In the first half of the fight Casamayor showed why he gave both Freitas and Corrales so much trouble. He picked his spots and remained very elusive, making Castillo miss repeatedly with wide, long punches. While Castillo was having a hard time landing any power shots, Casamayor had some success in landing a few left hands that apparently did little damage but that certainly earned him points on the score cards. Despite his lack of success Castillo showed good determination by continuing to try to pressure Casamayor and force him into a slugfest.

During the first seven rounds Casamayor seemed to have a slight edge with precise yet economical punching. His defense was also superb as he was able to either elude the punches of Castillo or simply just tie him up when he got close. In fact every time Castillo would get too close to Casamayor and force him into a corner or against the ropes, Joel would simply tie him up and wait for the referee to step in and break them up. This strategy seemed to be very effective early on in the fight as it managed to confuse and most importantly frustrate Castillo.

As the fight progressed to the later rounds Casamayor slowly became more aggressive standing his ground more and more. This was exactly what Castillo wanted and beginning with round 8 the two fighters began to trade shots with Castillo getting the better of the exchanges. The second half of the fight turned into a battle on the inside which surely favored Castillo who used the close range to rip Casamayor to the body with hard left hooks. In the last two rounds Casamayor had significantly slowed down and appeared tired, probably as a result of Castillo’s constant pressure and good body work. The last round was what the fans craved for the whole night as the two fighters traded hard shots in furious exchanges that lasted till the sound of the bell. In the end it was Jose Luis Castillo victorious by split decision. (115-113 Casamayor, 116-112 and 117-111 Castillo)

This fight was not as much between the two fighters as it was between their contrasting styles. It was the well skilled elusive style of Casamayor against the hard pressing and hard punching style of Castillo. This fight was a challenge to score and either fighter could have been declared victorious. I don’t say this too often but my compliments to the judges for at least trying to score this fight in which almost every round was too close to call. For those of us who like to see a strategic battle this was an interesting fight to watch. In retrospect both fighters gave a good performance by doing what each does best and surprisingly that did not include too much roughhousing.

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