31.03.06 – By Jim Amato: I recently did a piece on the classy former WBC bantamweight champion, Greg Richardson out of Youngstown, Ohio. I just came across a flyer for a 1994 match between Greg and an upcoming kid named Marcos Antonio Barrera. At the time, Greg was a former world champion, while Barrera was 30-0 with 21 knockouts. Richardson’s name would look very good on Barrera’s list of opponents. For Greg, a win over the red hot Barrera would propel him back into the ratings.
Alas, the bout never materialized. Barrera dropped out and co-promoters Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and Ruben Castillo inserted former world title challenger Armando Castro. This was, as the great Ali would say, “No contest”! Greg pitched a shutout. I covered the bout for Boxing Times and my headline was “Richardson Whitewashes Castro.” I gave Greg every round, in a fight where he put on a clinic that night. It was a real masterpiece. Later, my friend, Jim Borgen, and I talked to Greg’s trainer at the time, the respected and now deceased Victor Valle. He was very gracious with his time and was very high on Greg’s chances to regain a world championship.
I’ll always wonder how a still green Barrera would have fared that night against a fired up and impressive Richardson in Greg’s hometown.
Interesting side note:
This show’s co-promoter, Ruben Castillo, may have been one of the best fighters to have never won a title during his era. Ruben won his first 47 fights! His first loss was in 1980 when he challenged the great Alexis Arguello for the WBC 130 pound title and lost in eleven rounds. Ruben would go on to lose attempts to win the WBC featherweight title to Salvador Sanchez and Juan LaPorte. He would have one more crack at a world title being halted in six rounds by the great Julio Cesar Chavez for the WBC Super Featherweight title. Ruben finished his career with a 70-10-2 record and in his prime he only lost to the absolute best. Today he is a very under rated fighter and I have little doubt if he was around today, he would have picked up a title or two.
Yeah, he was that good….