Jermell Charlo vs. Brian Castaño II was a professional boxing match contested on May 14, 2022 for the undisputed light middleweight championship.[1]
Background
On July 17, 2021, Charlo and Castaño faced each other for the first time, battling to a controversial split draw at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Many believed Castaño did enough to win,[2] and much attention was drawn to judge Nelson Vazquez's 117–111 scorecard in favor of Charlo, which was criticized by many prominent figures in the boxing world, including Andre Ward, Lou DiBella and Eddie Chambers.[3] In the post-fight press conference, Charlo himself appeared to admit that he disagreed with Vazquez's scorecard, saying, "...honestly I think it was a closer fight than it seems. Somebody had it like 117–111... 117–111 was kind of a large range."[4]
On November 27, 2021, it was revealed by ESPN that Castaño and Charlo had agreed to face each other in a rematch.[5] The fight was officially announced on February 8, 2022, and was supposed to take place on March 19 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.[6][7]
However after suffering a slight biceps tear during training, Castaño was forced to withdraw on February 17.[8] A day later, the WBO ordered Castaño to show cause as to why Charlo shouldn't be scheduled to make an overdue mandatory title defense against Tim Tszyu.[9] The rearranged bout was officially announced for May 14 and would tale place at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.[10] The fight was granted sanctioning approval by the WBO on May 3, under the condition that it takes place by May 14.[11]
The fight
Like the first fight, the rematch was competitive, the two men spent the opening rounds trading blows before Charlo began to build a lead.
In the 10th round, Charlo scored 2 knockdowns, the first with a body shot followed up by a left hook. The second was left to the head and another body shot sent Castano back to the canvas badly hurt, he did not beat the count and Charlo was awarded a KO victory.[12] Charlo unified the WBO belt with his WBA, WBC and IBF light middleweight belts, becoming the 7th male 4 belt undisputed champion in history and the first undisputed light middleweight champion since Winky Wright in 2004. He was down on all three of the judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage, with scores of 84–87, 83–88 and 82–89.[13]
Aftermath
Speaking after the bout Charlo said "I showed the fans, I showed these haters I can stand there and trade. One thing I changed up is try not to be on the ropes too much ... place shots on really precise parts on the body and wear him out." Castano was gracious in defeat saying "We both were fighting back and forth. It was power back and forth, and then his right hand came over and stopped the fight. He's a champion. He hit me. He got me. We showed that we are warriors. That's the main thing. We have to feed our families."[14][15]
A planned bout between Charlo and WBO mandatory Tszyu on January 29, 2023 was postponed, following Charlo reporting that he had broken two bones in his left hand. Tszyu would subsequently win an Interim title and the WBO would order Charlo to defend their belt against Tszyu before September 30 or be stripped.[16]
When, on 1 July, it was announced that Charlo would move up two divisions to face Álvarez, Tszyu, who it was reported only found out about Charlo's change of plans on social media, said on Instagram "Canelo ducks benavidez. Charlo ducks Tszyu".[17][18]
