Joel Casamayor

[BoztheMadman]

His nickname was “El Cepillo”, meaning the brush, probably a reference to his smooth boxing style, but Joel Casamayor was not just a smooth and slick boxer: he also was a warrior. He was probably one of the most successful Cuban boxers that turned pro and one of few to enjoy a long and fruitful professional career. On the downside, he was known to use his head in fights and probably had a big ego, but that was not strange given his talent and accomplishments. He was fast, hit hard and had a very good chin too, only getting stopped twice, in his twilight years. He was also avoided by some of the best p4p boxers of his time. 
 

Joel Casamayor Johnson was born on 12 July 1971 in Guantanamo, Cuba, where the only US army base was located. As amateur, he won the 1989 Junior World Championships (bantamweight), the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona (bantamweight) and also a silver at the 1993 World Championships (featherweight) and a bronze at the World Cup in 1994. His record is 363 wins and 30 losses. On the eve of 1996 Olympics, he defected to United States and turned pro on 20 September, winning his first fight by KO1. After going 14-0, on 30 January ‘99 he won the NABF super featherweight title by UD12 against Jose Luis Noyola. He never defended it, instead winning the WBA interim title against Antonio Hernandez on 19 June same year, again by UD12. After making one defense by another UD against David Santos, on 21 May 2000 he faced the unbeaten 21-0-1 South Korean Jong Kwon Baek and stopped him on cuts by TKO5 after soundly dominating the fight. His championship glory could now begin.

He made his first defense against Radford Beasley on 16 September same year and again won by TKO5. For his second one, he faced former IBF-champion Robert Garcia, today a famous trainer, on 6 January 2001. Garcia gave the champion some trouble and was ahead on one of the cards going into ninth round, when Casamayor turned up the heat and dropped him before stopping him on his feet. He would make two more successful defenses before fighting in a big title unification fight against Brazilian star and the other big name at 130: Acelino Freitas, who held the WBO title and was 30-0 with 29 ko’s. Freitas was both a monster puncher and a very fast-footed guy and he opened best in the first three rounds. It was on 12 January 2002 at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas that Casamayor found himself on the canvas for the first time, as he got dropped in the third round while backpedaling against the ropes. He protested, saying it was a slip, but it didn’t help. He came back and landed some good punches, but was unable to really establish himself and the battle remained even and competitive, both guys having equally many moments. However, the knockdown went against him and he lost by 114-112 on all scorecards in the end. 
 

There would be no rematch. Casamayor rebounded by stopping Juan Jose Arias by TKO8 and Yoni Vargas by TKO5, before fighting the 23-0 Nate Campbell and winning by UD10 in January 2003. On 4 October that year, he faced the freak of nature- the heavy hitting 5’11 Diego Chico Corrales. The vacant IBA belt was at stake and Casa became the second man to defeat Corrales after knocking him down twice and getting knocked down himself once, before the fight had to be stopped after the sixth round because of two cuts inside the mouth of Corrales. In 2004, they had a rematch on 6 March, now also with the vacant WBO belt on the line, and this time, despite knocking Corrales down in the tenth round, Casa lost by a disputed split decision. After winning a tough fight against Daniel Seda on points, he then landed a fight for the WBC lightweight title against the champion Jose Luis Castillo. It happened on 4 December at Mandalay Bay and once again, Casa lost by a disputed split decision, after outboxing Castillo for much of the fight and giving him more trouble than anyone since Floyd Mayweather. 
 

He now moved up to lightweight for good and next year on 11 June he fought the new contender, the Kyrgyz warrior Almazbek “Kid Diamond” Raiymkulov, in a WBC-eliminator. He dropped Raiymkulov in the first round, but struggled against the offensive and tough Kid Diamond, in the end escaping with a split draw in a fight where many thought Raiymkulov had the edge. One judge also scored it 116-111 for the Kyrgyz. In 2006, Casamayor had a couple easier fights and stopped the semi-contender Lamont Pearson by TKO9. He then finally landed another fight for the WBC title, which Castillo had to vacate because he couldn’t make the weight. His opponent was his old rival, Diego Corrales. It was on 7 October ‘06 at Mandalay Bay that JC finally became a world champion again by winning by SD against Corrales, who had also failed to make the weight. However, he was then stripped of the WBC belt in February for unknown reasons, possibly refusing to fight a mandatory. He still had The Ring belt which he had also won against Corrales. 
 

He therefore faced Jose Santa Cruz for the interim WBC belt on 10 November ‘07 at Madison Square Garden. In another underwhelming performance, Casa was down in round one and seemed to lose the majority of the rounds, yet somehow got a split decision victory. This has been called one of the worst decisions in this century. He was therefore an underdog when he faced the new exciting young warrior in the division: Michael Katsidis of Australia. Katsidis held the interim WBO title and defended it against Casamayor on 22 March ‘08 in Cabazon, USA. In a great barnburner, Casa dropped Katsidis twice in the opening round but was down and through the ropes in the sixth, before coming back and ending the fight in the tenth with a perfectly timed left hook and then a short follow up. It was a great victory in a war against a much younger and favored man, but that would prove to be his final great achievement. 
 

He relinquished the belt to fight his probably greatest opponent yet, Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico, another slick and clever guy and a warrior. Before the fight, Casamayor was very confident of victory and angered the Marquez fans with arrogant statements. The fight itself happened on 13 September at MGM Grand. JC had success in the early rounds as he caught JMM coming in repeatedly and Marquez seemed to struggle with his timing and movement. In the middle rounds, Marquez started to take over but the fight remained competitive until round 11, when Marquez forced him to the ropes and dropped him twice before the fight was over. Casamayor just looked helplessly on as he got stopped for the first time after 12 years as a pro. He then entered his last weight class, light welterweight. After beating Jason Davis on points in eight rounds, he fought Robert Guerrero, a strong technical fighter, on 31 July 2010. Both guys were down once but Guerrero was far more dominant and won by lopsided scores.

After scoring his last victory against Manuel Leyva by SD10 on 11 March next year, he got to fight his last world title bout against the WBO champion Timothy Bradley, then rated as one of top 5 p4p-ers. As Bradley also was known for using his head a lot, Casa jokingly posed before the fight with a helmet on his head. It was on 12 November ‘11 at MGM Grand that father fime caught up good with Joel, as he was taken apart by average-punching Bradley and put down three times before being stopped by TKO8. He was now 40 and retired after 15 years as a pro, with a record of 38 wins, 22 by ko, 6 losses and 1 draw. About half of his losses are questionable, but so is one of his wins and that draw, so it almost evens out. 
 

Joel Casamayor was a guy who could do it all, play chess, fight a war, box and punch. He has claimed Floyd Mayweather ducked him, which is possible knowing both were champions at 130 at the same time but there was never an attempt to get that fight made. We can only imagine how the outcome of that fight would be. He has been unfavorably treated by the judges several times and due to never being able to build a big enough fanbase in the States and fighting some of the most popular fighters of that time, he never quite got his full due. But his achievements speak for themselves. 
 

[LondonRingRules]

- - Boz, Fat Tony Weeks threw hisself on Casa for the 2nd KD so he couldn't get up in a very competitive snoozer that was just starting to heat up entering the championship rounds. 

It was a Majority Draw at that point in a very dull fight between counterpunchers.