As the rest of us pugilists fans were left with a stuff of legend that Joshua Clottey trained for his fight against Manny Pacquiao by replacing the filling of a punching bag with his own self, a relatively quiet decision right after an undercard was made. A combatant in one of the greatest fights boxing has ever witnessed is calling it quits.
Jose Luis Castillo decided that it’s time to hang up his gloves after retiring on his stool between the fifth and the sixth round of his fight against Alfonso Gomez. It did not take a while for the former lightweight and junior lightweight champion to realize that he doesn’t have it anymore.
“I just found out tonight I don’t have it anymore,” Castillo said. “I want to apologize to the public and I am definitely announcing my retirement.”
Of course, as a boxing fan, it’s difficult to find a reason on why we should forgive him for there’s hardly a reason why he should apologize in the first place. He was one in the great line of Mexican warriors of this generation drawing close fight with the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. and several other class fighters.
But there is only one bout that will forever be associated with his name. A brawl so memorable not even Alzheimer’s can make me forget-at least for that one improbable round.
It was his fight with the late Diego Corrales in 2005 when in round 10 he managed to put Corrales down on the canvas twice. Corrales appeared to be very unstable at that moment that is seems Castillo is about to commit murder on national TV should the pummeling continue. And in a stunning reversal of the situation, Corrales managed to dig deep for those last drops of power to score a TKO. No words is enough to translate what has just transpired during those moments.
It was the boxing version of “Shock and Awe”.
Now that Jose Luis Castillo is done as a boxer, he leaves the ring with a 60-10-1 record and the memory of this legendary fight a true boxing fan will not forget.
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