Photo: Chris Farina/Top Rank

By Cliff Clark

08.12 - Fighting a tactical but brilliant fight, Floyd Mayweather Jr. notched the 29th victory of his undefeated boxing career over the toughest opponent he has met to date. Crowd favorite Jose Luis Castillo has now had 6 boxing judges tell him that Mayweather is a better lightweight than he is, without a dissenting vote. This time most observers agreed.

Mayweather opened the first round by throwing hard jabs to the body. Floyd easily controlled the round with his jab and very little was happening.

The second round started slowly with Floyd dominating the action with his jab again. His jabs to the face began to draw blood. Castillo began to charge in and drill Mayweather with low blows while he held him with his other hand. Referee Joe Cortez warned Castillo sternly for holding and hitting, and for low blows.

Floyd began to land sharp counter hooks in the third round and kept his jab in play. Floyd took a good jab from Castillo, but landed several sharp countering right hands and good left hooks in close. Near the bell ending the third, Castillo landed a very good right hand to the cheek. At the bell Mayweather walked over to Castillo, touched gloves in a show of respect and smiled.

Floyd opened the 4th with a series of jabs, and a solid overhand right. Castillo rushed Mayweather and missed with a wild left hook. The fighters came head to head and Castillo received another stern warning from Cortez for holding and hitting. A short while later Cortez called time and issued his fifth verbal warning to Castillo for fouling. Castillo missed with a wild right hand swing, but then landed a couple rights. Castillo kept coming in with his head down and the fighters wrestled quite a bit. Castillo landed at least 5 punches during the round that were well south of legal territory. Joe Cortez disqualified Kirk Johnson for borderline low blows in a previous fight, yet he never even took a point from Castillo.

Floyd landed some good right hand counter punches in the 5th round. There was a lot of holding and hitting by Castillo as well as illegal use of his head. Mayweather continued to punish Jose Luis’ nose and face with stiff jabs and hooks. Castillo managed to land a few clean inside hooks to the body and head.

There was a lot of hard infighting in the 6th round. Once when Cortez was breaking the fighters he shouted “break” 4 times very loudly while Castillo continued to punch. Up to this point, Castillo had not won a single round on my scorecard.

Mayweather controlled most of round 7 but Castillo ended the round with a series of impressive power shots. I gave this round to Castillo even though most of the flurry landed below the belt, or on the arms or gloves of Mayweather.

Mayweather dominated the 8th round with a series of impressive right hand leads that kept coming. In the 9th round Castillo landed an elbow, a couple of jabs and he did some good body punching, Mayweather landed a nice 1-2 and kept his jab going, but I gave this round to Castillo.

Mayweather took over in the 10th round again. He showed his brilliant defensive skills along with his deft left hook and right hand. Following this round Castillo’s corner told him that Mayweather was winning and generally implored him to start fighting. Mayweather’s corner seemed satisfied that Floyd was winning easily.

Mayweather dominated the 11th round with his right and landed a nice uppercut. Floyd did what he wanted to do whenever he wasn’t in a wrestling match with Castillo. Following the round Jose Luis complained to his corner that Mayweather was very elusive and that he couldn’t figure out his style. Mayweather’s corner was very content. They felt Floyd had it won. Even the inept group of commentators on HBO had Mayweather ahead by 3 points, so Mayweather’s lead looked fairly safe.

A very frustrated Castillo shouldered Mayweather to the canvas shortly before the bell to end the 12th round, and the crowd cheered. However the general feeling was that it would be a unanimous decision. Even the grumpy Larry Merchant, who had been chewing on Mayweather all night, had him ahead. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I wish HBO would lose that old fart. Somehow three of the most inept boxing judges on the planet showed up to judge the fight, so there was a little concern on my part before the decision was announced. Talk about instant relief! I didn’t like their scorecards, but at least they picked the correct winner. The first fight between Jose Luis and Floyd was a lot closer, but not on the official scorecards.

I don’t think Floyd Mayweather Jr. has hit his stride at 135 as of yet. He doesn’t seem totally comfortable at the weight, and his main body punch was the jab. He only landed a few good left hooks to the body all night. I think it would be a mistake for him to jump up to 140 for at least another year or two, because there are a lot of good fighters up there. Floyd should fight Spadafora next.

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