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HBO World Championship Boxing Recap

June 23, 2007

Thomas & Mack Center-Las Vegas, Nevada

IBO Light Welterweight, WBC-International Super Lightweight and Ring Magazine Junior Welterweight Championship (140 pound) 12 Round Championship Match:

Ricky Hatton (42-0, 30 KO's, 140 pounds) (IBOand Ring Magazine Champion)vs. Jose Luis Castillo (55-7-1, 47 KO's, 140 pounds)

The WBC-International Super Lightweight Championship is currently vacant. It was previously held by Herman Ngoudjo.

Hatton's IBO Championship was won in his last match for the then vacant title versus Juan Urango. The previous title holder had been Stevie Johnston.

Hatton established himself as the undisputed champion at 140 pounds, in 2005,bydefeatingfuture Hall of Famer, Kostya Tszyu. That match was Tszyu last, and finished, with the once proud champion, unbeaten for theprevious 8 years, quitting on his stool after round 11,of a very close match. Tszyu's spirit and drive to compete had been broken bythe tenacity and constant pressure of the huge underdog. It was a changing of the guard moment, that anyone who watched will not forget. That match was voted the greatest victory ever by a British boxer by the British writers. Another win for Hatton, versus Carlos Maussa that year, lead to the Manchester native being named Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year for 2005.

Hatton has never failed to make weight, but his time spent outside of training camp, is not spent keeping himself in top shape. He is a blue collar man of the people in Manchester.He can frequently be found at the local Pub, drinking ale, eatingfattening foods and playing darts. He scheduled being at theLondon launch of the Nintendo Wii (which had free pizza), where he faced 2005 English Football (Soccer) Hall of Fame inductee, Ian Wright, in a game of Wii boxing (Hatton lost), around preparing for his last match. Hatton's weight from his non-training camp endeavors frequently jumps to 180 pounds, with rumors the 5' 6" boxer has occasionally neared 195 pounds, earning him the light-hearted nickname, Ricky Fatton.

Hatton has a history of cutsin numerous places on his face. He is known for tight, boxing in the clinch and leading with his head. That leads tofrequenthead clashes,and blood is not an unusual sight in a Hatton bout. Hatton says he possesses the skill to box scientifically on the outside andavoid taking damageduring matches, but has not shown the patience to do that throughout a match, yet. He is a brawler who stands in front of his opponents, and does not back up. This has lead him to an exciting,undefeated record, and makes him an unlikely candidate, to win any beauty contests.

Hatton's two most recent outings have been not up to the lofty standards he has set in previous outings. Hatton moved up to 147 pounds two matches ago, anddespite scoring a first round knockdown,barely won a decision. He was hurt badly in round 12 and saved from a potential knockout loss by the bell. In his last match versus Juan Urango, Hatton won a blowout decision against a severely overmatched opponent on January 20, 2007. However, in that match Hatton did not look sharp taking a great deal of damage to his body.

Castillohas held numerous titles, with his most significant being a 2reigns asWBC Lightweight Champion.The Mexican nativeis currently the number 1 ranked contender at 140 pounds, according to Ring Magazine.

Castillo turned pro 17-years-ago, at the young age of 16-years-old. There is a ton of wear and tear on his body from the 63 matches he has been in as a professional, plus being a sparring partner for the legendary and physical Julio Cesar Chavez for 5 years.

Castillo is most famous for his loss in the epic first match withthe late Diego Corrales, in May 2005. That match was namedRing Magazine Fight of the Year for 2005 and may have been the best boxing match of the last 25 years, if not ever.With the recent death of Corrales, Castillo said he felt a little part of himself died, too, because of how they were linked in that classic encounter.

However, a tragedy, far closer to home, struck the challenger5 weeks before the passing of Corrales. Castillo's younger brother, Cesar,died suddenly, as the result of abrain aneurysm. Of Castillo's 8 brothers and sisters, Cesar, was the one, who always carried Castillo's title belts to the ring. Castillois dedicating his efforts in this match to Cesar.

Castillo has failed to make weight twice in his career. The first time in his second match with Corrales. After three attempts to make weight, Castillo came in 3.5 pounds over and ended up scoring a round 4 knockout over his smaller opponent. In a planned Castillo-Corrales 3, Castillo ended up 4.5 pounds over weight and the match was called off. For failing to make weight that time Castillo lost his entire scheduled purse of $1 million, the Nevada State Athletic Commission fined him the maximum allowable amount of an additional $250,000, suspended him for the rest of the year (the match was scheduled to take place June 3, 2006), and forbid him to attempt to box in Nevada, again under 140 pounds.

