Friday, March 29, 2024  |

News

Castellanos defeats Juarez, earns WBC featherweight title shot

Fighters Network
26
Jan

Robinson Castellanos earned a shot at WBC featherweight titleholder Jhonny Gonzalez with a one-sided unanimous decision over Rocky Juarez, dropping the former five-time title challenger four times during the Fox Sports 1-televised main event at Cowboys Dance Hall in San Antonio on Monday.

Castellanos (21-10, 13 knockouts), who scored a questionable knockdown in Round 5 but legitimately dropped a worn-down Juarez three times in Round 12, soundly out-hustled the grizzled veteran over the second half of the tough fight to win by scores of 118-107 and 118-106 (twice).

Despite the wide scorecards, multiple knockdowns and the many times he backed the local favorite up during the fight, it was not an easy outing for the 32-year-old native of Celaya, Mexico. It was a hard-fought, bloody contest. Juarez (30-11-1, 20 KOs), a 34-year-old 2000 Olympic silver medalist from Houston, landed enough of his once-vaunted hooks to cut Castellanos above his right eye and swell up his right cheekbone.

However, Castellanos is nothing if not rugged and game. He didn’t let the blood bother him and never stopped letting his hands go. His resume doesn’t compare at all with Gonzalez’s, but he should give the dangerous beltholder a good fight.



In the co-featured bout of the “Golden Boy Live!” card, junior welterweight prospect KeAndre Gibson (12-0-1, 5 KOs) scored a hard-fought eight-round unanimous decision over Nelson Lara (15-7-4, 8 KOs). Gibson, a 24-year-old St. Louis native, shutout the 31-year-old Nicaraguan with unanimous scores of 80-72, but he didn’t make it an easy fight by engaging most of it in close with the tough journeyman.

SIGN UP TO GET RING NEWS ALERTS