Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder III Moved To October 9th
The biggest heavyweight trilogy since Riddick Bowe versus Evander Holyfield, will have to wait a bit longer, as WBC and lineal world champion Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury and former world champion Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder will no longer happen on Saturday, July 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, as it postponed due to Fury’s positive COVID-19 diagnosis with a new date of Saturday, October 9th at the T-Mobile Arena.
The event will be on ESPN+ PPV and FOX Sports PPV, and those with tickets purchased for the July 24th event will be honored for the rescheduled date.
This comes the morning after Tyson Fury was allegedly sighted in Las Vegas, roaming around.
Early Thoughts: This heavyweight trilogy will be one of lore, and folklore as I am sure a bunch of beat writers will write books about this trilogy as feels like a modern Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier, with the context of the internet which means conspiracy theories, and a lot of faith-based opinions, being portrayed as fact, from both sides. Seemingly, this feels like the biggest heavyweight fight we will see in this era, as Anthony Joshua seems to despite being a massive star, spent most of the era, on the outside looking in, for fighting the generational greats of his era.
Will Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos Jnr Happen?
This is getting weird.
Teofimo Lopez was unable to fight for a mega-purse this past month in Florida, as the social media app Triller looking to make major inroads as a promoter, and disruptor of the marketplace bid $6.018 million to put the event on a fight between current undisputed lightweight world champion, Teofimo Lopez and IBF #1 contender, George Kambosos Jnr, of Australia, now training at Centeno’s Sweatbox Gym in Florida.
Lopez was coming off the biggest win, not just of his career, but of any fighter in 2020, by beating two-time Olympic gold medalist, and three-division world champion, Vasyl Lomachenko. Lopez had a difference in opinion over his pay structure, with his promoter, Top Rank, and took it to purse bid, many believe, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom USA might land the fight as Hearn bid $ 3.56 million, which was less than Triller, a promotional entity that moved in silence until the purse bid occurred. Most notable was that Top Rank offered the lowest bid, out of everyone, at $ 2.3 million.
The Triller fight would see a 65-35 % purse split, meaning Lopez would receive $ 3,911,700, and Kambosos Jnr would make 2.1063 million, career-high paydays for both fighters.
This week a few things have happened.
1) A tweet from Lance Pugmire, a respected journalist, stating Teofimo Lopez’s team has concerns over the fact Triller might be interested in moving the bout to Australia, where Kambosos Jnr is from, and that with protocols and isolation forced from the COVID-19 pandemic, Lopez might consider dropping the IBF lightweight belt.
2) Teofimo Lopez, a week before the pay-per-view fight re-worked his deal with his promoter, Top Rank Inc, to terms that both parties are happy with, meaning more than likely this would be a one-and-done for Triller.
3) Pugmire tweeted today that Lopez’s team says they have not received a contract for the upcoming bout, which was set to happen within 15 days of the postponement.
Who knows what will happen, but often it is best when business happens behind closed doors, and we just report when the press releases come out, but one thing seems true, the light seems to be fading on this career payday bout, as the original PPV undercard is now being sorted and moved around, case-and-point, Michael Hunter is now fighting, Tuesday, August 3rd, as the main event, which will serve as the opener to a Versuz battle between legendary New York rap groups, The Lox (D-Block), and Dipset.
Upsets Of The Week
Chris Chatman defeated Mike Gavronski in the co-main event of Bobby Hitz promoted card from Rosemont, Ill. This was Gavronski’s first fight back since a brutal 3rd KO loss to David Morrell, who hold a form of the WBA super middleweight title.
Club Show Results
WBA cruiserweight world champion Ryad Merhy made the first defense of his world title after being promoted from interim champion to the regular champion stopping Zhaoxin Zhang in the eighth-round via TKO. Cruiserweight sadly is a no man’s land, so who knows where he goes from there, as anyone who can fight a bit, moves up to heavyweight for bigger fight purses, as despite fairly decent fights and action, as a fan or a writer cruiserweight is a division that is hard to get excited for. Merhy is a world-class fighter.
Former world title contender Yves Ulysse Jr., picked up a fifth-round stoppage win in Canada. Ulysse Jr., who fights at 140 lbs holds a notable win over the former undefeated prospect, Cletus Seldin. Ulysse should be in a meaningful fight soon. The win now makes Ulysse Jr. the NABF super lightweight world champion.
Former world champion Ray Beltran was not able to fight this weekend as opponent didn’t show up to the weigh-in, leaving Beltran without opponent prior to his homecoming bout.
What Happened In MMA In 500 Words Or Less
Saturday night, UFC results
Emerging UFC lightweight Islam Makhachev who was trained by Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, before the father of the legendary MMA fighter, Khabib Nurmagomedov, sadly passed away last year, choked out Thiago Moises in the fourth-round of their scheduled five-round main event bout. Makhachev is dominant with his wrestling, but might not be the most entertaining fighter currently.
Miesha Tate returned after a five-year hiatus from MMA to stop Marion Reneau, late in the third round. Tate could rematch the women who she won the UFC title from in her next fight, Holly Holm.
Mateusz Gamrot made quick work of UFC veteran Jeremy Stephens as he submitted him with Kimura in a little over a minute. This might be the last we see of Stephens in the UFC.
Friday night, Bellator results
A theme of the weekend on Showtime was close fights in the main event, and recently crowned flyweight champion, Juliana Velasquez, barely squeeked out a decision over former Bellator kickboxing champion Denise Kielholtz, winning a five-round split decision. The two put on an entertaining striking performance, as Kielholtz, who not unlike Castano was largely disrespected, and earned her respect on this evening. Now we have two interesting contenders at this weight class for Velasquez in Kielholtz, and former champion, who she beat to win the title, Ilima MacFarlane.
Tyrell Fortune stopped former UFC heavyweight contender Matt Mitrione in the first-round, but not without some debate, as Fortune took Mitrione down quickly, and during the takedown they suffered a clash of heads. As Mitrione talked to the referee Fortune threw a slew of punches that ended the bout. Mitrione has now lost five straight fights.
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