Patrick Texeira and Brian Castano reach deal for mandatory title defense

It’s official. Junior middleweight titleholder Patrick Texeira has just come to terms to take on his mandatory challenger Brian Castano. The sides were said to have reach a deal late last night, around 11pm, soon before a WBO purse bid was scheduled to happen this morning. Golden Boy president Eric Gomez shared these thoughts:

“We made a deal late, in the 11th hour. It will be a tough, competitive fight,” Gomez told ESPN on Wednesday morning, after having previously termed the odds of a deal between the camps as “no chance.”

The current working idea is to hold the fight between April in May, with Gomez saying what finally paved the way for the deal to be reached was Castano’s team relenting on their seven-figure demands.

Texeira (31-1, 22 KOs) is coming off a decision win over Carlos Adames last November to win the vacant interim WBO world title. Texeira would soon thereafter be elevated to full world champion status when Jaime Munguia mad the move up to middleweight. Meanwhile Castano (16-0-1, 12 KOs) most recently stopped Wale Omotoso last November as well, one fight removed from his close split draw with Erislandy Lara almost a full year ago.

We’ll provide updates on how this all comes together as details begin to emerge.