By Brent Matteo Alderson
On the March 8 undercard to the WBC Heavyweight Championship bout between Samuel Peters and Oleg Maskaev, two-time WBC and former WBO lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo (56-8-1) is scheduled to face the undefeated and highly regarded Timothy Bradley (21-0, 11KOs). The bout is a WBC 140 pound title eliminator and was ordered by the WBC this past November.
Alex Camponovo, the matchmaker for Thompson Boxing Promotions, which has promoted Bradley since he turned professional in 2004 informed BoxingScene.com:
"That “it’s a very risky fight. There are a lot of layers to the fight. Don King is taking a chance on the fight and he doesn’t have any promotional ties to Bradley, but we are taking the fight very seriously, it’s for the mandatory position in the WBC. Actually I’m very concerned about what Witter is going to do right now because he just had an optional defense against Vivian Harris in September and now he is going to skip all the way down to Hopkins, the number five contender."
"If we beat Castillo we are going after Witter because if Bradley beats Castillo he deserves the chance to fight for the title.”
The California matchmaker also noted that they are very aware that Castillo may not be able to make the 140 pound weight limit and when BoxingScene asked why they didn’t give Jose Luis a one or two pound allowance, he clarified that Bradley’s team didn’t orchestrate the bout to increase Timothy’s marketability or to gain valuable experience fighting a former world champion, but that they took the fight because “it was mandated, we wouldn’t have risked the number one position in the WBC.”
Camponovo also stated that Thompson Boxing has nine different cards scheduled for 2008, six of which are scheduled to take place at the Double Tree Hotel in Ontario California. The first card takes place at the Double Tree Hotel on February 22.
News and Notes:
Has anyone ever tarnished their legacy by coming back more than James J. Jeffries?
I’m rooting for Martin Castillo this weekend in his fight with Fernando Montiel. I went to his home to interview him for a piece I did for World Boxing and found him to be one of the nicest, most humble boxers I have ever met. A lot of people don’t know this, but he beat Floyd Mayweather in the amateurs. Martin has been a successful professional, but cuts around his eyes have plagued his career since he moved up to the world class level and now all of the old scar tissue has made it worse. I just hope Martin gets a chance to make a decent pay day so he can walk away from the sport with something.
I like Jermain Taylor this weekend just like I did in the first fight. I really think the weight allowance will be the difference.
Don’t ask me why, but I’m picking Nate Cambell to upset Juan Diaz if the fight comes off.
Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004. Alderson's published work has appeared in publications such as Ring Magazine, KO, World Boxing, Boxing 2006, and Latin Boxing Magazine. Alderson has also been featured on the ESPN Classic television program “Who’s Number One?” Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com
