Travis Kauffman's opponent ready to rumble

Kauffman's opponent ready to rumble By Don Stewart/​Reading Eagle http:​/​/​www.​readingeagle.​com/​article.​aspx?​id=​140625 http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/111/l_0d918254ee6d468b89eb1c4732a4be53.jpg "I didn't want to get beat up in the streets," Castillo said, "so I took up boxing so I could protect myself." Livin Castillo grew up brawling in the streets of a small town outside of Quito, Ecuador. He says he turned to boxing at age 8 as a means of survival. "I didn't want to get beat up in the streets," Castillo said, "so I took up boxing so I could protect myself." Saturday night the 33-year-old heavyweight will look to do more than just survive when he meets Reading's Travis Kauffman in an eight-round main event at the Sovereign Center. Kauffman is a rising commodity in a cold heavyweight class. The 23-year-old Exeter grad is 16-0 with 13 KOs, including a two-round blowout of Malachy Farrell in December on Showtime. Castillo (14-6, 9 KOs) hardly seemed in awe of Kauffman during Tuesday's press conference at the Downtown Reading Hofbrau. He was relaxed, confident and quick with a grin. "It's a good opportunity," Castillo said through a translator, his manager, Alfredo Marchio. "Other fighters that I've fought, like Eddie Chambers, are much tougher than he is. That's how I look at it." Castillo's six losses were all to noteworthy opponents: former heavyweight belt-holders Oleg Maskaev and Bruce Seldon, current heavyweight contenders Chambers and Alexander Povetkin, former world cruiserweight champ Jean Marc Mormek and former middleweight belt-holder Jorge Castro. He also has a 2004 points win against heavyweight fringe contender Robert Hawkins on his resume. But the fact that each of Castillo's six losses were by knockout was likely what convinced Kauffman to take the fight. "I think my son's on the same level as them (Castillo's previous opponents)," said Marshall Kauffman, Travis' father and trainer. "That's why I'm putting Travis in against Castillo," Castillo, who will be the first southpaw Travis Kauffman has faced as a pro, had more than 100 amateur bouts in South America and spent time training with the Cuban national team. He turned pro in 1999 with an eight-round win against Perfecto Gonzalez. Typically, up-and-comers don't fight eight-rounders until they've had at least 10 pro bouts. Castillo won 10 of his first 11 fights. Since growing into a heavyweight, though, he's dropped four of seven, albeit against world-class opponents. "I commend Marshall for taking this match," Marchio said. "Castillo is coming here to fight." He certainly didn't take the long flight from Ecuador with the intentions of losing. "He's not taking me seriously," Castillo said of Kauffman. "It's not going to be as easy as he thinks. I just don't feel that he's any great threat to me."