Joel Casamayor: El Hombre Mas Desafortunado en Boxeo

06.12.04 – By Umar ben-Ivan Lee: Somehow I knew it was going to happen. It always happens with Joel Cassamayor. In his boxing career he has beaten every opponent he has ever faced on my scorecard, and on the cards of many others, and yet his record now states that he has three defeats. Most fighters in their careers will see one decision not go their way that they should have got, many will see two, but not very many fighters see three fights that they probably should have won go the wrong way (unless you are Pernell Whitaker).

Saturday nights fight between Joel Cassamayor and José Luis Castillo was a close contest, and one that Castillo definitely finished stronger, but at the end I had Cassamayor ahead by the same 115-113 score I had him beating Diego Corrales.

What is it about Cassamayor that allows him to get the short end of these decisions? In his fight with Acelino Freitas a controversial knockdown and a point deduction allowed Freitas to win. In the second fight against Corrales; Cassamayor didn’t get credit for the consistent way in which he outpunched Corrales. The loss to Castillo might be explained by the fact the Cassamayor lost rounds 10-12 on all three judges scorecards, something Emanuel Steward always talks about; fighters who drop bad decisions usually drop the last few rounds. But, that does not even explain everything.

Judge Dave Moretti scored the bout 117-111, a lopsided victory in favor of Castillo. That means that he had the fight 87-81 in favor of Castillo after the first nine rounds. Is that a fair analysis of the first nine rounds of the fight?The other two judges both had Cassamayor ahead after nine rounds, all three Showtime press row judges had Cassamayor ahead, and on my scorecard I had Cassamayor ahead 88-83. How is it possible that Dave Moretti would score the fight so radically different than all of the rest of us for the first nine rounds? Can anyone watch the tape of the fight and possibly justify the scoring of Moretti?

Without calling anyone’s character into question, let us just examine these facts. In the career of Cassamayor he has fought in Nevada six times. Of those six fights Cassamayor has won by stoppage on four occasions, and dropped decisions on two others. It appears that when Cassamayor goes to Nevada he brings his A-game, but he does not get the start treatment from the judges that local west coast favorites get.

The group behind Cassamayor, Louis DeCubas and Team Freedom, may be a big name in South Florida and the Cuban-American community, but they do not bring that prestige to Las Vegas; especially when they are fighting a Bob Arum fighter in Arums city. The biggest contingent at the Castillo-Cassamayor fight was Mexicans, and that is the prized demographic in West Coast boxing (pleasing the Cuban community is about as important as catering to the needs of the Hungarian community in Las Vegas).

After the fight Cassamayor mentioned that he wanted to fight Erik Morales, and I am sure that would be a great fight and I would love to see it. However, if I was advising Cassamayor there is no way in hell I would have that fight in either Nevada or California. Because given the boxing style of Cassamayor, and the strong chin of Morales, the fight would be sure to go to the scorecards, and there is a high probability that the cards would resemble the arithmetic of senor David Moretti.

In 2005 Cassamayor needs a stoke of luck. A rematch with Freitas in Miami, a fight with Juan of Julio Diaz, or a judge that loves his style like Dave Moretti loves seeing Castillo get peppered with lefts all night.

Umar ben-Ivan Lee may be contacted at keepslugging@hotmail.com