Jose Luis Castillo vs Stevie Johnston 2

Jose Luis Castillo retained the WBC lightweight championship after fighting a 12-round majority draw with Stevie Johnston at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Both men weighed 135 pounds. Castillo entered with a record of 41 victories and four defeats, while Johnston, appearing before his home support, stood at 30 victories and two defeats. The contest came three months after Castillo had taken the championship from Johnston by majority decision in California, an unexpected result which made an immediate return necessary. Richard Steele was the referee. There were no knockdowns and no recorded point deductions. This was Castillo’s first defence.

The first meeting had been fought largely at close quarters, where Castillo’s strength and persistence enabled him to finish the better of the two. Johnston made a deliberate alteration for the return. The southpaw kept away from the corners, used more of the ring and attempted to meet Castillo’s advances with counters rather than remain in prolonged exchanges. Castillo continued to come forward, but Johnston’s movement obliged him to reset his feet before punching. The challenger was particularly effective in the early rounds, scoring as Castillo advanced and moving away before the Mexican could establish sustained work to the body.

The judges’ cards showed how uncertain the opening had been. Ken Morita and John Keane awarded the first two rounds to Johnston, while Daniel Van de Wiele gave him only the second. The third produced another division of opinion, with Morita and Van de Wiele favouring Johnston and Keane giving it to Castillo. Johnston’s punches were generally the cleaner at this stage, but Castillo remained the aggressor and continued to narrow the ring. The pace was steady rather than violent, with Johnston seeking brief combinations and Castillo looking for the firm single blows that might hold his opponent in place.

Castillo made his first clear advance in the fourth round. His straight right began to reach Johnston, either following the jab or catching the southpaw as he moved away. Van de Wiele gave Castillo the round, although the other two judges preferred Johnston’s cleaner movement and countering. Castillo maintained his pressure in the fifth and used the left jab with increasing success. The punch caused swelling around Johnston’s right eye and gave the champion a more reliable means of entering range. Morita and Van de Wiele awarded Castillo the fifth, while Keane again sided with Johnston.

Johnston answered in the sixth with sufficient work to take the round on all three cards. He continued to avoid being stationed against the ropes and made Castillo follow him rather than advance along a direct line. Castillo threw persistently, though many punches were taken on the gloves or missed as Johnston turned away. The seventh was difficult to separate: Morita and Keane gave it to Castillo, while Van de Wiele scored it even. Johnston regained the advantage in the eighth. During the final half-minute, he landed three consecutive left hands, the most conspicuous sequence of the middle rounds, and all three judges awarded him the session.

The contest remained close in the last four rounds, but Castillo finished with greater consistency on the official cards. He used the jab to keep Johnston occupied, countered when the challenger attempted to lead and avoided the careless exchanges Johnston needed to produce a decisive turn. Morita awarded Castillo each of the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth rounds. Keane gave Johnston the ninth but scored the final three for Castillo. Van de Wiele preferred Johnston in the ninth before giving the remaining rounds to the champion. Neither man was seriously hurt. Johnston’s right eye showed the effects of Castillo’s jab, but he continued to box actively through the final bell. Castillo’s pressure never produced a knockdown, yet it remained sufficiently purposeful to keep the later rounds from being controlled by Johnston’s movement alone.

The punch figures reflected the even nature of the work. Johnston landed 208 of 886 punches, a rate of 23 per cent, while Castillo connected with 195 of 1,097, or 18 per cent. Johnston was the more accurate boxer; Castillo threw 211 more punches and supplied most of the forward pressure. ESPN analyst Scott LeDoux scored the contest 115-115. The official judges were similarly divided. Van de Wiele returned a card of 115-114 for Johnston, Keane scored 114-114, and Morita’s card was initially announced as 115-114 for Johnston. That calculation gave Johnston a majority decision, and he was presented with the championship belt.

Several minutes later, Morita’s figures were checked and found to have been added incorrectly. His round-by-round marks totalled 114-114, not 115-114 for Johnston. The result was therefore amended to a majority draw, leaving Castillo in possession of the championship. Johnston went to Castillo’s dressing room and personally returned the belt. The correction was proper and unavoidable, however disagreeable its timing. Johnston had improved considerably upon his performance in the first contest and had boxed effectively enough to win on one official card, but Castillo’s steadier work over the closing rounds prevented him from recovering the title. It proved to be Johnston’s last contest for a major world championship, while Castillo retained the position from which he would become one of the leading lightweights of the following years.

No matter how many times I watch Jose Luis Castillo vs Stevie Johnston II, I still struggle to split them. If you forced me to choose, I’d lean towards Johnston by a whisker, but the draw was fair. The official cards reflected it: two judges had it level, and one gave Johnston a single-point advantage after Ken Morita’s card was correctly recalculated.

Johnston had lost the first fight because he allowed Castillo to bully him towards the ropes and work at close range. He learned from it. In the rematch, he stayed away from the corners, countered sharply and made Castillo reset his feet. That was Johnston at his best: clever, accurate and technically sound. Castillo kept marching forward, throwing in volume and finishing strongly, but plenty of his work missed or landed on the gloves. Johnston actually landed more punches despite throwing considerably fewer.

The scoring mix-up was embarrassing, with Johnston initially announced as the winner before returning the belt to Castillo’s dressing room. Still, correcting an adding error was the only proper outcome. Johnston was desperately unlucky, but not robbed. I had him just ahead; a draw remains the most honest verdict.