The difference between a controversial decision and a downright robbery can be sometimes confusing

By Fred De La Riva

05.12 - On paper, the talent of "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather should have been more than enough to easily defeat the WBC lightweight champion, Jose Luis Castillo. He had the quickness, the footwork, the defense and surprising power in both hands. Indeed, not only was Floyd the more talented fighter, but he was also the smarter fighter. Like it or not, this kid knows his way around the ring, despite his arrogance.

In the bout's opening minute, Floyd introduced a sharp left hook to Castillo's head and the champion was temporarily confused as he allowed himself to be lead around the ring. By the end of the first round, Castillo's nose was bloodied, but his determination remained strong. Mid-way through the second round, a clash of heads changed the course of what was then an easy fight for Mayweather. The sight of his own blood discouraged the flamboyant Floyd and he soon began to retreat. Coming forward as he usually does, Castillo began backing Floyd into the ropes and he also began scoring. In the middle rounds, Floyd hands and shoulders betrayed him partly due to Castillo's onslaught and partly due to the physical breakdown of his own body.

By the end of a close fight, with the aid of various camera angles and the slow motion replays provided by HBO, the television audience was sure that Floyd Mayweather had just tasted his first defeat as a professional. Of course, the judges' ringside view told a different story. John Keane, Jerry Roth and Anek Hongtongkam, who were the judges for the fight, had Mayweather winning by 4 to 5 points. Mayweather had become the new WBC lightweight champion and his post fight comments that "it was an easy fight" did not help endear fans to his claim to that particular title. Castillo on the other hand, felt robbed.

But was it a robbery?

I must admit that at first glance, it seemed that dark side of boxing had once again reared its ugly head, but this was not the case this time around. Most of the rounds were close with both men throwing and landing clean shots. One on side you had Mayweather throwing soft flurries of combinations, while Castillo consistently landed the harder, cleaner punches. This was not the one-sided fight like a Lewis-Holyfield I or a Whitaker-Ramirez I in which Lewis and Whitaker were obviously bamboozled. This time around it was a bit different.

Not all professional boxing matches end with a knockout. Most fights usually come down to the three guys sitting at ringside who follow specific criteria mandated by the 10 point must scoring system. This criteria is based on effective aggressiveness, clean punches landed, defense and ring generalship. I won't be as naïve to ignore the fact that there are outside forces that more often than not, influence the judging. However, boxing fans are also influenced by the fight commentary, personal preferences for certain fighters and the aforementioned camera angles, that aid them in arriving at opposite conclusions that those of the judges.

Not surprisingly, boxing fans were quick to scream "foul," at the conclusion of the Mayweather-Castillo bout. Adding fuel to the fire were the HBO commentating team and CompuBox's final fight stats that showed Castillo out landing Mayweather. A closer analysis of the fight though, proved that the fight could have gone either way depending on which criteria was favored by the judges. Most fight fans, favored the hard punches landed by Castillo and who can blame them? The hard thuds that came across the airwaves were impressive, but Mayweather was not defenseless during the fight. He landed his fair share of punches.

Fortunately, both fighters were cavalier enough to fight each other again. Mayweather will once again try to use his boxing skills to win the fight. This time around, his "soft" hands cannot fail him as they did in the first fight. He will need to have Castillo respect his power. With that being said, Castillo is naturally the bigger man. He needs to cut off the ring and work the body, much like his former sparring partner Julio Cesar Chavez did during his legendary career. Castillo needs to have a quick start too. He did not get truly going until the 5th round or so and giving away the earlier rounds is what ultimately cost him the fight, not the judges.

Feel free to contact the author at reevee@earthlink.net