Travis Kauffman Knocks Out Castillo In Three!

Left-hand turn lifts Kauffman By Don Stewart Reading Eagle Something was wrong. After eating a couple lefts from southpaw Livin Castillo in the opening moments of Saturday's main event, Travis Kauffman tried to get on his toes and move. But the heavyweight prospect's legs weren't responding. So after the first round, Kauffman decided to switch to a southpaw stance. That adjustment completely baffled the underdog Castillo. "When I went southpaw, he was done," said Kauffman, whose nose was bloodied early. "All he has is a left hand. When I started doubling my (right) jab, he couldn't come over top of it at all." Kauffman, the 23-year-old Exeter grad, pounded Castillo throughout the second and third until the Ecuador native said no mas at 1:26 of the third. The bout headlined the boxing portion of a boxing/mixed-martial arts show at the Sovereign Center, the first in state history to combine both sports. It drew an estimated 2,000 fans. The jitters of fighting in front of the hometown crowd might have zapped the legs of Kauffman (17-0, 14 KOs) in the opening round. But after switching stances, he quickly turned the momentum with a left hook to the face during an exchange along the ropes. Castillo had faced several notable heavyweights, but none had stopped him before three rounds. So Kauffman head hunted for the remainder of the second. "I said: 'Nobody has ever stopped him in the second round. I want to try getting him out,' " he said. "That messed me up." Kauffman realized his mistake late in the round, and began targeting the body. A right hook downstairs finally put Castillo (14-7) down on a knee a little more than a minute into the third. Castillo beat ref Gary Rosado's count, but signaled that he didn't wish to continue. Castillo manager Alfredo Marchio said Castillo's ribs were too battered to continue fighting. "Today was a huge test," said Kauffman, who weighed a career-low 2201/2. "I knew I was going to pass it, and I knew I had to make my adjustments. If you can't make adjustments in a fight, you better not be fighting." On the undercard, Reading cruiserweight Julio Cesar Mathews (8-0, 5 KOs) had to adjust en route to a gutsy six-round decision win against Upper Darby's Kamarah Pasley (4-4). Mathews dropped Pasley in the second and again in the third. But an accidental head butt by Pasley late in the third closed the right eye of Mathews and nearly caused the fight to be stopped. The 39-year-old Mathews, who launched his comeback 15 months ago, played it safer the rest of the way. He ate a few lefts, but did enough to take a unanimous decision by scores of 59-52, 59-53 and 58-54. "They kept coming over and asking, 'Are you good?' I said, 'I'm good,' " Mathews said. "As long as I could see with one eye, I was going to keep coming forward." Also on the card, Reading's Craig Tomlinson (24-15-1) returned with a four-round shutout of a passive Jonathan Felton (6-15). It was Tomlinson's first fight in five years. Contact Don Stewart: 610-371-5065 or dstewart@readingeagle.com.