By Scott Gilfoid: No longer able to comfortably make either the lightweight or the light welterweight weight limit, former WBC lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo (56-8, 48 KOs) will be moving up to the welterweight division tonight to go up against hard puncher Sebastian Lujan (29-5-2, 20 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round bout at the Sycuan Resort & Casino, in El Cajon, California. Castillo, now 34, has been in countless ring wars with fighters such as Floyd Mayweather Jr, Joel Casamayor, Julio Diaz, Diego Corrales and Herman Ngoudjo, and yet his boxing career has been more than a little hurt in recent years with his increasing weight.
Growing out of the lightweight division doesn’t appear to have helped Castillo any, as he was overpowered against Ricky Hatton at light welterweight, losing a 4th round TKO on June 23, 2007. Though Castillo was able to defeat Ngoudjo, now a top light welterweight, by a narrow 12-round unanimous decision in January 2007, the fight was very close and perhaps should have been scored a draw or given to Ngoudjo. With Castillo’s recent decision to move up one more time to the welterweight class, it seems ultimately like a recipe for failure.
At 5’8″, Castillo is considered short for the welterweight division, and though Cotto, an inch shorter than Castillo at 5’7″ fought well against Antonio Margarito for most of the fight, Castillo doesn’t have the kind of power and movement that Cotto has to compete against the bigger welterweights in the division. I can see Castillo being C-level fighter, given his excellent boxing ability, but he’ll have problems if he goes much further than against better competition.
His inside fighting ability may help him up to a point against some of the less skilled fighters, but on the flip side, it’s going to leave him open to getting hit a lot by the much more powerful welterweights, who hit much harder than Castillo has been accustomed to being hit while fighting as lightweight. In the case of tonight’s opponent, Sebastian Lujan, his skill level is pretty average and rather crude, but his power is what I consider excellent.
I think Castillo may have a better than average chance at beating Lujan, though, because the Argentinean fighter has a weak chin and is often dropped in his bouts. Even if Castillo does beat Lujan tonight, it proves little, for he’s not a top 15 fighter. A win over Lujan would only forestall the inevitable – that is, Castillo taking a major pounding once he steps it up against a top 15 welterweight. I believe Castillo will probably have enough left in the tank to defeat Lujan by a decision tonight, but there’s no way he’ll hurt him with any of his shots.
Lujan is used to being hit by much harder welterweights like Margarito, Jamie Moore and Walter Matthysse, the last of which Lujan recently defeated by a 5th round TKO in October 2005. I think Castillo will probably soon get the message that he’s no suited for the welterweight division, and will rethink his decision to move up and consider another option, either moving back down or retirement.