Ring Magazine junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo and Brian Castaño, who is ranked No. 3 by The Ring, will square off for the undisputed world title on July 17, Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) announced Wednesday afternoon.

The 12-round bout will take place at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas and will headline a three-bout ‘Showtime Championship Boxing’ telecast (9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT).

Charlo will put up his WBC, IBF, and WBA world title belts on the line against Castano, the WBO titleholder.

The 31-year-old (31-1, 18 knockouts), who resides in Houston, Texas, has shown more aggression and power since suffering his only loss as a pro at the hands of Tony Harrison in December 2018. After knocking out Jorge Cota in June 2019, Charlo would avenge the loss to Harrison, scoring three knockdowns before the fight ended in round 11. Charlo would regain the WBC title with the win.

In his last bout on September 26, in a unification bout against IBF/ WBA titleholder Jeison Rosario, Charlo scored knockdowns in rounds 1, 6, and 8 before winning by knockout.

Charlo, the twin brother of WBC middleweight titleholder Jermall Charlo, cannot wait to become the first fighter to ever become an undisputed champion at 154 pounds. 

“I’m more than excited for July 17,” said Charlo. “I have so much potential and I’m just doing everything I can to get better and do better, day by day. I’m hungrier than ever because I know I’m on the verge of capturing this undisputed title and doing something that nobody has ever done before at 154 pounds. There’s nobody out there that’s as fast, strong and elusive as me. Castaño doesn’t possess anything I haven’t seen before, and we’ll see if he can take my power and the pain I’ll bring. But there’s nothing that worries me about this fight. I’m training super hard and aggressive and just taking it one day at a time. I’m so ready for this and more than likely he’ll walk into every shot I throw.”

Castaño (17-0-1, 12 KOs), who resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina, won the WBO title in his last bout on February 13, winning a one-sided decision over Patrick Teixeira. Castaño had not fought since November 2019, stopping Wale Omotoso after round 5.

Also 31 years of age, Castaño has faced the likes of Erislandy Lara, whom he fought to a draw in March 2019, Michel Soro and Cedric Vitu. Despite likely being the underdog, Castaño is confident he can defeat Charlo.

“This is the biggest opportunity of my life and I won’t let it get away,” said Castaño. “I’ll make Charlo suffer more than he ever thought was possible. I’m training with only one goal in mind, to leave the ring with all of the belts on July 17.”

In the co-feature, undefeated Rolando Romero will face Austin Dulay in a 12-round bout. 

Romero (13-0, 11 KOs), who resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, stopped late-sub Avery Sparrow in round 7. The win over Sparrow took place over five months after winning a controversial decision over Jackson Mariñez of the Dominican Republic in a fight many thought Mariñez did enough to win. 

Dulay (14-2 1 NC, 10 KOs) defeated Jose Gallegos by unanimous decision in his last bout on November 21. The Nashville, Tennessee resident lost by unanimous decision in his previous fight to former world title challenger Diego Magdaleno in his previous fight on February 15 of last year.

In the opening bout of the Showtime telecast, middleweight Amilcar Vidal (12-0, 11 KOs), who is originally from Montevideo, Uruguay and now resides in Coachella, California, will square off against Immanuwel Aleem (18-2-2, 11 KOs) of Richmond, Virginia in a 10-round bout. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing