Jermell Charlo (34-1, 18 KOs) faces Brian Castano (17-0-1, 12 KOs) to attempt to unify the junior middleweight division on Saturday. Charlo holds the WBC, IBF and WBA belts, while Castano is the WBO champion. Not only will the fight crown an undisputed champion, it also has the potential to be one of the best action fights of the year.
Charlo won the vacant WBC belt in 2016 and defended it three times, notably against Erickson Lubin and Austin Trout. He suffered an upset loss to Tony Harrison in 2018 but regained the belt by stoppage in the rematch and subsequently unified it with the WBA and IBF belt last year when he knocked out Jeison Rosario.
Castano first made waves on the world stage when he traveled to France and beat the very solid Michel Soro for the WBA interim belt in in 2017. He defended the belt in France again against Cédric Vitu in 2018. His next defense would see him face his toughest opponent, former titlist Erislandy Lara. His fight with the Cuban former amateur world champion ended in a draw and Castano retained. However he was stripped of the title when he refused to travel to France once again for a rematch with Soro. He earned his WBO belt in a relatively easy outing against Brazil’s Patrick Teixeira.
Jermell Charlo v Brian Castano Fight card, odds
- Jermell Charlo (c) -240 vs. Brian Castaño (c) +200, unified junior middleweight titles
- Rolando Romero -380 vs. Anthony Yigit +300, lightweights
- Amilcar Vidal -490 vs. Immanuwel Aleem +370, middleweights
Jermell Charlo v Brian Castano TALE OF THE TAPE
Jermell Charlo
Age: 31
Height: 5ft 11ins (180cm)
Weight: 153lbs
Reach: 73ins
Professional record: 34-1 (18 KOs)
Major career titles: IBF, WBA, WBC light-middleweight
Brian Castano
Age: 31
Height: 5ft 7.5ins (171cm)
Weight: 153.25 lbs
Reach: 67.5ins
Professional record: 17-1-0 (12 KOs)
Major career titles: WBO light-middleweight
Jermell Charlo v Brian Castano Prediction
Based on the above data, if Charlo doesn’t pick up the pace against Castaño, he could be in for a rude awakening should this prove to be a competitive fight that goes to the judges. Because of Castaño’s track record of stamina and durability, it’s an outcome that remains very possible.
Yet what the statistical comparison doesn’t take into account is how good Charlo is defensively and how the threat of his power often lowers the output of his opponent because of it. In addition, Castaño is also taking a fairly big step up in class for this fight following consecutive dominant wins over Wale Omotoso and Patrick Teixeira, the latter of which won him the WBO title.
