Jose Luis Castillo-El Terrible

[BoztheMadman]

Jose Luis "El Terrible" Castillo was a part of a very exciting generation of lightweights in the early 2000's. He was the epitome of everything that symbolises the Mexican fighter: he was strong, durable, came to fight and could punch and take punches. However, there was something unusual about him that you might say was not typically Mexican. He seemed to handle the other famous prototype well: the slick African American. Despite being a puncher and brawler, he knew how to go to the body and how to use his style effectively against technicians and defensive fighters. He scored two major upsets, first one when he beat the slick Stevie Johnston and the second one when he beat the ultra-slick Floyd Mayweather but unfortunately was denied the credit when the decision went to Mayweather.

 

But lets start from the beginning: the man who unofficially took Floyd Mayweather's zero away was born 14 December 1973 in Empalme, Sonora province, Mexico. The future two-time world champion turned pro in 1990, aged 16 and won his first 18 fights, all but one technical decision were by knockout. In 1993 he first tasted defeat against the future WBC featherweight champion, the puncher Cesar Soto, who stopped him by technical knockout in 2 rounds. He won two more fights before against experiencing defeat against Javier Jauregui, where he lost by TKO 10. He would again lose to him by the exact same result, but after that he started winning and in 1997 won the Mexican featherweight title by KO 7 against Rafael Olivera. He defended the title against Hector Javier Marquez by TKO 10 and Julio Sanchez Leon by TKO 8 before he lost a fight for the super featherweight version against Julio Alvarez after he was cut over the left eye and the fight had to be stopped in round 10. Ironically, Alvarez would go on to lose to Stevie Johnston by knockout. In 1999 he first won the national super featherweight title against Sandro Marcos by KO 8 before he stopped the aging legend Jorge Paez by KO 5. In 2000, he moved to lightweight. He had had only a couple fights at that weight before that. After beating Steve Quinonez by UD 10, he surprisingly got a title shot against the WBC champion Steve "Lil But Bad" Johnston. The fight was held on 17 June, at the outdoors Bycycle Club in Bell Gardens, California. Castillo was a huge underdog as he was unknown to American audiences and considered too crude and unskilled to give the slick champion any trouble. But something strange happened during the course of the fight: Castillo adapted and made Johnston fight his fight, which he did better being the taller and stronger man. Even though the fight was very close, Castillo surprisingly got a majority decision victory. One judge had him comfortably ahead by 116-111, the other less comfortably by 115-113 and the third had it even. The rematch was held three months later in Johnston's hometown Denver and the fight was even closer this time. At first, Johnston was announced as the winner by majority decision, but one of the judges then discovered an error on his scorecard which turned the fight into a draw. Castillo was already in his dressing room when the change was announced, so it was Johnston who notified him when he came there to hand him his belt back.

 

In his second defense he took on the 5'11 Cesar Bazan, who had previously given Johnston his first loss and then lost to him in a very close fight. Castillo however had much less trouble with Bazan as he stopped him in the 6th round after flooring him twice. In his third defense he took on the overmatched Korean Seung-Ho Yuh and knocked him out in the first round. He had two non-title fights after that, one at 140 and the other at 147, and won both by knockout. Being a very big lightweight physically, he had no problems taking on light welterweights and welterweights. In April 2002 happened a fight which would become both infamous and historical: the fight against Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather had previously ruled the super feather division where he wrecked havoc and was undefeated at 27-0. It was expected that he would take Castillo to school, yet after a strong start by Mayweather who won the first 4 rounds, Castillo started to cut off the ring effectively and troubled him with his work on the inside. Castillo appeared to win all of the next seven rounds, however in round eight he got a point deducted for hitting on a break, while Mayweather got one deducted for using his elbows in the tenth. Mayweather finished strong and took the last round but it appeared Castillo had done enough to win. The judges didn't agree however as they gave Mayweather the decision with scores that were too wide and not reflective of what really happened. Harold Lederman scored the fight 115-111 for Castillo.

