By Don Donatello
Anek Hongtongkam, John Keane, and Jerry Roth, these are the people are the reason why we don’t have the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight today. In April 20th of 2002, these judges did one of the biggest disservices for boxing fans. They were the three scoring judges for the WBC Lightweight Title bout between Jose Luis Castillo and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their first fight.
Judge John Keane and Jerry Roth scored the fight 115 to 111, and Judge Anek Hongtongkam scored it 116 to 111 all in favor of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Here are some quick stats from the fight:
Jose Luis Castillo:
Jabs landed – 30
Power punches landed – 173
Total punches landed – 203
Floyd Mayweather Jr:
Jabs landed – 91
Power landed – 66
Total punches landed – 157
Power punches are punches other than a jab.
If you look at the punch statistics above, it is clear that these three judges had the fight scored correctly on the dot. That is if they gave the victory to Jose Luis Castillo over Floyd Mayweather Jr. HBO’s unofficial scorer Harold Lederman had it scored 115 – 111 for Castillo.
As it turns out the three Judges gave the decision win in favor of Floyd Mayweather Jr., keeping Mayweather’s undefeated record intact. At the time of the fight, Castillo’s record was at 51 – 4, Mayweather was 28 – 0.
If you want to take a stretch and use the argument that Mayweather landed the harder blows, you would be wrong. Castillo had a KO ratio of 80.39% while Mayweather had a 60.71% KO ratio. Castillo weighed in at 134.5 pounds, Mayweather at 134 pounds even.
The fight was for the WBC Lightweight Title, Castillo was the Champion and Mayweather the challenger. It was the 4th defense of the title for Castillo in which he won it from Stevie Johnston with a win by majority decision. Judge Dick young had the fight 114-114, James Jen-Kin scored it at 116-111 for Castillo and Gelasio Perez Huerta had it 115-113 for Castillo as well. Castillo versus Johnston was voted as Ring Magazine’s Upset of the Year for 2000.
Watch Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Jose Luis Castillo I Video below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
The video and the punch stats are definite proof that Mayweather is not undefeated in the pros. Even Stevie Wonder can clearly see that.
Had the judges gave Castillo the just deserved decision, Mayweather would not be undefeated today. Floyd’s unwillingness to fight Manny Pacquiao seems to be connected in his attempt to preserve his undefeated record.
Castillo is a pressure fighter, a style in which Mayweather has always had problems even in his amateur days. Even the one dimensional Ricky Hatton gave Mayweather a lot of problems by applying constant pressure. The old and worn down Oscar De La Hoya was able to manage a split decision loss by adapting a pressure style against Mayweather.
To those who say that Mayweather’s defense makes him unbeatable, how do you explain the videos above? I truly believe that most of Floyd’s fans know how to count, but then again I could be wrong.
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