Charlo vs Castaño II: What you need to know
These two junior middleweight world champions are set to run it back Saturday May 14th after their first meeting concluded in a draw after a 12-round war of attrition.
For Jermell Charlo, he is a fighter who has not only tasted defeat but tasted defeat and bounced back in avenging his only loss. It is little narratives like that surrounding the career of a professional boxer that can be equally as telling as the narratives that we witness unfold inside the ring.
Interestingly enough, Charlo meets another storyline in his career after he seemingly met his match last summer in undefeated WBO junior middle weight champion Brian Castaño.
For my money, the narrative for Charlo in his first fight against Castaño was that Charlo went into that fight with a game plan of boxing his way to a decision victory and keeping the buzzsaw style of Castaño neutralized with his piston jab and lightning quick one two. But he soon found himself in a dog fight, a fight that he was losing up until the last quarter of the fight.
Despite the official scoring of this fight resulting in a draw, I had it tied up going into the championship rounds. Both rounds in which I personally gave to Charlo for him to take the decision with a final score of 115-113 The narrative for Charlo by the end of the fight was that he displayed his championship level grit, heart, and endurance when it mattered. This being in the championship rounds where he had Castaño wobbled on multiple occasions.
Castaño nonetheless did more than enough to show that there is a blueprint to victory against Charlo. Which involves keeping him on his back foot and always showing feints to the body and head. On top of unloading with blistering flurries when he has Charlo on the ropes. Although Castaño was wobbled in engaging with Charlo while having him backed up against the ropes, that was what had Castaño winning five rounds to three at that stage of the fight.
It will be interesting to see whether or not Castaño will double down on his game plan with constant forward pressure to find success with Charlo against the ropes. Equally as interesting will it be to see how Charlo looks in this much anticipated rematch.
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