Jermell Charlo TKOs Brian Castano; ‘Boots’ Ennis Scores Another Fast KO

Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano fought to a 12-round draw last July in San Antonio. It was an outstanding fight as was the sequel tonight at the intimate outdoor stadium in Carson, CA, although this time Castano never made it to the final bell.

In the first meeting, Charlo hurt Castano in the 10^th, but couldn’t finish him. At that point, the Argentine was ahead on the scorecards. Tonight, Jermell’s pivotal round was also the 10^th, but this time he closed the show, shutting the curtain on a shootout between two world-class fighters whose styles meshed very well for 21-plus rounds.

The do-over — originally set for March, but pushed back two months when Castano suffered a biceps injury in training that did not require surgery — was marked with some great exchanges, notably in rounds four and five. In the 10^th, Charlo knocked Castano down and hurt him badly with a short left hook. Castano made it to his feet, but his goose was cooked and the fight was waived off after Charlo knocked him down again. The official time was 2:33 of round 10.

At stake were all four belts – Charlo’s WBC, WBA, and IBF diadems and Castano’s WBO title. With the victory, Charlo became the first unified 154-pound champion in the four-belt era.

Great champions are historically lethal in rematches and by this yardstick, Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, (19 KOs) is a great champion. His lone defeat was a controversial setback to Tony Harrison and he avenged that in grand style. It was the first pro loss for Castano (17-0-1).

Co-Feature

Philadelphia welterweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 29-0 (27 KOs) should be on everyone’s pound-for-pound list. Counting tonight’s second-round stoppage of previously undefeated Custio Clayton, now 19-1-1, Ennis’s last 21 fights have ended inside the distance.

Clayton, who fights out of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, was bending low when Ennis caught him with a looping right hand behind the ear. Clayton went down hard and got up, but his legs were jello. He staggered into the ropes, and the referee waived it off. The official time was 2:49 of round two.

Ennis is trained by his father, Derek “Bozy” Ennis. After the fight, Boots called out Errol Spence Jr who was sitting ringside.

Other Bouts

The PPV opener was a spirited 10-round super bantamweight scrap between Mexico’s Kevin Gonzalez and Puerto Rico’s Emanuel Rivera. It was the first fight on U.S. soil for Culiacan’s Gonzalez who improved to 25-0-1 (13) by dint of winning a unanimous (98-92, 97-93, 96-94) decision. This was the third fight back for Rivera (19-3) after missing four years with legal complications.

Also

LA middleweight Brandyn Lynch improved to 11-1-1 (8) with an 8-round unanimous decision over Fresno’s Marcos Hernandez (15-6-2). Lynch was knocked down in round two and suffered a bad cut over his right eye, but had enough grit to pull out the decision. The judges had it 77-74 and 76-75 twice.

This was a rematch of a fight staged in January of 2021 that ended in an 8-round draw. Lynch is the nephew of comedian/actor Eddie Murphy.

In another off-TV fight of note, Gurgen Hovhannisyan, a massive heavyweight from Armenia, now based in Los Angeles, improved to 3-0 (3) with a second-round knockout of Jesse Bryan (20-7-2). The Armenian opened a cut over Bryan’s eye in the opening frame and knocked him down twice in round two, the second time for the full count. The 37-year-old Bryan, from Jefferson City, Missouri, was out-weighed by 60 pounds.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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