By Giancarlo Malinconico: Despite a robbery in the first degree by the judges, it was obvious in actuality that Jose Luis Castillo defeated Floyd Mayweather in their first encounter in April 2002 (which may have been a primary reason why some did not vote for Floyd for Fighter of the Decade). How was Castillo able to beat Mayweather? Floyd of course had many excuses for the loss, which is not surprising, as many boxers do. Floyd claimed everything from a shoulder injury to being sick. Had the fight occurred in the last few years the Mayweathers would have probably claimed that Castillo was taking performance-enhancing drugs.
In his defense, Floyd was able to squeak out a victory in their return match, but I do stress squeak out — the bout was a 115-113 at best for Mayweather. But what was it about Castillo that gave Floyd so many problems? Castillo was able to walk through Floyd’s single pot shots and relentlessly land to the body.
The Mayweathers claim that Floyd would be able to dominate Pacquiao because they feel that he does not have adequate defensive abilities to handle “Money’s” pinpoint shots. But have they forgotten the Castillo fight? Jose Luis is not Pernell Whitaker by any stretch of the imagination. Floyd was able to land, but Mayweather’s one-shot-at a-time counter punching strategy does not bother every fighter who has a superb chin.
Floyd has only knocked out one of his last six opponents: Ricky Hatton. And the more Pacquiao moves up in weight the better he is able to take punishment. I always believed that Pacquiao was meant to fight at 140-147, since around 2004, because of his extraordinary hand speed and power, which seemed to be limited by fighting in lower weight classes. Pacquiao has a strong chin, at least as good as Castillo’s in my estimation, and his hand speed, foot speed, work rate, and combination punching is better than that of Jose Luis as well.
Pacquiao has never been seriously hurt in a fight since moving up to 135 pounds and higher. Pacquiao is finally fighting in his proper weight class. The Mayweathers may have not forgotten Castillo, and they see Pacquiao as a much better version, especially after walking through Miguel Cotto’s power shots.
At his rightful weight 140-147, I do not think there is a fighter in history that could beat the Pac Man, and I think the Mayweathers know it as well. That is why Mayweather, for the first time in his career, is hesitant about getting in the ring with an opponent.
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