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 a degree, but their highly competitive and exciting fight was ruled a split draw before an announced crowd of 7,329 on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
One judge scored the fight 115-113 for Castano, one had it 115-113 for Lara, and the third ruled the fight 114-114, resulting in immediate discussion of a rematch. ESPN scored the fight 115-113 for Castano, who was bit busier and landed more and harder punches.
But neither could complain about such an obviously close and competitive bout in which Castano retained his 154-pound belt for the second time.
The fight was by far the most significant of Castano’s career, and while he might not have gotten his hand raised in victory, he competed straight up with Lara, long one of the best in the division.
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 that was the 2018 fight of the year, in which Hurd pulled out the win with a 12th-round knockdown.
Lara, a master technician, controlled the distance and used his jab and movement well early on as he prevented Castano (15-0-1, 11 KOs) 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, more aggressive Castano was about to take over the fight as he forced Lara to the ropes and unloaded short punches, many of which got through Lara’s guard. But Lara, a vastly more 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 seemed to believe the fight was up for grabs down the stretch.
Castano 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 back-and-forth action, and when referee Ricky Gonzalez separated them at the final bell, they both put their hands up in victory.
According to CompuBox, Castano landed 195 of 863 punches (23 percent) and Lara connected with 130 of 825 punches (16 percent).