Beyond judge Nelson Vasquez, there weren't many people who thought Jermell Charlo defeated Brian Castano on Saturday. Instead, the "Fight of the Year" candidate was scored a split draw, and no undisputed junior middleweight champion ended up being crowned.
During the respective post-fight interview, Castano wanted an immediate rematch while Charlo wasn't as definitive. A rematch hasn't been announced at this time, but it is something the boxing world wants to see in the future. Possibly seeing what the backlash has been about the fight, the three-belt 154-pound champion took to his Instagram on Tuesday to commend Castano on his performance and said that there would be a winner when they meet again.
“Brian Castano is one hell of a better fighter than anyone gave him credit for, and he came to fight for his life Saturday,” Charlo wrote. “If fights are scored as a whole, I landed the harder and better shots, but boxing isn’t scored that way. Boxing is scored round by round. I’ve always said to take a belt from a champion, you need to take that belt, and the judges felt neither of us did enough to take those other belts, and they ruled a draw.
“I don’t want to become undisputed by a narrow controversial decision. I want to make a statement. I didn’t do my part to get the KO, and as always, I will continue to learn and improve. When we run it back, just like I adjusted in Harrison II, there will be no doubt about the result. #LionsOnly4L”
In his lone rematch, Charlo scored an 11th-round knockout of Tony Harrison in December 2019 to regain the WBC title. Previously, Harrison upset Charlo in December 2018 via unanimous decision to hand the Texan the first loss of his career.