Castillo vs. Casamayor, One Man's View!

By Will "The Thrill" Trillo
Photos: Bret "The Threat" Newton
 

The judges disagreed, the fans disagreed, the writers disagreed, and Thrill and Threat don't see eye to eye! In the battle for the WBC Lightweight title, Jose Castillo and Joel Casamayor battled for 12 rounds and the official verdict was a split decision in favor of Castillo, who retains his belt. But the jury is out on this one, let me try to get to the root of the problem here!
 

There was certainly forces beyond anyone's control on this night, I can't put my finger on it but here I go. Wish me luck. First off, there were more promoters with their hands in the cookie jar than I can remember in quite some time. Not that they were throwing a curve at anyone mind you, but odd nonetheless.

Then there was the media who seemed to agree on nothing that was being done in the ring, on one side I had a guy who was not keeping notes or a score of any kind, and he left in the 10th round! The guy next to me didn't seem to have a clue and I noticed he was checking out my score at the end of every round before he jotted down his notes. Poor fella, if he only knew I was as much in the dark as everyone else here. Another writer who I respect very much was scoring a landslide in Castillo's favor, and the birds eye view photogs saw Casamayor winning easily! I ran into another media member in the lobby

after the bout and he informed me that he up and left in round 2 because the fight was so boring!! He wasn't even sure who officially won the fight yet! Was I in the Twilight Zone?
 

Now as far as the action in the ring, let me tell you how I saw it and you take it from there.

I gave the first 4 rounds to Casamayor, I thought he was boxing a masterful performance and was doing more than enough to take every round easily. But in my eyes, Castillo's patience began to pay off and the next four rounds were clearly his, in my humble opinion. It appeared he found his range and was doing some nice scoring with different blows that were paying off and in the eighth I thought his body work was starting to do the trick.

In round nine I saw Casamayor get his second wind and did enough to win the round. But in a quick turn of events I saw Castillo go back to the strategy that put four rounds under his belt and by the end of ten, it was even up, on my score card, that is! 
 

And in a note that even shocks me, I scored the last two rounds exactly the same as the three official judges, giving both to Castillo, making my card 115-113 to The Champ. It was clear to me that Castillo took this fight, I thought Casamayor gave a fine performance, and if he could have boxed the entire stanza the way he opened things up, he would have won easily. But you and I both know he did not keep up that pace! Can we agree on that? Probably not, huh?
 

Here's what we do know, it's official now, Castillo takes a split decision over Casamayor. Judges tally, 116-112 & 117-111 for Castillo, 115-113 in favor of Casamayor!

Castillo keeps his WBC Lightweight belt and ups his record to 51-6-1, 45 KO's. Casamayor fails in his attempt and falls to 31-3, 19 KO's.


Questions or Comments? Please Contact Will "The Thrill" Trillo
For Photos, Please Contact Bret "The Threat" Newton

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