Monday, June 25, 2007 | 7:19 a.m.
Sometimes, the nuance of a particular phrase becomes lost in translation.
"Good night to everyone," was Jose Luis Castillo's opening remark at the postfight news conference, according to his Spanish-to-English translator, after Castillo's fourth-round knockout loss to Ricky Hatton on Saturday night.
In this case, "good evening" might have been a more accurate rephrasing, a greeting.
But "good night" was more appropriate, if unintentionally so. After all, Hatton had just proved decisively that Castillo should bid farewell to boxing at a high level after a splendid 17-year professional career.
Even on Castillo's side, there were questions leading to Saturday's junior welterweight championship showdown about whether a series of brutally violent encounters throughout his career - most notably his 2005 fight against Diego Corrales - had left Castillo physically drained.
Hatton provided the answer, an emphatic affirmative, beating Castillo to the punch for three rounds before dropping the rugged 33-year-old Mexican with a perfectly placed body shot to Castillo's ribs in the fourth.
It was a bitter ending for Castillo, a two-time lightweight world champion who made five successful defenses, a man known for always pressing the action in the ring, for standing and delivering - and taking - repeated punches with no fear of his opponent.
The former champ had to turn away, stagger toward the ropes, take a knee and bow his head as the referee counted him out.
"I'm very sad and disappointed by the way Ricky Hatton beat me," Castillo (55-8-1) said. "The fight was getting more interesting as the rounds were going on. But unfortunately he caught me correctly. I've never been caught that way.
"I would like to send an apology to all the people I let down."
Castillo would address only the punch itself - "I couldn't breathe. I couldn't get up." - and Hatton didn't directly answer whether the damage inflicted by Corrales two years ago played a role in Saturday night's outcome.
He didn't have to, though. It was clear from the beginning that Castillo was lacking the power and lower body strength he relied upon earlier in his career.
"In my heart, after the first round, I felt he wasn't going to last long," Hatton (43-0, 31 knockouts) said.
Neither did the pro-Hatton crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center, announced at 13,044, which included legions of fans - even a personal Hatton pep band - who made the trip from Manchester, England, to chant, sing and exult in soccer-style cheers in support of their hometown hero.
Hatton gave them plenty of reasons to celebrate, sweeping the first three rounds on two judges' scorecards and winning two of three on the third. Castillo had a point deducted for low blows in the fourth before Hatton uncorked his devastating final sequence. Castillo was counted out at the 2:16 mark of Round 4.
"I went to the head first, a left hand, another left hand, and that's what finished him," Hatton said.
The fight's sudden ending was reminiscent of other recent body shot knockouts such as Bernard Hopkins' against Oscar De La Hoya (2004), Roy Jones Jr.'s against Virgil Hill (1998) and Micky Ward's against Alfonso Sanchez (1997).
"Once you get hit that way and it's a perfect shot like Ricky hit him (with), the guy can't breathe for 30 seconds," Castillo's promoter Bob Arum said. "There's nothing he can do. He cannot breathe. It is the perfect, perfect shot.
"It's even better and more efficient, when it's landed perfectly, than a knockout shot to the chin."
After three consecutive fights in the United States, Hatton, 28, is poised to establish himself among the consensus elite boxers in the world, a step up from his longtime status as an exciting but largely regional British star.
Although Saturday night he was mostly looking forward to going a few rounds with "Mr. Guinness," Hatton said he wants major title-holders and boxing's biggest names as his next opponents.
Hatton would relish a shot at Floyd Mayweather Jr., considered by many to be the sport's best boxer - and by few to be actually retired, Mayweather's claims to the contrary.
"If I fought Mayweather he would run like Forrest Gump," Hatton said.
In a graceful gesture, Hatton dedicated the fight to the memory of Diego Corrales, who died last month in a motorcycle crash. Hatton also apologized to Mexican fans for beating a national hero, and invited them to support his career from here on out.
The night Castillo lost to Corrales, he called for a rematch and said he'd be willing to fight again "manana" - tomorrow.
This time, however, Castillo wasn't talking about "manana." Just a "good night," a farewell.
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