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Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano continue to await a forthcoming decision by the WBO to determine the fate of their planned rematch.
BoxingScene.com has learned that the WBO Championship Committee has not yet ruled on whether to allow the Charlo-Castano rematch to move to another date or to call for Castano to make a mandatory title defense. A final decision is expected by no later than the first week of March, with the hope that the fight can move to a new date with all four major titles (WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO) at stake.
The pending bout is a rematch to their terrific showdown that failed to produce a winner last July 17 at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Castano (17-0-2, 12KOs)—the reigning WBO titlist—won by score of 114-113 on the card of Steve Weisfeld, while Charlo—who holds the lineal/WBA/WBC/IBF crowns—was given the nod by judge Nelson Vazquez, whose scorecard of 117-111 generated massive public scorn.
Judge Tim Cheatham (114-114) had the fight dead even, thus producing a split decision draw and with the sport left without its first-ever four-belt undisputed junior middleweight champion.
The reported injury prompted the WBO to issue a ‘Show Cause’ letter to Castano, who was given ten days to state his case—with medical proof of injury—as to why the delay shouldn’t prompt the sanctioning body to order a mandatory title fight. BoxingScene.com has learned that Castano has complied, to include his submitting medical verification of a slight biceps tear forcing the unbeaten Argentinean out of a planned March 19 fight date with Charlo (34-1-1, 18KOs).
The injury—suffered earlier this month—forced Castano to officially withdraw from the rematch as BoxingScene.com reported on February 16. The development drew concern from the team surrounding Tim Tszyu (20-0, 15KOs), Castano’s current mandatory challenger who is eager to receive his due title shot. Tszyu was scheduled to face 2012 U.S. Oympian and current junior middleweight gatekeeper Terrel Gausha on the Charlo-Castano II undercard which they were reportedly made to understand would take place February 26.
The date was never formally announced, as Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) instead revealed in a 71-word press release on February 3 that the show would take place March 19 at Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) in Los Angeles. A virtual press conference was to have taken place during mid-February, though details were never released. Instead came news of Castano’s injury and the unwelcomed postponement.
A strongly worded protest was filed by Matt Rose of No Limit Boxing, Tszyu’s promoter who claimed to have “agreed to “defend the [WBO] Global title against Terrel Gausha on February 26 in Houston on the provisions of fighting the winner of the unification bout between Brian Castano v Jermell Charlo.
“This date however changed venues and locations to… 19 March in LA. However, nothing official was announced. We have been waiting the last two weeks for the official announcement of 19 March which was finally going to happen (February 16).”
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that Castano’s team has challenged the suggestion of the fight ever being set for February 26, specifically that they never agreed to the rematch taking place in Charlo’s Houston hometown. Their obvious concern was getting a fair shake given the outcome of the first fight.
The February 26 date was speculated through the media though never formally announced by PBC or Showtime, the latter who televised the first fight and is expected to present the rematch. The March 19 date obviously no longer remains in play for the rematch, with the concern that any ruling from the WBO disallowing its title to be at stake could trigger a chain reaction.
The failure to produce a winner from the first fight has further delayed plans for all four sanctioning bodies to order their mandatory title defenses.
Bakhram Murtazaliev (19-0, 14KOs) has been the IBF mandatory since November 2019, having since agreed to back-to-back stay busy fights on the undercard of Charlo’s eighth round knockout of Jeison Rosario in their September 2020 lineal/WBC/WBA/IBF unification bout and Charlo-Castano I. The IBF has agreed to delay its ordering of Charlo-Murtazaliev as long as both parties were in agreement and that no obstacles stood in the way of Charlo-Castano II.
Israil Madrimov (8-0, 6KOs) became the WBA mandatory following a controversial ninth-round stoppage of Michel Soro last December 17 in his home country of Uzbekistan. The WBC mandatory will be determined in the forthcoming clash between former title challenger Erickson Lubin and unbeaten Sebastian Fundora. The fight is tentatively set for April 9, though it could move with the rest of the springtime Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) schedule.
A ruling in favor of Charlo-Castano II moving forward with all of the belts at stake would likely come with Tszyu moving forward with his planned fight with Gausha. That fight was taken by Tszyu with the agreement that his mandatory title shot would come next.
Approval of Charlo-Castano II would have to come with event handlers securing a new date and potentially a new location. Any such plans of staging the fight in late April would leave the Crypto.com Arena out of the mix, as the venue is booked every Saturday in April.
The venue is available on May 14 and May 21, although one or both of the dates could become occupied depending on how things shake out with the NBA and NHL postseason schedules. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and L.A. Clippers and the NHL’s L.A. Kings are all currently eligible to make the playoffs, though with plenty of time left in the regular season for both leagues.
Charlo is a two-time WBC titleholder, having reclaimed the belt in an eleventh-round knockout of Tony Harrison in their December 2019 rematch. Charlo avenged his lone career defeat with the win, which took place exactly 52 weeks prior to their first fight which saw Harrison claim a disputed points win.
Two title defenses have followed for Charlo, both coming in unification bouts. He defended the WBC belt while claiming the WBA “Super” and IBF titles in an eighth-round knockout of Jeison ‘Banana’ Rosario in September 2020. An unwelcome ten-month ring absence came ahead of his split decision draw with Castano, who won the WBO belt in a twelve-round, unanimous decision over Patrick Teixeira last February 13 in Indio, California.
The fight came more than fifteen months after Castano’s previous ring appearance, who waited out the process to claim the title. History essentially repeats itself, with Castano’s fate once again left in the hands of the WBO Championship Committee.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox