José Luis Castillo

Infobox_Boxer


name = José Luis Castillo
realname = Jose Luis Castillo
nickname = El Temible
weight = Lightweight
nationality = flagicon|MEX Mexican
birth_date = birth date and age|1973|12|14
death_date =
birth_place = Empalme, Sonora, Mexico
home = Mexicali, Mexico
style = Orthodox
total = 66
wins = 56
KO = 48
losses = 9
draws = 1
no contests = 0

José Luis Castillo (born December 14, 1973, Empalme, Sonora) is a Mexican boxer. Nicknamed El Temible, Castillo has a current record of 56-8-1 with 48 knockouts.

Castillo has had a solid professional career, defeating the likes of Stevie Johnston, Joel Casamayor, Juan Lazcano, Julio Diaz, and losing two very close decisions (the first being very controversial) with former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr.. Castillo early in his career sparred with Mexican boxing legend Julio César Chávez.

Castillo is best known for his grueling fight against Diego Corrales for the WBC-WBO lightweight title unification, on May 7, 2005. Both fighters were exchanging a brutal amount of punishment, until Castillo finally knocked down Corrales twice in the tenth round. Corrales was deducted a point from referee Tony Weeks for spitting out his mouthpiece while getting up from the second knockdown, and then surprisingly roared back, pinning Castillo against the ropes landing devastating punches, scoring a win by TKO. Castillo, as well as some boxing experts and fans, later debated that Corrales was given too much time to recover during the point deduction. More controversy surrounded the fight, in which some say that Weeks did not give a fair chance for Castillo to recover, although Castillo showed no animosity toward the stoppage, saying "he was in bad shape" after the barrage. Many regard this fight as one of the best of all-time, and it won Ring Magazine fight of the year for 2005.

The Castillo and Corrales rematch occurred on October 8, 2005. Castillo surprised many by weighing in 3 1/2 pounds over the 135 lightweight limit, making the fight a non-title bout. The fight continued the same pace as the first one, until Castillo landed a left hook on the chin early in the fourth round, flooring Corrales, and scoring a win. Castillo was later accused of purposely not making weight, giving him an extra advantage to knock out Corrales, despite apologizing to fans after the weigh-in. Moreover, Castillo's doctor was caught with his foot under the scale in an attempt to make his official weight less than his real weight, which was over the limit. [http://www.maxboxing.com/Fischer/Fischer060306.asp]

Castillo fought Rolando Reyes on February 4,2006, in El Paso, Texas, in which Castillo won by unanimous decision. The fight replaced the highly anticipated Corrales-Castillo III, which was postponed due to a Corrales rib injury, and was rescheduled for June 3,2006 in Las Vegas. On June 2,2006, Castillo once again went over the 135 pounds lightweight limit at 139 1/2 pounds, in violation of his contract, causing the fight to become a non-title match, which as to Corrales' request, the match has been canceled. As punishment the Nevada State Athletic Commission levied the maximum fine of $250,000, suspended Castillo for the remainder of 2006 as well as disallowed him to be licensed for any fight below 140 pounds.

On January 20, 2007 Jose won a narrow decision over Herman Ngoudjo. He won a split decision, although he was an 8 to 1 favorite. Castillo was scheduled to fight Timothy Bradley in 2008, but during the weigh-in on March 8, 2008 Castillo weighed 147 and a half pounds which was 7 pounds over the super-lightweight he'd have to make. This bout was planned to determine the WBC lightweight title. Instead Bradley will have to face Junior Witter for the title.

Ricky Hatton

On June 23rd 2007, during their fight in Las Vegas, Castillo was KO'd by Ricky Hatton after 2 minutes and 16 seconds of the fourth round by a crunching left hook to the ribs. It was the first time Castillo had been sent to the canvas in his professional career. Prior to the knockout Castillo had been deducted a point for low blows to his opponent.

See also

* List of lightweight boxing champions

* List of WBC world champions

External links

* [http://boxing.about.com/od/records/a/castillo.htm Jose Luis Castillo Fight-by-Fight Career Record]
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* [http://www.boxen-artur.de/eng_jose_luis_astillo_1886 Boxing-Enzyklopädie]