I disagree as Castano, an attacking fighter that throws lots of punches is capable of upping his output and if he does so, I think California judges will be more appreciative of Castano than the home-state Texas judges of Charlo were in the first fight.
This could go either way and I wouldn't be even mildly surprised to see Charlo notch a win and even a KO victory but I think for the second time that boxing people are sleeping on the chances of Brian Castano.
The co-feature brings back everyone's favorite young bomber in welterweight Jaron "Boots" Ennis and this time, Ennis can force Errol Spence (or Terence Crawford, should that fight come off) to fight him with a win as this one is an IBF eliminator and will establish Ennis as the mandatory challenger.
Ennis has notched his two biggest wins in his last two fights in a sixth-round knockout of former junior welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets and last time out, a one-round punishment of division gatekeeper Thomas Dulorme.
Ennis will have to dispose of undefeated Canadain Custio Clayton, who has a draw against Lipinets, as his best resume' note, and even though Clayton doesn't appear to be a pushover for Ennis, he clearly appears to be outclassed.
DAZN and Golden Boy are also in California on Saturday night as former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez attempts to solidify his sport as the mandatory challenger for WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
The undefeated Ramirez has worn down and stopped aging former contenders in his last two fights in wins over Sullivan Barrera and Yunieski Gonzalez and is a prohibitive favorite against former minor titlist Dominic Boesel.
Boesel avenged an October 2020 third-round knockout loss to Robin Krasniqi with a split decision win last October but has been knocked out in both of his losses (Krasinqi and former title challenger Karo Murat) and could give Ramirez an excellent chance at another knockout nod.
The co-feature will pit undefeated lightweight prospect William Zepeda in his biggest test against former minor junior lightweight champion Rene Alvarado in what should be an action fight for as long as it lasts.
Zepeda posted a weird win over journeyman Luis Viedas in February while Alvarado has lost three in a row, all by decision, since winning his minor title over Andrew Cancio in losses to Lamont Roach and twice to current WBA champion Roger Gutierrez, and will be moving up in weight for the Zepeda fight.
This should be a good affair with the question to be answered as- How long can the smaller fighter in Alvarado take the punches of the younger, larger, and more powerful puncher and if he can survive into the middle to later rounds, how will Zepeda respond?
And a final California card, from Triller and for some reason on pay per view, headlined by former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev's return at cruiserweight after a two-and-a-half-year layoff following his knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez.
I had Kovalev leading after ten rounds (although he was trailing on the official cards) but at 39 and with problems away from the ring, it's easy to see that Kovalev is ripe for the picking by the next good fighter that he faces.
However, is that fighter Tervel Pulev of Bulgaria?
Pulev does have an amateur pedigree with a bronze medal at the London Olympics (his loss was to Oleksandr Usyk) but like Kovalev is 39 and in his undefeated career of sixteen fights hasn't beaten even a fringe contender.
This one is interesting to see which is closer to the truth- Does Kovalev's experience against better competition carry him by the untested Pulev? Or does the heavy mileage on Kovalev show its wear and tear to give Pulev the edge?
Pulev's brother, former heavyweight title challenger, Kubrat Pulev makes his return to the ring after his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua in 2020 against veteran workhorse Jerry Forrest.
Forrest usually gives rounds to his opponents and has taken fighters of Pulev's level to the edge with a draw to Zhilei Zhang and close losses to Carlos Takam and Michael Hunter, so he could do the same against Pulev.
The final fight in the challenge is the first of the day from Paris on ESPN+ as former Olympic heavyweight gold medalist Tony Yoka faces Martin Bakole.
This fight was postponed once and Yoka attempted to participate in an IBF eliminator that was disallowed due to agreeing to face Bakole.
Yoka has beaten some European level fighters of note (Christian Hammer and former title challenger Johan Duphaupas) but no one better while Bakole holds a decision over Sergey Kuzmin, his only loss is nothing to be ashamed of in a tenth round knockout loss to Michael Hunter, and a Yoka win would be the best of his career.
Boxing Challenge
TRS: Yoka KO 8
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