Jose Luis Castillo Retires After Gomez Defeat

News

As speculated during our live round-by-round coverage of “The Event” last night, Jose Luis Castillo has declared his intentions to retire following a one-sided defeat to Alfonso Gomez on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey fight.

It was difficult to tell exactly how the end of the fight came about as HBO’s coverage had cut backstage to catch Referee Rafael Ramos’ instructions to Pacquiao prior to the fight, but at least part of the decision to end the fight after the fifth round was Castillo’s.

Castillo said that he doesn’t have what it takes to fight anymore and apologized to his fans for his poor showing against Gomez. His face was badly reddening, and he was beginning to bleed from the nose and mouth when the bout was stopped prior to the sixth round.

In a similar situation, Gomez also retired Arturo Gatti in Atlantic City in 2007 after knocking him out in seven rounds.

It was well known in boxing circles that Castillo was fighting solely for money. After failing to make weight against Diego Corrales in 2005 and 2006, Castillo had been penalized with heavy fines that left him in a difficult financial situation. He was never the same fighter after those instances.

Castillo ends his career with a record of 60-10-1. He will be most remembered for nearly defeating Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2002 and his epic wars against Corrales in 2005, especially their first meeting, widely regarded as the greatest fight of all time.