Bruce Carrington turned Madison Square Garden into Shu-York on Saturday night.
Carrington, a native of Brooklyn, New York, won his first world title with a ninth-round knockout of Carlos Castro to lift the vacant WBC featherweight title. Carrington, 17-0 (10 KOs), shook off his biggest challenge to date, surviving being hurt in the fourth round before a flurry of overhand rights had Castro’s eyes spinning and left him on the canvas for the 10-count.
The official time was 1 minute and 29 seconds, as Castro, 30-4 (14 KOs), of Fullerton, California (by way of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico), was stopped for just the second time as a pro.
Carrington entered the fight in trunks inspired by the New York Yankees’ pinstripe outfits, was accompanied to the ring by a live performance of “Ante Up” by the rap group M.O.P., and was greeted after the fight by film director Spike Lee.
Tears of joy underlined the happiness that the 28-year-old Carrington felt in the moment, but they didn’t come without his overcoming adversity.
After a feeling-out first round, Carrington’s quick jab began to open up power punch opportunities in the second round, as he snuck in short uppercuts and body punches. But Castro was never far behind him, narrowly missing a right-hand counter that could have done damage. Castro’s own jab began to pay off in the third, as he gained the upper hand and landed left uppercuts and right hands. But Carrington showed he wouldn’t give up the momentum, ripping Castro with uppercuts and right hands that had him on the defensive.
The following round, Carrington survived perhaps his first-ever moments of adversity as a pro, getting rocked after dipping in the direction of an overhand right from Castro. The punch landed high on Carrington’s head and caused his legs to wobble momentarily. He recovered relatively well, landing sharp counters from the corner as he tried to clear his head. Castro continued to have success in the fifth round, continuing to land right hands from distance. Carrington began to pull himself back into the fight in the sixth, aiming to land pull counters with his right cross – but Castro still found openings to land his right hand and short left hooks.
Carrington’s speed and timing began to take over the fight again in the seventh round. He opened the stanza with a counter uppercut and then found the target with straight rights through the middle before moving his head to avoid the incoming shots.
Hand speed from Carrington also dominated the seventh round, when he put together hard combinations that had Castro looking to cover up.
Carrington could sense that his moment was coming and his confidence grew, leading to the right-hand counter that had Castro out on his feet, before two more rights finished the job.
“To be honest, I felt that it was gonna come the round before,” said Carrington, who turned pro just over four years ago. “I was coming on hot the round before, but I just knew that I needed to land a good combination. I was looking for one shot at first, but the combinations is what set up the big punch.”
The loss was the second straight for the 31-year-old Castro, who lost a split decision to Stephen Fulton in September 2024.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
