By: James Blears (Photo by Paul Gallegos)

The Jose Luis Castillo scales fiasco with first the footsie by Dr No…or was it Dr Oz, and then the overweight shock plus the inevitable catch weight keystone cops cop out, did boxing very little credit.

I may be missing something here, but although we know that Diego’s weight come ring time was 149 pounds, what was Jose Luis’?

He’d been obliged to go back to the scales on the same day as the bout, about five hours before first bell, and required to weigh no more than 147 pounds which made him a welterweight. But what did he weigh come fight time?

Diego, who’s a six footer, had somehow boiled and broiled down to the required limit, and then he somehow managed to gain back an amazing 14 pounds.

In the appreciably shorter time span, it’s unlikely Jose Luis would have been able to match that impressive hydrated induced boost. But even if he’d managed only half of that, he’d have come in at right on the super welterweight or light middleweight mark.

That would have been an astounding 154 pounds, which would have been a fulsome nineteen pounds over what was billed!!! He’d have had an advantage of five pounds on Diego, and that can make one helluva difference at this level…whatever that level or limit now is? Please remind me. It’s becoming a bit hazy!

OK. The twenty four hours…or more…before the fight weigh in legislation was designed to deliver fighters from the weakened, hunger and thirst wracked torture of having to make the weight, and then fight in an often lethargic if not pitiful state.

But now we’ve gone right to the other extreme, where lightweights are fighting as welterweights or even super welterweights!

So is the real competition is between white coated nutritionists with bowls of honeyed rice and plates jammed packed with pasta, feeding up their fighter like a Christmas turkey?

The WBC has already introduced a graduated weight rule which can assess the fighter’s weight thirty days, seven days and on the day. The first two are to insure that gross sacrifices don’t have to be made. But how rigorously are they ever enforced?

Surely another amendment could be introduced by which any fighter may not weigh more than say fifteen percent over his weight category come fight night. This will complicate things a bit more, and keep the fighter’s camp on its toes, admittedly adding a degree of extra tension for them.

But it will almost certainly prevent flagrant fattening up techniques which can prove extremely dangerous for the overstuffed fighter and even more so for his opponent, who may end up almost half a dozen weight categories below him, especially in the lighter categories like light flyweight or straw weight. If he decides to eat more moderately and sensibly.

Some blame can be apportioned to the fighters, but it’s really up to the officials to insure that safety, fair play and common sense prevail instead of this unpalatable situation in which a fat pay check from the networks is the bottom line.

The warning signs have already been there for some time, and what we don’t need is any more gut wrenching, hand wringing, eat your heart out…if only I’d thought sooner hindsight platitudes.

Maybe we could even call it the Anti guzzling rule…I’ll drink… and even eat to that!