Castano: With Regards To Becoming Undisputed At 154, I Am Representing All Latinos, Not Just Argentina

Brian Castano will be among the first in line to celebrate should Argentina go on to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Long before that point, however, he plans to make history for his nation and all of Latin America with its first-ever undisputed boxing champion in the four-belt era.

“With regards to becoming undisputed champion at 154, I am representing all Latinos not just Argentina,” Castano clarified during a recent virtual press conference ahead of his undisputed junior middleweight championship clash with Jermell Charlo. “When I beat Jermell Charlo, I will become the first Latin fighter ever to win all four belts in a division. I don’t want to let anyone down.”

Castano (17-0-1, 12KOs) is a live underdog versus Houston’s Charlo (34-1, 18KOs) heading into their historic championship fight, which airs live on Showtime this Saturday from AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. The winner will emerge as the first male boxer to win all four major titles at 154 pounds and just the sixth male to do so at any weight.

Bernard Hopkins became the first in history to do so, unifying all four major titles at middleweight following a ninth-round knockout of Oscar De La Hoya in September 2004. Jermain Taylor outpointed Hopkins ten months later to become the second, followed by Terence Crawford becoming undisputed junior welterweight champion in 2017. Oleksandr Usyk accomplished the feat at cruiserweight in 2018, becoming the first from Ukraine to do so. Josh Taylor did the same for Scotland following a points win over Jose Ramirez in their four-belt junior welterweight showdown this past May 22.

Had Ramirez achieved the feat in that fight, he’d have become the first ever Latino—male or female—to do so. Castano now has a chance to achieve the feat, even before the already legendary Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (56-1-2, 38KOs), who aims to become the first-ever undisputed champion at super middleweight as the WBA/WBC/WBO 168-pound champ negotiates for a four-belt fight with IBF titlist Caleb Plant (21-0, 12KOs).

There is also the part where Castano can join the ranks of the best fighters to come out of Argentina, doing so at a time when his nation is on the hunt to qualify for the FIFA World Cup next year in Qatar.

“This is the most important fight for Argentina in the past 20 years,” notes Castano, who takes this fight just five months after dethroning WBO titlist Patrick Teixeira. “It’s my hardest fight. Charlo is a good fighter, he’s strong. Me too. July 17, we are coming for war. Why not have it all. This is for glory here. I want to be the first undisputed champion in the four-belt era at junior middleweight. I want to be known as the one of the best Argentine boxers ever. I want to be known for both.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox