I have to go with Gonzalez by decision... I just think that MAGO had more talent... I still think that Castillo still has a good chance of winning.
Good fight probably close pickem. Not sure who wins probably either one could win on any given night but I'd probably lean towards Gonzalez at 135
Another vote for Gonzalez. I think he is the tougher of the two, if not necessarily the stronger. A bit quicker by hand too I think.
Gonzales was more classy, but Castillo had the pedigree when it comes to the big fights. Castillo to win a close decision as Gonzales would bottle it, and find a way not to win.
Gonzalez would have never 'bottled it' against Diego Corrales the way Castillo did after having Corrales all but dead.
Gonzales choked in the big fights, and was lucky to win one or two of the smaller ones. Miguel would of fought safety first against Corrales and hoped to sneak a dodgy decision.
Don't think he really choked, was just outclassed. Losing the way he did to DLH was no disgrace, given that that was pretty much Oscar's peak performance (imo anyway), and he was already on the downside by the time he got to Tszyu. Would have been beatdown regardless, but I'm just saying. Which decisions do you think were dodgy that he won? I thought he won all the fights he's listed as winning. Even thought he beat Chavez, even though I initially scored it a draw. If anything, he's unlucky not to get that decision, given the scorecard fiasco in that fight.
The Murphy fight was very suspect (117-109???), and although yes he could argue he was unlucky to draw with Chavez, he would should of left little doubt as to who deserved to win. As for de la Hoya, he was indeed an underdog; but as a 41 and 0 fighter, with a three year title reign to his name, he really did just go though the motions against de la Hoya, only interested in getting to the final bell.
Yeah but Murphy was more of a boxer mover type fighter. This fight would be in your face action and maybe Gonzalez had a little more dimension to his game in close, but still a close fight for me.
I didn't keep a scorecard from the fight, but I thought Gonzalez-Muprhy was one of those close but clear ones when I saw it at the time. I'll try and track down a copy of it and give it another look, but yes 117-109 was a drunkard's card. Bare in mind Gonzalez was moving up for the Hoya fight. (Granted he had a few fights above lightweight before against journeymen/bum fighters). It would have been more competitive at 135, but Oscar really came into his own at 140 - his best weight class for me. Can you envisage Castillo moving up to 140 and challenging Oscar and doing any better? I certainly can't. Has KO written all over it.
No, I do not see Castillo beating de la Hoya at 140, and yes he might of been stopped. But that would be because Castillo would try and win the fight, and not go though the motions and lose a comfortable decision. Castillo went for it, in the big fights he got his pomp, as Stevie Johnson and Lil Floyd found out, in some of their most difficult fights.
Well, I gave him the first Floyd fight against an injured PBF, but I thought both he and Floyd looked rather pathetic in the rematch. Mayweather was scared for his life, and Castillo didn't do much to take advantage of it. We'll have to agree to disagree about the Stevie J fights too, I thought Johnston took both. First was a bit of a robbery for mine.
