Records are made to be broken.
Depending on how one approaches the all time record for consecutive title defenses at bantamweight, a case can be made for a record still waiting to be broken three quarters of a century after it was set.
While Orlando Canizales is often credited with the overall record at 16, those were defenses of the IBF belt alone. The excellent Hall of Famer Canizales never unified the crown. It’s similar to the contrast at middleweight between Bernard Hopkins and Carlos Monzon, weighing consecutive defenses of the lineal crown and defenses of a single belt before rule was firmly established. Canizales doesn’t have the back end unification Hopkins does when comparing his 16 with the great Manuel Ortiz’s 15 consecutive defenses of the world bantamweight title.
From his title win over Lou Salica in August 1942 to his defeat at the hands of Harold Dade in January 1947, there was no question the bantamweight throne belonged to but one man. Ortiz would defend the crown in his first reign against a wide selection of the top ten of his time. One of those men, a 4’11 fireplug from Mexico City, matched up well enough with Ortiz fans lined up to see it three times.
Their first two clashes came in 1944 at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, with Castillo being stopped on a cut in only four rounds the first time and trading knockdowns in the rematch before being stopped in the ninth. Castillo lost four of his next five after the second Ortiz loss before holding stalwart contender Tony Olivera to a pair of fifteen round draws while Ortiz was serving in World War II. Five straight wins followed to give Castillo one more crack at the crown.
Ortiz entered the third showdown having won eleven in a row dating to a 1944 loss to Willie Pep at featherweight. The Pep loss was the only blemish in 39 previous fights dating to an August 1941 defeat against Olivera, a loss Ortiz avenged three times in the nearly forty fights that followed.
Readily available viewing of the third Castillo contest on YouTube, Ortiz’s first title defense since the second Castillo win, is incomplete but highlights from each round reveal an intriguing, fan friendly affair that brought this rivalry to a close.
Heading Into the Fight
Manuel Ortiz
Age: 29
Titles: World Bantamweight (1942-47, 12 Defenses)
Previous Titles: None
Height: 5’4
Weight: 117 ½ lbs.
Stance: Orthodox
Hailed from: Corona, California
Record: 70-12-2 (38 KO)
Record in Title Fights: 13-0, 7 KO
Previous Five Opponents: 98-42-12 (.684)
Vs.
Luis Castillo
Age: 22
Titles/Previous Titles: None
Height: 4’11
Weight: 117 ¼ lb.
Stance: Orthodox
Hailed from: Mexico City, Mexico
Record: 42-20-5 (24 KO)
Ring Magazine Ranking: #3 (Cover Date: April 1944)
Record in Major Title Fights: 0-2, 2 KOBY
Last Five Opponents: 142-55-21 (.704)
Venue: Civic Auditorium - San Francisco, California
Referee: Jack Downey
Recapping the Action
Round One
Ortiz prays in the corner, crossing himself multiple times before heading out at the bell. Both men land heavy right hands and the shorter Castillo has some luck with short counter lefts. Castillo lands a left at the bell.
Round Two
The footage has Castillo forcing the action early with Ortiz eventually returning hard fire to the head and belly. At close quarters, both men are loading up with bombs, Castillo firing high and Ortiz snaking back with dangerous uppercuts.
Round Three
With their heads driving against each other's shoulders, they keep their hands free and bang away in the middle of the ring. Short uppercuts and hooks flow in plenty with a wild exchange near the ropes seeing both men providing windmill action.
Round Four
Castillo does a brief bouncing squat as he launches himself back into the fray. The highlights show Castillo clinging to the left arm of Ortiz while the champion bangs away with his right from up and under. Ortiz leans into the ropes, torso forward, countering the attacks of Castillo.
Round Five
The crowd roars as they return to the trenches for more violent infighting. Castillo drives forward with his lefts and rights, Ortiz laying into the shots and then forcing Castillo back with rights to the ribs.
Round Six
The best action on display comes as Ortiz gives ground and is muscled to the ropes where both men again let their hands go freely. They aren’t firing as hard, probing instead for opportunities to change velocity in the midst of streaming blows.
Round Seven
Kicking his feet up in a way reminiscent of a prowling Mike Tyson years later, Castillo almost skips back to meet Ortiz in the middle of the ring. Castillo presses his left shoulder into Ortiz and rips lefts to the body and toward the head. They both dig hard at each other in another fusillade of punches.
Round Eight
The challenger is using his legs more, trying to find room for a long, leveraged right hand. It isn’t long before they’re right back at close quarters. Castillo gets in a stiff, quick left just before the bell.
Round Nine
Castillo has Ortiz along the ropes near the neutral corner but retreats after a left from Ortiz. They go to work at the center of the canvas with Castillo landing combinations to the body and Ortiz retaliating to the head.
Round Ten
Ortiz again pecks away with the right when Castillo ties up his left. Working off the ropes, Ortiz is able to counter efficiently with short shots while Castillo’s offense is smothered.
Round Eleven
Still bouncing from the corner, Castillo can’t find the opening he needs to snare the championship with Ortiz again against the ropes. In moments where space is available, Ortiz gets the better of it.
Round Twelve
Between exchanges inside, it is Ortiz walking forward. Castillo seems to have less energy, breathing deep before charging forward into another dime’s space of debate. A lunging left at the bell seemingly sends Castillo toward the deck, Castillo’s lower back raking off the middle rope to barely keep him from falling completely.
Round Thirteen
Ortiz lands a right to the head, a vicious right to the body, another right to the head, and one more to the body as Castillo is already pitching forward. Castillo takes a knee. The exhausted challenger rests his right on his thigh and left on his knee, gasping for air, and makes no attempt to rise as the referee counts the full ten. This three-fight rivalry is over at 1:31 of round thirteen for Ortiz’s thirteenth straight defense.
After the Bell
Castillo, still only 22 and nearly seventy fights into his career, would never receive another title shot. He remained a regular against the top bantamweights of his era for several more years with wins still to come over Olivera and prominent battlers like Luis Galvani, Memo Valero, Jackie Wilson, and Monito Flores, bouncing between bantamweight and featherweight. Over time, he lost far more than he won, lingering on as a professional until 1959 and ending with a career mark of 97-73-12.
Ortiz fought anywhere from bantamweight to above the featherweight limit in the years ahead. Following the Castillo win, he would be held to a draw in his next fight and loss in his last fight of 1946 at featherweight against Carlos Chavez. He won four straight between those outings, including two more bantamweight title defenses to move the record for consecutive defenses to 15. Defense number sixteen saw Ortiz’s first reign end in January 1947, avenged just two months later with a decision over Dade. Ortiz would make four more title defenses before losing to 1948 South African Olympian Vic Toweel on the road in May 1950.
Ortiz would never fight for another title, fighting only sparingly into 1955. He retired with a career mark of 100-28-3, a title fight mark of 21-2, and only a single stoppage loss on cuts. Universally regarded as one of the top ten bantamweights of all time, it is fair to say few champions ever dominated any division relative to their era the way Ortiz did. Ortiz was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996.
While the sport is largely postponed, boxing has a rich library of classic fights, films, and books to pass the time. In terms of fights, readers are welcome to get involved. Feel free to email, comment in the forum, or tweet @roldboxing with classic title fight suggestions. If they are widely available on YouTube, and this scribe has never seen them or simply wants to see them again, the suggestion will be credited while the fight is reviewed in a future chapter of Boxing Without Boxing.
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Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com