Charlo and Castaño have a confirmed date

Brian Castaño -WBO super welterweight champion- and Jermell Charlo -titleholder of the same division for the WBA, WBC and IBF- drew on July 17 last year, in San Antonio, Texas, with controversy.

hough most of the experts had seen advantages for “El Boxi”, one of the scorecards gave the win to Charlo by a striking score, to say the least. One scorecard gave a draw at 114 points, another one saw the Argentinean winning by 114-113, while the third scorecard gave 117-111 to Charlo, a difference that nobody saw.

Thus Castaño (17-0-2, 12 KO) retained his crown and Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KO) kept his belts. As early as November last year, the second edition for February 2022 began to sound in the social networks. However, the Argentine’s representative, Sebastián Contursi, clarified that, “In reality, there is nothing officially closed for the fight and even less for that date”.

Charlo was to face his official IBF challenger, Bakhram Murtazeliev (19-0-0, 14 KO, Russian based in Oxnard, California) and Castaño, in turn, had as number one in the ranking -and still has it- the Australian Tim Tszyu (20-0-0, 15 KO). Castaño traveled to the United States at the beginning of the year, when the February date was still ringing without confirmation. “They are rushing me to accept, but nothing is certain yet,” El Boxi had told ESPN.

The truth is that with a brief message, on his Instagram (“We left in search of glory”), Castaño left Argentina on Thursday, January 6, when there was still talk of the February 26 date, and in Houston, for that fight.

However, Sebastian Contursi managed to handle things in the best way, getting the fight on March 19 and at the Crypto. Com Arena (former Staples Center), in Los Angeles. In that way, they took away Charlo’s home condition.

“I’ve been training in my country, with my dad, but I’m not going to fight in February because they want me to”, was the summary of Castaño’s statements, when he was still in Argentina, close to the Christmas holidays.

For the February 16 bout, the March 19 date was cancelled, after an injury in the right biceps of the Argentinean.

In fact, in a tweet by Francisco Valcarcel, a controversy was ignited, as the WBO president blamed the Argentine for the non-realization of the fight, when in fact a postponement was being requested because of the aforementioned injury. “How can you accuse a boxer for suffering an injury?” was the response from Team Castaño and further added: “We asked for four weeks of postponement for the new date. We never mentioned May or June”.

In turn, Tszyu’s team, also scheduled for March 19 to face Terrell Gausha (13-3-2) -the one Castaño was injured against in a sparring session- offered the Australian as Castaño’s replacement against Charlo.

The WBO, at first, was very hesitant about the situation, and there was even speculation of leaving the Argentine as champion in recess if he could not fight.

Finally, the word of the WBO Championships Committee came out, and common sense prevailed, establishing that Charlo and Castaño should sign an agreement to fight no later than May 14. The body, presided by Francisco Valcárcel, also stated that if the fight could not take place, the title would be vacant. And if Charlo, in turn, had a problem that prevented him from fighting, the fight would be between Castaño and Tszyu, the mandatory challenger to the Argentinean’s crown. The document was signed by Luis Bautista Salas, president of the WBO Championships Committee.

The agreement was reached. The Castaño-Charlo bout will no longer take place at Cripto.com but at a venue to be determined.

In turn, Tszyu-Gausha remains as the main fight on March 19, but in Minneapolis.

Considering that the fighters belong to Premier Boxing Champions, the arrangement conceived by the parties is understandable. The rematch between Charlo and Castaño is a fan-requested fight, while Tszyu, even as the Argentine’s mandatory challenger, would not have made much of an impact as Castaño’s replacement against Charlo.

The biceps injury is going to be behind him. The Argentine team celebrates that Brian’s trainer, Carlos “Charly” Castaño, his father, has been nominated by the United States Boxing Journalists Association as the 2021 Trainer of the Year. The final countdown to the big fight begins.

Now, with the date of Saturday, May 14, the outlook seems to be completely clear and Castaño -who has never stopped training, even though he has been diminished by the injury- will face the big night of his life.

Just as in that first confrontation there were many who saw him win, now he will have the opportunity, as he himself announced, to achieve glory.