Not making weight for the potential third Corrales matchhas put Castillo in huge financial trouble. With the suspension Castillo was unable to work for months to pay off his fine. Castillowas forced to take out a loan from promoter Bob Arum to help pay off the fine. Even then, Castillo was unable to completely payoff the fine until after his last match. That meant, Castillo received very little of his purse for that match, after his debts were paid. Castillo is also, being sued by the family of the late Diego Corrales, for the money they lost when the third match had to be called off. Corrales' family is attempting to have Castillo's purse for his last match and this match attached and go towards paying the Corrales family.

There are plenty of personal distractionsto keepCastillo from performing at his best. Emanuel Steward believes the need to make money will be a motivating factor for Castillo, in this match. A loss and Castillo is going to have a lot harder time drawing money. Steward, also believes Castillo is motivated by the desire to be considered one of the truly great Mexican boxers. Castillo is not on that list now, and a loss would further distance him from it.

The challenger's last match, was an unimpressive 12 round split decision victory over Ngoudjo. (It was not for the WBC-International Super Lightweight Championship, because Ngoudjo had already vacated that title.) Part of the reason Castillo performed poorly in that match can be attributed to the fact he was coming off an 11 month layoff, because of the previously mentioned suspension. The match was on the undercard of the Hatton-Urango main event, that was designed to showcase both boxers and did anything, but.

Hatton numerically is 5 years younger then Castillo, at 28-years-old, but Castillo physically, is a lot older then his chronological,33-years-of-age. The champion gives up2" in height, standing 5' 6" tall, while Castillo stands 5' 8" tall. Castillo has the arm length advantage, measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, 24" long, to 20" long for Hatton. Their unofficial weights at the time of the match, have Hatton the smaller boxer at only 149 pounds, and Castillo weighing 153 pounds. When the two men posed next to each other at the weigh-in, Castillo had a much larger size advantage on Hatton then these measurable's imply here.

The champion's father and grandfather both played professionalfootball/soccer for Manchester City. Hatton continues to bea season ticket holder andhuge fan of Manchester City,and hate all things of rival Manchester United. However, Hatton's title belt will be carried to the ring by Man U's starstriker,Wayne Rooney. Castillo is a big fan of Manchester United, even recently traveling from Mexico to a Manchester United home game.The challenger says hefeels slighted by Rooney, walking to the ring with Hatton. There is actually, an article pushing Castillo on the official Manchester United website, to divideManchester Unitedfans between the local Hatton and Castillo.

The match will be conducted under the unified rules of boxing: No 3 knockdown rule. Only the referee can stop the match. In case of a cut caused by an accidental headbutt necessitating a premature stoppage, the match will be determined by the scorecards after 4 rounds; any earlier and the result of the match will be a no contest. A boxer cannot be saved froma knockout by the bell in any round. Two of the official judges for this match are from Nevada and one is from Rhode Island. Keeping unofficial score for HBO will be Harold Lederman.

Hatton is the 2 to 1 betting favorite, but that number is misleading because of the huge number of Hatton fans in Las Vegas, betting heavily on the champion. Many experts actually favor Castillo to win, with the challenger receiving unanimous support from the experts on ESPN Friday Night Fights.

The match is still over ten minutes away, and the Hatton fans are already singing in the crowd, in tune (I believe it is"God Save the Queen"). The Thomas & Mack Center holds roughly 19,000 people for boxing and around 11,000 tickets were sold to people living inEngland, planning totake thelong tripto see this match. To demonstrate how many Englishmen are in Las Vegas for the event, HBOran a video package of lots of Englishmen drinking beer and gambling at casinos, which for some reason required shots of cocktail waitress' tops every 3 seconds, without pictures of the women'sfaces. It demonstrated that the English fans lovethe Las Vegas'Hooters Casino and also' liked to get autographs from the headless Hooters Girls. For the weigh-ins there were thousands of Englishmen singing their own Ricky Hatton song, which is a variation of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland". I use Englishmen, because the camera showed only one woman; she was really uncomfortable and definitely, not singing.