 

The rematch happened in December and this time Mayweather had done his homework better and avoided to get into exchanges with the stronger man, instead focusing on boxing and moving. The fight was boring but the scores were closer this time 116-113 and 115-113 twice. And so it was back to the drawing board for the proud warrior. Again he had three fights above the lightweight limit and won all by knockout, most notably against Saul Duran, another former Stevie Johnston opponent. In June 2004 he got another shot at his old title, which had become vacant after Mayweather moved up to light welterweight. He took on the compatriot Juan Lazcano, who had also fought Stevie Johnston in the eliminator, handing him his first knockout loss. Lazcano proved to be a worthy opponent and he won four of the first seven rounds, but then Castillo took over and Lazcano became surprisingly listless. Castillo recaptured his old title by a unanimous decision and also won The Ring title with that. In his first defense he faced his most difficult opponent since Mayweather in Joel Casamayor, the slick and fast Cuban. Castillo struggled with Casamayor's speed and slickness in the first half of the fight but came back strong in the second half, making the fight very close and hard to score. After 12 hard fought rounds, he was handed a split decision victory, however many in the audience and among boxing experts believed the decision was controversial and that it should have at least been a draw. In his next defense he faced the young Julio Diaz, who had vacated his IBF belt to get a fight with him. Diaz was good early on and won a couple rounds but he also got a badly swollen eye from round 4 and on and Castillo started pounding him at will, eventually knocking him down twice in round 10 before the fight was stopped.

 

His next defense would also enter the boxing legend when he faced the WBO champion Diego "Chico" Corrales in a title unification fight on 7 May 2005. Corrales at nearly 5'11 was three inches taller and was known for his power, however he also had a good handspeed and could box. The fight was a total war from the get go as both men were known for their willingness to come forward and take punches. The first seven rounds were even but by the seventh round Corrales' eyes began to puff up badly and Castillo started taking over. After a big round nine, Castillo knocked Corrales down in the tenth with a left hook; Corrales spit out his mouthpiece to gain more time to recover. He was again knocked down shortly thereafter and again spat the mouthpiece out, which got him a point deduction. As Castillo moved in to finish him off, Corrales suddenly landed a huge left hook that staggered him. He quickly followed it up with a flurry of hard punches as Castillo lay against the ropes and as the last punch appeared to have Castillo out on his feet, the referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight. The fight was later named the fight of the year by both The Ring and Boxing Writers Association of America. Both fighters took tremendous punishment in the fight and the fight certainly ended Corrales' prime, if not Castillo's.

 

The rematch took place 5 months later on 8 October but Castillo failed to make the weight, so it became a non-title fight. Again it was a fast paced and action-filled fight but after three even rounds, Castillo got his revenge by knocking Corrales out with a stunning left hook to the head in the fourth. Corrales got up but was wobbly and the ref stopped the fight. Castillo came under criticism however for weighing too much. After beating Rolando Reyes by a clear and Herman Ngoudjo by a close and controversial decision, he faced Ricky Hatton for the IBO light welterweight title in June 2007. Castillo showed himself as a washed up fighter but still managed to swell Hatton's eye. In round four he was hurt badly by a left hook to the body and took a knee. He didn't make the count. This had been the first time in his career that he was knocked down. Some expected him to retire but he didn't and the next year he lost a decision to Argentinian Sebastian Andres Lujan. He then won four fights against poor to mediocre opposition before he was stopped again by Alfonso Gomez, when he retired on his stool after six rounds of punishment by the younger and faster Gomez in March 2010. After the match he announced he was retiring and said "I just found out tonight I don't have it anymore. I want to appologise to the public and I am definitely announcing my retirement".

 

But for some reason, this didn't happen, for he was back in the ring already three months later. He has lost twice more since then, to Jorge Paez jr. and Antwone Smith, both times on points. His current record reads 66 wins with 57 kos, 12 losses (7 by knockout) and 1 draw. I can say I hope he retires soon, for the sake of his eligibility for the HOF. He was certainly one of the best lightweights ever.

Edited September 1, 2014 by BoztheMadman

[Marc James Knowles]

Re: Jose Luis Castillo-El Terrible

 

Awesome fighter. Watched tons of his fights over the years.

[selij]

Re: Jose Luis Castillo-El Terrible

 

The judges didn't agree however as they gave Mayweather the decision with scores that were too wide and not reflective of what really happened.

 

I dont hate on Floyd but this is probably the biggest ever robbery in boxing I have witnessed of my era of viewing contemporarily (as opposed to historically). Floyd won the rematch no doubt though.

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Jose Luis Castillo-El Terrible

 

I dont hate on Floyd but this is probably the biggest ever robbery in boxing I have witnessed of my era of viewing contemporarily (as opposed to historically). Floyd won the rematch no doubt though.

 

Tell me about it soul brother! I had it 115-112 for JLC or something like that. Lets see now...if Floyd won the first 4, that was 40-36, then Castillo won the next 3, thats 67-66 and then the 8th was 9-9 so thats 76-75, then he won three more which is 105-102 with Floyd's deduction the tenth was 10-8 for him. So it must have been 114-112.

Edited August 29, 2014 by BoztheMadman

[gaborr]

Re: Jose Luis Castillo-El Terrible

 

thanks for the information.