WBO junior middleweight champion Brian ‘El Boxi’ Castano 17-0-2 (12) isn’t holding his breath for a rematch against WBC, WBA and IBF champion Jermell ‘Ironman’ Charlo 34-1-1 (18) following their 12-round draw in their unification bout at AT&T Stadium in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday night.
The 31-year-old Argentine was rocked by a left hook in the second round but rallied to hurt Charlo in the third.
For the most part of the fight he was the busier fighter, closing the distance and landing with both hands while Texan Charlo, 31, struggled to find the gaps to land his hard counterpunches.
Charlo was warned by his corner late in the fight that he needed a knockout to win and while he performed well in the 10th and 11th frames, it seemed his chances of retaining his titles were slim and none.
When the final bell rang judge Steve Weisfeld saw the bout 114-113 for Castano while judge Tim Cheatham had it 114-114. Somehow judge Nelson Vazquez gave Charlo nine of the rounds for a score of 117-111.
Castano thinks Charlo dodged a bullet and won’t be keen for a second go-round.
“I think he will try to avoid [the rematch],” Castano said to Mike Coppinger of ESPN after the fight. “He will probably come up with something else. But in reality, it is me who is going to give him the rematch. If he doesn’t want it, okay. We move on to the next fight.
“I feel that they robbed me. I’m not taking anything away from Charlo. He’s a big puncher. He caught me with some good punches at times but I survived and overall, I thought I won the fight.”
Castano knows the biggest money fight out there for him is the rematch with Charlo.
“Let’s do the rematch. I have one belt and he still has three belts,” Castano said at the post-fight press conference.
“I know it was a draw but it tasted to me like victory. Anyway, it’s about the belts, so let’s do it.
“As I said before, I’m used to being the underdog and the visitor. So I’m used to going anywhere to fight anyone so that we can do it anywhere anytime.
“I can’t tell what was in the judges’ minds. I was hurt in the second, tenth and eleventh rounds.
“So maybe they saw something there, but I had my moment throughout the fight so I can’t really tell you about that.
“He’s a natural counter puncher and he can really punch, but that doesn’t mean a fight. So again, I feel I was the winner tonight.”
Castano’s manager Sebastian Contursi said despite being unhappy with the scorecards, they would be prepared to face Charlo again in his own backyard.
“We can do [the rematch] in Houston,” he said.
