Junior Witter has a perfect chance to enhance his reputation in America after being offered a fight against Mexican Jose Luis Castillo.
The Sheffield fighter was contacted by a US promoter to say Castillo, who lost in four rounds to Ricky Hatton last June, wanted a match.
WBC champion Witter badly wants US TV exposure, however his advisers may be against a bout with the former world champ.
Trainer Dominic Ingle told the Sheffield Star: "If Junior was to go over and beat him easily - which he is capable of doing - people will just say Castillo is washed up and was when Hatton beat him."
The Sheffield camp were hoping to get their light welterweight star back in action around April.
Castillo's reputation has been inadvertently enhanced after Ngoudjo's performance against Malignaggi - he must take this chance, because it's certainly better than him facing some of the other smucks in the division.
You guys are nuts the guy was shot when Hatton faught him.
Witter is in the mix for some goog fight
that would be a waste of his time
fight Paulie or even Ngougo (who lets face it won the fight)
thats far better
We know hattons too chicken!
Dioufy wrote:Castillo's reputation has been inadvertently enhanced after Ngoudjo's performance against Malignaggi - he must take this chance, because it's certainly better than him facing some of the other smucks in the division.
Good point re: Ngoudjo.
Its (possibly) valuable US TV exposure which will help in the Hatton situation and its a BIG named opponent. I can see why Dominic Ingle thinks hes on abit of a hiding to nothing, but even so its a risk worth taking IMO as the offers don't seem to be flooding in.
Very winnable fight for Junior and a good stage to showcase his skills, Castillo ain't going to be going backwards which will suit Junior and the fans. The more I think about it the more I think its a fantastic opportunity.
I just hope the finances aren't going to be a problem
Box Office wrote:You guys are nuts the guy was shot when Hatton faught him.
Witter is in the mix for some goog fight
that would be a waste of his time
fight Paulie or even Ngougo (who lets face it won the fight)
thats far better
We know hattons too chicken!
I'd take Paulie or Hernan over JLC if they're on offer, it proves more than beating JLC. The JLC fight would make a better spectacle than the Paulie fight, Hernan would be my pick hes another who likes coming forward which should make for an excellent spectacle and its the toughest fight of the 3.
Box Office wrote:You guys are nuts the guy was shot when Hatton faught him.
Witter is in the mix for some goog fight
that would be a waste of his time
fight Paulie or even Ngougo (who lets face it won the fight)
thats far better
We know hattons too chicken!
Does Malinaggi want to fight Witter? Would Witter get paid more or get more exposure by fighting Ngoudjo?
Emerson Poncey Name Ghent wrote:Castillo is the best available 140 pounder right now. Make perfect business sense.
I swear I read somewhere a few months ago that Castillo was the WBC Mandatory anyway. Did anyone else see this?
I was also wondering when a Castillo-Witter fight would be mentioned as I'm sure I've also read Castillo is the WBC mandatory.
Witter should take the bout - he's not going to boxing Malignaggi or Hatton anytime soon. Anyway, with Castillo being the mandatory, Witter might have to take the fight or risk being stripped, or he could vacate, which he won't do.
stujones wrote:He needs to take it... Castillo is still the second biggest name in the devision, and possibly still the second best fighter.
Based on what, scraping past Ngoudjo, or getting battered by Hatton.
Castillo never had any pedigree at 140 before facing Hatton, and certainly has none now.
He's still a big name, but he's coming off the worst loss of his career, so its only a good name for Witter if he can turn in a really spectacular performance, which makes it a risky proposition.
stujones wrote:He needs to take it... Castillo is still the second biggest name in the devision, and possibly still the second best fighter.
Based on what, scraping past Ngoudjo, or getting battered by Hatton.
Castillo never had any pedigree at 140 before facing Hatton, and certainly has none now.
He's still a big name, but he's coming off the worst loss of his career, so its only a good name for Witter if he can turn in a really spectacular performance, which makes it a risky proposition.
Based on beating Ngoudjo - who now should be the IBF champion (everyone knows it) and has got to be ranked one place only below Malignaggi at worst... Castillo has got to be ranked above the pair of them.
That for me leaves the worst ranking for Castillo as
stujones wrote:He needs to take it... Castillo is still the second biggest name in the devision, and possibly still the second best fighter.
Based on what, scraping past Ngoudjo, or getting battered by Hatton.
Castillo never had any pedigree at 140 before facing Hatton, and certainly has none now.
He's still a big name, but he's coming off the worst loss of his career, so its only a good name for Witter if he can turn in a really spectacular performance, which makes it a risky proposition.
ingle must be f**king nuts to turn this down. For the love of god, get your name out there, what other option does witter have? 'Planning a fight in April' WTF against who and who's army exactly? JESUS CHRIST!
search wrote:yeah witter needs to take this one. the only way he shouldn't is if he can get malignaggi or hatton, who seem to have both gone into hiding.
Ingle is right. Castillo's a good name, but it's a no-win situation for Witter. Anything less than a KO 4, he suffers negative comparison with Hatton. Equal or better, it just confirms Castillo was done.
Yeah Castillo would probably still be a very good opponent for the US guys at 140 but Witter will always be directly compared with Hatton and like Oliver says, anything as good and Castillo was finished and anything worse damages his rep
stujones wrote:He needs to take it... Castillo is still the second biggest name in the devision, and possibly still the second best fighter.
Based on what, scraping past Ngoudjo, or getting battered by Hatton.
Castillo never had any pedigree at 140 before facing Hatton, and certainly has none now.
He's still a big name, but he's coming off the worst loss of his career, so its only a good name for Witter if he can turn in a really spectacular performance, which makes it a risky proposition.
he might not even be able to make 140 lbs again. Castillo needs to win that WBC eliminator vs some former amateur star, earn his way back to a title shot to have some credibility.
I think the WBC will always be lenient with Mexican warriors like Castillo, who never seem to be short of a title shot regardless of what they're doing. If JLC can earn a shot by beating a guy like Bradley, that's cool. But otherwise he's damaged goods now.
Seems Castillo may need to fight outside America. Think when he fights in the States, he has to give up his purse for the Corrales fund or something. I don't know the ins and outs of this situation though, so anyone correct me if I'm wrong.
If Witter takes (and wins) this fight then he'll have beaten the second best name on Hatton's record.
Castillo is a big name in the US and potentially Junior could get on a US bill if he gets a KO that will go further than the Harris KO to wipe out the Judah hoodoo.
I think he should take this and use post fight inteviews to call out Paulie or Torres, keep quiet about Hatton cos the press will write that anyway.
