By Manuel Perez: WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel (36-2-1, 27 KOs) overwhelmed former WBA super flyweight champion Martin Castillo (33-3, 17 KOs), stopping him in the fourth round on Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Castillo, 31, looked listless and out of it as early as the first round, as was quickly knocked down by a left hook by Montiel. Castillo was staggered at the end of the 3rd round after getting hit with a big left hook from Montiel. Castillo was hurt again in the fourth round by a right hand, and then retreated to the ropes where Montiel hit with with combination and then left hook the body, dropping Castillo for the 10 count. Referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight at 1:56 of the 4th round.
Though two inches taller than Montiel, the 5’6″ Castillo looked smaller, and noticeably weaker than him at the start of the fight. Castillo, who usually has excellent defensive skills, had his hands down low in the first round, enabling Montiel to nail him with hooks to the head and straight shots over his guard. Castillo focused on using his jab, hoping to keep Montiel at a distance. It had little effect, for Montiel, a fast starter, was all over him landing frequently with blistering shots.
About halfway through the round, Montiel feinted with a jab, and then followed it with a big left hook that dropped Castillo to the canvas. He wasn’t expected a power shot, thinking it would be a much weaker punch. From there, it appeared that Castillo never recovered from the knock down, because he would continue to have problems in the following rounds when Montiel would land big punches. However, his defense, or lack thereof, was a major problem for him because he was making no effort to try and block any of Montiel’s punches.
At the start of the 2nd round, Montiel tagged Castillo with a big right hand that knocked him to the ropes. Though it wasn’t a big deal, it was indicative to how badly Castillo was being dominated by Montiel. The remainder of the round was all Montiel, as he continued to land big left hooks, whereas Castillo was strangely silent with his own punches.
In the 3rd round, Castillo was having his best round, landing a number of right and left hooks to the head and body, and appeared to be easily winning the round until catching a left hook from Montiel late and almost went down. It was lucky that it occurred at the end of the round, because Castillo would have had big problems trying to survive. As he walked back to his corner, he slightly staggered.
In the 4th round, Castillo looked recovered from the previous round, and was throwing some decent leather at the start. However, disaster struck again when Castillo was hurt by a combination from Montiel. He immediately did the worse thing, retreating to the ropes where Montiel finished him off with a flurry of shots, culminating with a left hook to the body. Castillo tried to get up, but was too hurt to make it to his feet and was counted out by referee Joe Cortez.