Lara Vs Castano
By Mike Smith: Unbeaten WBA World junior middleweight champion Brian Carlos Castano (15-0-1, 11 KOs) retained his title on Saturday night in fighting to a 12 round draw against former WBA champion. Erislandy Lara Santoya (born 11 April 1983) is a Cuban-American professional boxer who has held the WBA (Regular) light middleweight title since 2019. Previously, he held the WBA light middleweight title from 2014 to 2018 (promoted to Super champion in 2016), and the IBO light middleweight title from 2015 to 2018. As of September 2019, he is ranked as the world's second best active light.
BROOKLYN — Former 154-pound world champion Erislandy Laraand WBA Super Welterweight Champion Brian Castaño fought to a highly competitive split-draw Saturday at Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING™, in an event presented by Premier Boxing Champions. With the draw, Castaño retains the WBA belt in what was the toughest test of his career against the longtime top 154-pounder in Lara. The judges scored the fight 115-113 (Castaño), 115-113 (Lara) and 114-114.
Castaño (15-0-1, 11 KOs), who was fighting in his first U.S. main event, held a large advantage in power connects (181-103) while Lara (25-3-3, 14 KOs) found success landing his left hand down the middle on his way to a 34 percent to 27 percent advantage in power accuracy.
In the close, difficult-to-score fight, five of the rounds were separated by three or fewer connects and three of those rounds favored Lara. In the final two rounds, Castaño ramped up the pressure and connected on 44 punches, while Lara landed only 24 punches across the championship rounds. Castaño won the final three rounds on all three judges' scorecards. Without doing so, the Argentine would have lost his belt.
After the hotly contested fight, both fighters have options, including a rematch, in the talent-rich super welterweight division.
'I know I won the fight. I feel I was robbed,' a disappointed Castaño told SHOWTIME's Jim Gray. 'If he wants the rematch, I'll give him the rematch. I waited for him this time so I can wait for him again if he wants the rematch. I would give him the rematch if he wants. I can also go ahead and fight any other champion that wants to fight me. I'm ready for whoever they put in front of me. Hurd or anyone else.'
Lara, on the other hand, felt he did enough to claim the belt: 'I thought I won the fight by landing the more accurate and effective punches. Castaño came to fight but he never hurt me and I hurt him. All I can do is give the fans great fights and that's what I'll continue to do. I have a lot of fight left in me and I'm not going anywhere.
'If we have to fight him again, I'll fight him. Hurd or Castaño. Anybody, I'll have the rematch with both.'
Brian Castano was looking for a breakout performance in his secondary junior middleweight title defense, and former longtime titleholder Erislandy Lara was seeking to rebound from a razor-close loss in the 2018 fight of the year.
Both accomplished their goal to some degree Saturday night, as their highly competitive and exciting fight was ruled a split draw before an announced crowd of 7,329 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Judge Kevin Morgan scored the fight 115-113 for Castano, John McKaie had it 115-113 for Lara, and Julie Lederman ruled the fight 114-114, resulting in immediate discussion of a rematch.
ESPN scored the fight 115-113 for Castano, who was a bit busier and landed more and harder punches.
Castano got the draw with a strong late-fight kick. He won the final four rounds on Morgan's card to edge ahead of Lara, and he won the final three rounds on Lederman's card to get a draw from her. McKaie also gave Castano the last three rounds, but Castano came up just short on his scorecard.
Lara Vs Castano Results
With the fight so close and competitive, both men believed they deserved the victory.
'It was a good fight, a good clash of styles,' Castano, who retained his 154-pound title for the second time, said through a translator. 'I know I won the fight. I feel I was robbed. He's an elusive boxer. I knew that. I prepared for that. I think it was a good fight, but I won. I know I won. I landed more punches.'
Said Lara, also speaking through a translator: 'It was a great fight, but I saw myself winning eight rounds tonight. My punches were much more effective. He did have pressure, but I was dominating the pressure. I was definitely expecting that pressure because he waited a long time for this fight. Again, I demonstrated I'm not old. I'm still fine-tuned.'
Lara Vs Castano
According to CompuBox, Castano landed 195 of 863 punches (23 percent); Lara connected with 130 of a career-high 825 punches thrown (16 percent). Lara had never thrown more than the 609 he unleashed against Delvin Rodriguez in a decision win in a 2015 title defense.
The fight was by far the most significant of Castano's career, and while he may not have gotten his hand raised in victory, he competed straight up with Lara, who has long been one of the best in the division.
Lara Vs Castano
Lara (25-3-3, 14 KOs) had hoped to use the fight with Castano to rebound from a split-decision loss to Jarrett Hurd in their epic world title unification fight last April in which Hurd pulled out the win with a 12th-round knockdown. Lara, usually a master technician, still boxes extremely well, but at 35 he doesn't have the legs he once did, so Castano was able to eventually get to him, as Hurd did, with relentless pressure.
Lara, a Cuban defector living in Houston, controlled the distance and used his jab and movement well early on as he prevented Castano (15-0-1, 11 KOs), 29, of Argentina, from getting off combinations. But by the third round, the aggressive Castano's pressure began to have an impact. He was able to land more punches, especially to the body, and he continually shoved Lara off of him when he tried to tie him up.
Castano was able to put punches together and raised swelling around Lara's right eye in the fourth round. By the sixth round, it appeared as though the younger, fresher Castano was about to take over the fight as he forced Lara, a southpaw, to the ropes and unloaded short punches, many of which got through Lara's guard.
But Lara, a vastly experienced fighter, still had a few tricks in his bag. He had a strong eighth round when he turned aggressor and forced Castano back with a series of straight left hands -- his best weapon -- to the head.
So many rounds were close that both fighters clearly believed the fight was up for grabs down the stretch. But it was Castano who seemed to have a little more left in the final rounds. He had a very good 11th round as he ripped Lara with left hands to the body, a punch he had success with earlier in the fight but then abandoned before finding it again.
The 12th round featured constant back-and-forth, toe-to-toe action, and when referee Ricky Gonzalez separated them at the final bell, they both threw their hands up in victory. Then the fight was ruled a draw, and both fighters said they were open to a rematch.
'If he wants the rematch, I'll give him the rematch,' Castano said. 'I waited for him. Anyway, I can wait for him again if he wants the rematch. I would [give] him the rematch if he wants. I can also go ahead and fight any other champion that wants to fight me. I'm ready for whoever they put in front of me. Hurd or anyone else.'
Added Lara: 'If we have to fight him again I'll fight him. Hurd or Castano. Anybody. I'll have the rematch with both.'