By: Sean Crose
“Brian Castano is one hell of a better fighter than anyone gave him credit for and he came to fight for his life Saturday,” Jermell Charlo has posted on Instagram, referring to his battle for the undisputed junior middleweight championship of the world last Saturday night. The fight between Charlo and Castano was just a terrific affair that was ultimately ruled a draw. Unfortunately, one of the three judges at ringside ruled so widely for Charlo that it put a damper on the entire affair, a sad addition to a great night of boxing, to be sure.
“If fights are scored as a whole,” Charlo continued, “I landed the harder and better shots, but boxing isn’t scored that way. Boxing is scored round by round. I’ve always said to take a belt from a champion you need to take that belt and the judges felt neither of us did enough to take those other belts and they ruled a draw.” Charlo then went on to once again show the attitude that watchers of the contemporary boxing scene have grown to admire about him. “I don’t want to become undisputed by a narrow controversial decision,” he said. “I want to make a statement. I didn’t do my part to get the KO and as always I will continue to learn and improve.”
As for Castano, Charlo makes it clear in the post that there will indeed be a rematch. “When we run it back, just like I adjusted in Harrison II,” he adds, “there will be no doubt about the result.” For those who don’t know, Charlo had previously lost to the awkward and focused Tony Harrison on the cards before coming back and defeating his man via thunderous knockout in their rematch. The Charlo in each of the two Harrison fights seemed like a different person.
Castano appears as if he’d love nothing more than a rematch. And, to be sure, there’s a sense of unsettled business about the whole affair now. Plus, it’s something the fans would like to see and it would (most likely) reveal the truth king of the junior middleweight division. Although it’s hard to tell if a second Charlo-Castano match will come right away, it’s difficult seeing either fighter being pleased with things as they now stand. That sort of thing simply doesn’t appear to be in either man’s nature. Which, frankly, is a pleasure to see in a world of safety-first boxing.