Hattonhas perhaps, the greatest entrance in boxing history. Before he comes out, there is a 45 second audio clip of Sir Winston Churchill.Then the arena is bathed in blue light and all of the fans begin to sing along with the song "Blue Moon" (theclub songfor Manchester City) as performed by the band "Supra".

When Hatton enters the arena, it becomes clear thatthe Thomas & Mack Center, is now, the western most building in England. This crowd is very hostile to Castillo. Hatton even brought a band (official or unofficial) with him across the pond, to help fire up this crowd.

The match immediately starts in the clinch and with 2:39 to go in round 1, Castillo goes down, but the referee rules it a slip. That is the correct call. With 1:38 to go in round 1, the referee calls time to warn boxers about holding and states that he does not want any wrestling in the match. Hatton is too quick and wins round 1, 10-9. After round 1, Castillo is bleeding from the nose. Lederman, also scored round 1 for Hatton, 10-9. Hatton wins round 2, 10-9. Lederman awarded Hatton round 2, 10-9. Really good round 3. Castillo probably wins it, 10-9. In round 3, Castillo threw several punches low or borderline low. Lederman scores round 3 for Hatton, 10-9. Through 3 rounds we both have Hatton ahead, Lederman, 30-27, and me, 29-28.

With 1:31 to go in round 4, Castillo is deducted 1 point for hitting Hatton low. The punch that drew the deduction, looked legal. Castillo had gone low in round 3, but the punch he was penalized for, appeared fine, and did not hurt Hatton. Up against the ropes,a big left hook to theliver of Castillo's sends the challenger staggering aroundand then to a knee, with 59 seconds to go in round 4. Castillo attempts to stand, but then returns to his knee, staying down for the 10 count. Ricky Hatton wins by knockout with a left hook to the body in round 4.

The official decision as read by the legendary Michael Buffer: At 2:16 of round number 4.The winner, by knockout, new WBC-International Super Lightweight Champion, still undefeated, still Ring Magazine Junior Welterweight Champion, still the IBO Light Welterweight Champion of the World,from Manchester, England, Ricky "Hitman" Hatton. The win moves Hatton to 43-0, with 31 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final CompuBox numbers have Hatton landing 81 of 220 punches thrown, good for a 37% connect percentage. Castillo landed 58 of the 192 punches he threw, for a 30% connect percentage. The power punch stats have Hatton landing 76 of 201 power punches, good for a 38% connect percentage. Castillo landed 47 of 151 power punches, for a 31% connect percentage. These numbers are deceiving though, because Hatton was better then the numbers indicate and dominated Castillo.

Castilloperformed like a shot boxer in this match,but that was still, an incredible finish by Hatton.

Four minutes after the finish the crowd is still singing as Hatton begins his postmatch interview. Hatton dedicates his performance to the late Diego Corrales and his wife Michelle. At that moment, the eight months pregnant Michelle Corrales crying comes up into the ring, and hugs Hatton in a very touching moment. Kellerman becomesthe mostdisliked man in the building, byfollowing up that beautiful moment, by asking Hatton if the win is diminished by not beating Castillo in his prime. Hatton says he thinks he deserves a pat on the back for this performance after his disappointing last two performances. Then, Kellerman wins the crowd back by asking if Hatton has anything to say to Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who won a controversial decision versus Castillo, in 2002, and a close decision in a rematch,the sameyear. The champion responds by saying there was more action in the 4 rounds of this match then people have gotten value for their money in Floyd's entire career.

In the post match analysis, Steward gave credit to Hatton for having his two best matches, against his two best opponents in Castillo and Tszyu. Kellerman believed that Castillo realized that Hatton was too strong and too good for him and may have taken the easy way out, by going down for the count on a body shot.

The crowd for this event was amazing. The performance by Hatton, was stellar. He smothered his punches at points, but defeated Castillo in a way no one had ever done, before.The champion has weaknesses and flaws, but he keeps winning in exciting fashion. Hatton is a true superstar and worth watching every time out.

Castillo needs to continue to box for the money and will, but he is clearly past his prime. It is unclear how much he has left because tonight he came up against one of the best in the world. He is definitely no longer an elite boxer, but could be just a step ortwo below that.

This is an event worth catching for the crowd alone. The brief action is very good. Getting a chance to see Hatton potentially build a legacy is also, something worth seeing.