Boxing Challenge: Lara and Castano even at the end

The Barclays Center may have been generously listed as half-filled and only may have been actually attended by half of that number, but the main event on Showtime was a pretty solid fight as former WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara battled Argentina's Brian Castano to a draw for Castano's minor title.

Lara won most of the early rounds on my card, three of the first four before Castano won four of the next six with a solid body attack and didn't allow Lara to move away from Castano's swarming attack, although Lara had his moments as well.
The fight was even after ten rounds and could have easily gone either way in both the eleventh and twelfth rounds with both fighters scoring well.
I gave Lara both rounds by a close margin and as a result the fight at 115-113.
The scores were very fair with each fighter earning a winning card of 7-5 in rounds with the deciding card scoring the fight even at 6-6.
The once-thoroughbred like legs of Lara have slowed from his prime and the resulting fighter is a more exciting fighter to watch, but one that currently allows opponents that previously would not have been competitive against Lara to suddenly have success against him.
Castano may not be an elite fighter, but he certainly proved himself to be qualified and I might even lean his way in a possible rematch against the 35-year-old Lara.

The other fight didn't prove anything that we didn't know as heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz dominated Christian Hammer in winning a unanimous decision.
Ortiz won on my card 99-91 and other than Ortiz staying busy and Hammer showing a strong chin, very little was accomplished in what appears to be the last Showtime Championship Boxing card for a while, although the network does have a few ShoBox cards scheduled.

Ramon Malpica and I earned one point in the boxing challenge, where Ramon keeps a one point lead at 42-41.