By Sergio Martinez

 

By now, everyone has said and written their piece about Jose Luis Castillo and how he single-handedly dealt the Sweet Science’s honor, fighters, fans, and networks the biggest metaphorical slap in history. How his lazy, cowardly, face-stuffing, unprofessional, conspiracy planning ass just decided that preserving any semblance of a legacy he was in the process of forging was not worth the pain of making weight. A “fear” apparently took over his once revered “warrior heart” and he was not willing to meet Diego “Chico” Corrales on even terms.

 

The blood thirsty mob, consisting of fans, boxing scribes, and the Showtime commentating team, have clamored about this “disrespect” and “humiliation” for a week now, and have been relentless in convicting Jose Luis Castillo and sentencing him to career death.

 

And why not?

 

Castillo’s own promoter, Top Rank, voiced their disgust on the day of the weigh-in. “I am mortified,” exclaimed Top Rank supremo Bob Arum amongst other disgruntled utterances including an allusion that Arum was humiliated enough to no longer want to represent Castillo.

 

But what was all of the outrage really about? Why did so many fans and boxing scribes take such offense to Jose Luis not making the 135-pound weight limit?

 

Why did we not hear such vehement outbursts a mere three months before when Castillo made the same transgression in failing to make the weight limit for the Rolando Reyes fight in El Paso, Texas?

 

It is simple: the chances of watching Castillo partake in a murderous bloodbath against Reyes were slim-to-non-existent. It is apparently only acceptable to fail to make weight when the risk of life and limb is unlikely.

 

Most boxing fans and writers alike craved the third Castillo-Corrales fight, and its subsequent cancellation sent everyone into what can only be described as a period of insanity. And as far as Showtime is concerned, the dollar is their “God,” and “God” was no longer going to answer the phone on June 3, 2006.

 

How else can anyone explain the things written in articles, on message boards, and broadcasted on Showtime’s airways? How can any of these reactions be justified?

 

Can anyone really keep a straight face and say that they believe Jose Luis Castillo is a coward, liar, and a cheat? If your answer is yes, then the thirst for blood means more to you than logic and reason. And the logic and reason behind this is simply that Castillo could no longer physically make 135-pounds due to his age and his body’s decision to stop losing weight.

 

I know that using logic and listening to reason may not be as sexy as a conspiracy theory or as juicy to read and/or hear about as a fighter who was exposed as a “coward,” or “liar,” and even a “cheat,” but once you get past your anger and bias, logic and reason will lead you to that conclusion.

 

I do agree with Bob Arum in regards to being “mortified,” but my mortification comes from the fact that we as fans and scribes are willing to so carelessly destroy a fighter in Castillo who has faced the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Cesar Bazan, Stevie Johnston, Steve Quinonez, Juan Lazcano, Joel Casamayor, Julio Diaz and is always looking to battle top-tier competition.

 

Let’s just forget about all of the great fight memories he has given our beloved sport over the course of a sixty-two fight career and send him into oblivion simply because his body was unable to deliver on June 3, 2006, and we did not get our thirst for carnage satisfied.