Castano vs Charlo - No winners
San Antonio, Texas - The boxing world keenly anticipated this undisputed matchup between the WBC, WBA, and IBF titleholder "Iron Man" Jermell Charlo (34-1, 18 KOs), and the unbeaten WBO champion "El Boxi" Brian Castano (17-0-1, 12 KOs), but reality soured an otherwise superb battle.
After a back and forth battle where Castano took the early lead and was hunted down by Charlo through the championship rounds, fight fans were salivating over the result which was widely seen to belong narrowly to Castano. That is, before a wildly out of phase score from Nelson Vazquez (117-111 to Charlo) saw the fight called a draw.
Charlo was stunned in the 3rd round of a back and forth battle, which saw Castano build an early lead. But Charlo fought back, until he was rocked by a resurgent Castano in Round 7.
Come the championship rounds, Charlo was behind the 8-ball, but fought back impressively as Castano put the foot down to match it with the division's premier champion. The final 3 rounds saw the combatants go toe to toe, blasting away until the final bell. Charlo got the better of many exchanges, but it remained close - that is until the scores were read out; a split draw (114-113 Castano, 117-111 Charlo, 114-114 draw).
Charlo asked for a break from boxing, and Castano fumed, while WBO no.1 contender Tim Tszyu looked for a silver lining from the match.
Boxing fans just sighed, again, at the anticlimactic ending.
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