Golden Boy Promotions won a purse bid to promote the long-delayed Patrick Teixeira vs. Brian Castano WBO junior middleweight title fight, but Teixeira is not out of the woods yet as far as the risk of being stripped. Late last week, Golden Boy bid $427,000 to top the Castano / TGB Promotions bid of $225,000. The $427,000 wil cover the boxers' purses, and Golden Boy must promote the fight between 45 and 90 days from the date of the purse bid. However, there is still the issue of Teixeira getting into the United States from his native Brazil, the issue which has delayed the fight for months. The WBO ruled that Teixeira must arrive in the US by January 6, 2021 or else be stripped of the title. In that case, Castano would fight the leading available WBO contender for the vacant title and Teixeira would be have the right to fight the winner. Teixeira can, in the discretion of the WBO, also be stripped (with the same right to face the winner) if he is unable to participate in the scheduled fight for any reason whatoseover.
NOV. 7th UPDATE: Golden Boy Promotions has failed to meet the WBO's deadline to assure that Patrick Teixeira will make his mandatory defense against Brian Castano, and the WBO has therefore scheduled a purse bid for the 154-pound title fight. The purse bid is scheduled for Thursday, November 12th, to be held by Zoom. Golden Boy promotes Teixieira while Castano is affiliated with Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions organization. Part of the issue is the Brazilian Teixiera's ability to enter the United States. Golden Boy apparently failed to explain Teixieira's current status on that front, so the WBO devised the following solution that could lead to Teixeira being stripped:
"If the WBO champion Patrick Teixeira is unavailable to participate, fight or engage as scheduled against the WBO mandatory challenger Brian Castano for any reason and/or circumstance whatsoever, the WBO World Championship Committee will recommend to the Ratings Committee that Teixeira be [stripped and] ranked at the number one position in the junior middleweight ratings and with the WBO proceeding with a vacant junior middleweight championship contest between castanea and the next available contender. Teixeira will be designated mandatory challenger thereafter."
ORIGINAL STORY, OCTOBER 27, 2020: A WBO junior middleweight championship fight between Patrick Teixeira and Brian Castano has fallen into limbo, but the WBO is working hard to get it back on the fight schedule. Teixeira, the WBO title holder, is promoted Golden Boy, but that company is dependent on the DAZN broadcasting platform to receive show dates. Golden Boy has not received any dates from DAZN, which are on hold while Alvarez takes his time on a $280 million dollar lawsuit he filed against both Golden Boy and DAZN. That dispute will take, at a minimum, months to work out, far too long to ask Teixeira and Castano to put their careers on hold. Another serious issue clouding the bout is the uncertain immigraton status of Teixieira, a native of Brazil. After months of delay, the WBO on Monday allowed Golden Boy Promotions one last chance to put together the fight. The sanctioning organization gave Golden Boy ten days to confirm the official date, place and venue for Teixeira-Castano, as well as Teixiera's current immigration status and his date of arrival in the United States. If Golden Boy fails to accomplish this, the WBO will declare a default and order a purse bid for the fight.
Castano is the WBO mandatory contender for Teixeira's title. Very early in 2020, Golden Boy announced it had reached an agreement with Castano's promoter, Tom Brown, to hold the fight on April 25th in Indio, California. Then coronavirus happened, which caused several months of unavoidable delay. Now, however, boxing has resumed but Teixiera-Castano has not been rescheduled.
According to Golden Boy attorney George Gallegos, Teixeira is stuck in Brazil, unable to travel to the United States because the US embassy in Brazil is closed and therefore Teixieira cannot obtain a visa to gain entry here. The US Embassy website provides the following "urgent information for visa applicants regarding novel coronavirus: The U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Brazil have suspended routine immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments. We will resume routine visa services as soon as possible but are unable to provide a specific date at this time."
Castano is from Argentina but is currently present and training in the US. Brown, his promoter, alleges that Golden Boy never raised Teixiera's visa issue until much later and only did so as an excuse to cover up for the fact that it has no ability to promote the show due to the legal dispute with DAZN and Alvarez. At one point, Golden Boy advised the WBO that Teixeira had secured an October 12th appointment to get his visa at the US Embassy, but a few days beforehand, it advised that the appointment was cancelled.
Brown is asking the WBO to strip Teixiera and that Castano be permitted to fight another contender for the stripped title. Brown also requested that the WBO demote Teixeira to "champion in recess." The WBO called the current situation "untenable" but indicated no intention to strip Teixeira. In a well-considered ruling, the WBO stated, "we cannot acquiesce that Teixeira be designated champion in recess because such designation is non-existent in our rules and is contrary to ur institutional policies." Boxingtalk applaudes this ruling because if there is anything the sport does not need, it is more confusing championship titles. Instead, the WBO gave Golden Boy until November 6th to reschedule the fight and assure Teixeira's attendance. Failure to do so, according to the WBO resolution, will result in a new purse bid.
