Jose Luis Castillo vs Floyd Mayweather Jr

On 20 April 2002 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Floyd Mayweather Jr. took José Luis Castillo’s WBC lightweight championship and the vacant Ring lightweight title by unanimous decision over 12 rounds, the judges scoring it 116-111 for Anek Hongtongkam and 115-111 for both Jerry Roth and John Keane. Mayweather entered as the unbeaten former WBC super-featherweight champion, moving to 135 pounds for the first time after eight successful defences at the lower weight. Castillo came in as the defending champion, making the fourth defence of the title he had won from Stevie Johnston. Both weighed 134 pounds, Castillo a half-pound heavier on some listings, and the official attendance was 6,920. It was not a popular verdict in the hall, but it was the one recorded.

The fight began in Mayweather’s favour. He boxed at long range, worked behind the jab and took the first rounds with speed and accuracy rather than force. He was on his feet constantly, making Castillo reset and reach, and contemporary reports noted that he shifted from orthodox to southpaw as he looked to keep the champion from finding a fixed target. Castillo was slow to solve the distance. He pressed, but in the opening four rounds, he was generally second-best, and all three judges awarded those rounds to Mayweather. Through five, the challenger appeared to be in control, using his left hand and occasional counters to collect rounds while staying clear of the heavier return.

Castillo’s work began to tell from the fifth round onward. At the end of that round, he caught Mayweather on the ropes with a left and a right, and he kept punching after the bell until referee Vic Drakulich had to pull him away. It was the first clear sign that the champion had found the line of attack. Castillo had taken a few rounds to judge Mayweather’s movement, but once he did, he began to close the ground more effectively and to work to the body with greater purpose. The sixth and seventh both went to Castillo on all three official cards. These were the rounds in which the fight changed from a fencing match into a hard, close contest. Castillo was still missing plenty, but he was now making Mayweather feel the bout, especially downstairs, and he was doing it often enough to alter both the pace and the tone.

The second half was rough and at times untidy. In the eighth round, Drakulich deducted a point from Castillo for hitting on the break. In the tenth, he took a point from Mayweather for using his elbows. There were no knockdowns, but there was a good deal of wrestling, bumping and punching after instructions, and the bout was repeatedly in danger of turning sour. Castillo continued to stalk and force exchanges, while Mayweather stayed cautious, relying on the jab, footwork and short counters rather than standing to trade for long. The exception came late. In the eleventh, Mayweather spent more time flat-footed in the centre of the ring and seemed to have the better of the trading there. Even then, the fight remained close in complexion, if not always on every official card. When the twelfth ended, the two were still trying to continue after the bell, which was a fair indication of the mood of the last rounds.

The argument afterwards was not about whether Mayweather had boxed well early, because he had, but whether Castillo’s pressure and stronger work over the second half had overturned that start. CompuBox credited Castillo with landing 203 punches to Mayweather’s 157, and the disparity was much larger in power punches, 173 to 66. That gave force to the criticism of the decision, as did the reaction in the arena, where the verdict was loudly booed. Yet contemporary scoring was not uniform. HBO’s Harold Lederman had it 115-111 for Castillo, Dan Rafael had it even, and other ringside accounts scored the fight for Mayweather. That was the heart of the dispute then, and it remains so now.

After the decision, Mayweather said he had hurt his left shoulder in training during fight week and that the injury had reduced his jab and left hook, while Castillo said plainly that he believed he had won and wanted a rematch. Bob Arum, promoting both men, complained about the breadth of the official scores even while acknowledging that Mayweather may still have done enough to get the verdict. That immediate uncertainty became part of the fight’s place in boxing history. Officially, Mayweather left the ring as a two-division champion and the recognised lightweight leader. Unofficially, he left with a problem still attached to him, and the matter was important enough that the rematch was soon arranged. For one night in Las Vegas, the record book gave the result to Mayweather, but the fight itself remained open to argument.

This is the one and only fight I thought Mayweather lost. He won the rematch and went on to complete a Hall of Fame career that places him among the all-time greats. But I am adamant that he lost to Castillo that night.

It has to be remembered that Mayweather was often surly and unlikable as he built his “Pretty Boy Floyd” persona, designed to get boxing fans to buy tickets or tune in to his fights to see him get beaten. I challenged myself to see whether my dislike of the man clouded my judgment, but I still came away with the same outlook. Floyd Mayweather Jr lost to Jose Luis Castillo on Saturday, 20th April 2002.

Castillo would go on to regain the WBC lightweight belt he lost to Mayweather when he outpointed Juan Lazcano for the vacant belt 2 years later. He successfully defended the title against Joel Casamayor and Julio Diaz before losing it to Diego Corrales. The rematch, of course, went down as one of many fans’ favourite fights of all time.

Jose Luis Castillo earned his place as a great Mexican fighter, but I always remember him as the only man to defeat Floyd Mayweather.