by James Slater – Mexican warrior Jose Luis Castillo quietly returned to action over the weekend, winning an eight-round unanimous decision over veteran journeyman and countryman Roberto Valenzuela in Baja California, Mexico. Fighting for the first time since his 6th-round retirement loss to former “Contender” star Alfonso Gomez, which took place back in March on the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey under-card, Castillo looked in good physical shape at 142-pounds..
Winning comfortably over the 37-year-old who has been in with some top names (including Castillo himself in an earlier fight, which Valenzuela lost by 6th-round KO), “El Terrible” later said he felt great and that he now aims to challenge for a version of the light-welterweight title later this year.
Now 61-10-1(52), the former two-time WBC lightweight king didn’t beat a fighter anywhere near the world’s top-200, and the win will not have done much to dissuade the thinking in some quarters that Castillo is a shot fighter – but the 36-year-old will fight on, that much is certain. But after such a long and hard career, does Castillo really have any chance at all of beating an elite 140-pounder?
Tim Bradley? Forget it. Amir Khan? Way too quick and powerful for a faded Castillo (though, if you listen to the WBA 140-pound champ’s critics, a Castillo fight is one Khan would take!), Devon Alexander? No chance. And the less said about a Castillo challenge of the murderous-punching Marcos Maidana the better. So much for the Mexican tough guy’s chances of achieving his super-lightweight goal.
Castillo could possibly win himself a few more decent payday-type bouts, and a return with Gomez has been mentioned (though Gomez, looking for bigger things, has said he sees no point or points in a rematch). As brave and as entertaining as he’s been over the years, and with as many great fights as he’s given us in that time, Castillo has earned the right to go out on his own terms, and it would be nice to see him go out with a win.
However, his beating a guy with a 52-53-2(42) record does not give him the right to call out a reigning world champion. Castillo must be given some credit for getting himself into the good condition he was in on Saturday night, but this aside, he didn’t prove too much. At least the former champ beat a game guy, though. Amazingly, Valenzuela was back in action the following day – winning a six-round UD over a 0-3 guy named Alfredo Santos!