Lara and Castano Battle to a Draw; Ortiz Outpoints Hammer

The marquee match on today’s boxing docket played out at Barclays Center in Brooklyn where Argentina’s Brian Castano (15-0, 11 KOs) risked his undefeated record and WBA 154-pound title against veteran Erislandy Lara (25-3-2, 14 KOs). The challenger, Lara, went to post a small favorite.

Lara’s three losses were to top-shelf opponents — namely Paul Williams, Canelo Alvarez, and Jarrett Hurd – and all three fights could have gone either way. In fact, there are many who believe that Lara should have gotten the nod when he fought Canelo in Las Vegas in 2014.

Lara formerly owned the title that was at stake tonight. During his title reign, he made five successful defenses. He lost the belt in his last start, coming out on the short end of a split decision against Jarrett Hurd in a bout named the “Fight of the Year” by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Brian Castano was reportedly 181-10 during his amateur career (including a win over Errol Spence) and he was 3-0 in the pro-am World Series of Boxing competing for the Argentina Condors. He came into this contest off back-to-back wins over house fighters in France. He outpointed Michel Soro who was 30-1-1 going in and then stopped Cedric Vitu (46-2) in the 12^th round.

This was a fight in which it was easy to build a case for either side. For some, the overriding variable was Lara’s advanced age. Castano, 29, was the younger man by six years.

Against Jarrett Hurd, Lara let the fight slip away in the homestretch and that was true again tonight. Lara started fast, but Castano closed the gap and the fight was seemingly even at the midpoint. Then Lara surged to the front again, only to see Castano close strong to deny Lara the “W.” the final scores were 115-113, 113-115, and 114-114.

There were many close rounds and although a draw is never completely satisfying, most in attendance thought the verdict was fair.

Co-Features

In the semi-main event, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz improved to 31-1 with a wide 10-round decision over Germany’s Christian Hammer (24-6). Working behind an effective jab, Ortiz won all 10 rounds on one of the cards and nine rounds on the other two. There were no knockdowns.

Also, in a battle of featherweights, Mexico’s Eduardo Ramirez (22-1-3, 9 KOs) scored a ninth round stoppage of Panama’s Bryan De Gracia (24-2-1). De Gracia was slightly ahead on two of the cards until he got nailed by an uppercut that spelled the beginning of the end for him. With the victory, Ramirez becomes the mandatory opponent for China’s Can Xu.

Other Bouts

Edwin Rodriguez UD 10 Mitch Williams

Antonio Russell TKO 6 Jose Cardenas

Richardson Hitchins TKO 3 David Morales

Leduan Barthelemy UD 8 Miguel Angel Aispuro

Tyrek Irby UD 6 Dennis Okoth

Aaron Anderson UD 4 Chukka Willis

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