Castillo’s entertaining victory sets the stage for lightweight showdown

Monday, Dec. 6, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.

Besides the champion himself, no one was more delighted by Jose Luis Castillo's victory Saturday night at Mandalay Bay than Diego Corrales, who holds a minor belt at 135 pounds and wants an opportunity to prove himself against the division's best.

By winning a split decision against Joel Casamayor, Castillo retained his WBC lightweight title and set the stage for a big fight next year with Corrales.

A Castillo-Corrales bout could shape up as the most attractive lightweight match of the first half of 2005.

"The whole idea of it is just awesome," Corrales said. "I love the idea of putting me up against someone who can bring it to me just like I'm going to bring it to him. You'd see a hellacious battle between two of the biggest punchers out there."

Casamayor (31-3) put his fine defensive skills on display through the early and middle rounds of the entertaining fight, making Castillo miss and landing well from the outside.

The Cuban lacked power in the fight's late stages, though, as Castillo (51-6) won the final three rounds on all three scorecards.

"Casamayor is a very difficult fighter and a great boxer," Castillo said. "I knew I needed to close the fight and that's what I did."

Judge James Jen Kin scored the fight 116-112 in favor of Castillo; Dave Moretti scored it 117-111 for Castillo; and Carol Castellano had it 115-113 for Casamayor.

The Sun scored it 115-113 for Castillo, who took his opponent to task for refusing to trade punches in the center of the ring.

"He doesn't fight sometimes," Castillo said. "After eight rounds I felt stronger; I started landing to the body. I tried to hit him in the body to slow him down."

Casamayor defended his style and was critical of the judges' decision.

"The art of boxing is gone," he said. "The judges just look at the guy who is coming forward. Boxing is a lot more than just coming forward. I was never hurt. I boxed the guy; that's what I thought I was supposed to do.

"I thought I won the fight. My head is not down."

Casamayor said he would consider pursuing a fight against Erik Morales, who lost to super featherweight champ Marco Antonio Barrera last month in an instant classic at the MGM Grand.

Whereas Saturday's fight unfolded as a clash between a slippery southpaw, Casamayor, and a hard-charging Castillo, Corrales practically guaranteed that he and Castillo will slug it out, in the vein of Barrera-Morales.

"It's going to be two Mexicans in the ring battling it out," said Corrales, who scored Saturday's fight in favor of Castillo. "I think it would be a beautiful thing."

Corrales, who lives in Las Vegas, could barely contain his enthusiasm when asked if he'd be up for such a fight.

"Not just yeah," Corrales said. "Hell, yeah."

In the featured undercard bout, Jeff Lacy (18-0) retained his IBF super middleweight championship by winning a unanimous decision against Omar Sheika (26-7).

Sheika, who had lost his previous two title fights in 2000 and 2002, kept it competitive before the champ wore him down in the late rounds.

"It was his Hail Mary fight, his third title attempt, and he came to fight," Lacy said. "I was surprised by his hand speed, but I knew I'd wear him down with my pressure."

In another featured bout, heavyweight hopeful Samuel Peter improved his record to 21-0, 18 knockouts, with a devastating second-round knockout of Jeremy Williams (41-5). Peter, a Nigerian, caught Williams with a vicious, wide-open left cross that sent him sprawling to the canvas. Ringside doctors said Williams was unconscious for more than a minute.

The knockout left Dino Duva, Peter's promoter, reaching for superlatives.

"We're ready to put Samuel Peter in there against anyone -- Vitali Klitschko, anybody," Duva said. "I think we have the hardest puncher in the heavyweight division."

People sitting ringside Saturday night would find it difficult to argue.