Kostya Tszyu vs Jose Luis Castillo at 140

[gilgamesh]

I couldn't agree more with SaadOffTheDeck on this one. JLC was a monster at 135 pounds and had he moved up in weight earlier he would have had better outcomes.

I've heard the most respected broadcasters in boxing call him a future hall of famer (before he fought on too long and compiled more than 9 or 10 losses). I concur.

JLC was a monster at 135 and at 140 (at the right time) he would have kicked some ass. Ricky Hatton made his career with one body shot against a wilted JLC at 140. Flame away my British friends, but JLC is one of the baddest motherfvckers you ever saw and but for some bad decisions by his management team he would have retired with a record the equivalent of some of the best Mexican champions of all time.

Oh, and he beat the shit out of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their first fight. Don't argue with me on this. I nearly put my foot through the T.V. when I watched it live and could still generate rage this many years later if I watch it again.

I absolutely detest Floyd, but I had it a draw.

I scored it 115-111 for Castillo, and despite the popular belief that Mayweather put on a clinic in the rematch, I think they had another pretty close fight, and I personally only ever saw that one as a 115-113 win for Mayweather. To hear people tell it, he dominated every round in the rematch. I guess they're watching a different fight than the one I always saw

[Rover]

I couldn't agree more with SaadOffTheDeck on this one. JLC was a monster at 135 pounds and had he moved up in weight earlier he would have had better outcomes.

I've heard the most respected broadcasters in boxing call him a future hall of famer (before he fought on too long and compiled more than 9 or 10 losses). I concur.

JLC was a monster at 135 and at 140 (at the right time) he would have kicked some ass. Ricky Hatton made his career with one body shot against a wilted JLC at 140. Flame away my British friends, but JLC is one of the baddest motherfvckers you ever saw and but for some bad decisions by his management team he would have retired with a record the equivalent of some of the best Mexican champions of all time.

Oh, and he beat the shit out of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their first fight. Don't argue with me on this. I nearly put my foot through the T.V. when I watched it live and could still generate rage this many years later if I watch it again.

I absolutely detest Floyd, but I had it a draw.

I scored it 115-111 for Castillo, and despite the popular belief that Mayweather put on a clinic in the rematch, I think they had another pretty close fight, and I personally only ever saw that one as a 115-113 win for Mayweather. To hear people tell it, he dominated every round in the rematch. I guess they're watching a different fight than the one I always saw

I also had #2 115-113 Floyd.

[Datsue]

Just for info, Castillo was a huge lightweight but Tszyu was a huge light-welter.

Castillo might've weighed 147 in the ring; but Tszyu regularly weighed 155-ish.

When Tszyu fought Hatton the commentators mentioned it was the first time Hatton had fought someone who weighed the same as him on fight-night (Hatton was also a huge drainer), & we saw what happened when Castillo didn't have a big size advantage versus Ricky.

PS: Not to diss JLC, very good fighter, but looking at his fights with Corrales & the subsequent utter failure to do jack-shit over the lightweight limit it's now clear he was a mass-drainer type whose actual advantages were ultimately more physical & tied in with the day-before weigh-in rule than his talent.

Against a naturally bigger dude doing the same thing, who hit very hard... Castillo would've got knocked spark out. I know everyone claims that he was stopped four times on cuts early in his career, but has anyone ever seen evidence of this? Was he simply KO'd early in his career & then went about telling everyone he got stopped on cuts 'cos it was in Mexico?

I am erring in hindsight (especially on his shocking fall from grace) on the side of him simply not being enough of a physical specimen to impose himself in those early fights & that he was simply always a somewhat vulnerable fighter; once he'd reached physical maturity/got a trainer who was willing to let him cut off a leg to make certain weights he became bullet-proof because of the size advantage he was carrying into the ring versus certain dudes; then once he'd fvcked his body & couldn't make the weight no more he was all of a sudden completely ineffective & shocking vulnerable to higher-weight punchers (despite seemingly being bigger than they were when he fought at the weight below).

I foresee Brandon Rios going the same way, eventually.

[Datsue]

I've found my answer: one of his early career "cuts stoppages" involved being smashed in two rounds by Cesar Soto (yes, the same Soto that lost to Duke McKenzie & Naseem Hamed). A report from the Philboxing forum indicates Castillo was left looking like "a rag doll" in under five minutes by Soto, & that "though he didn't go down, he looked just a punch or two away".

Must've been before he got the draining correct, obviously.

Tszyu smashy-smashy.

Whatever you think of the Russian-Aussie's haircut, he'd've fvcked a huge-draining lightweight for fun.