Was Castillo (Jose Luis) great or very good?

He was very good. Maybe great compared to average fighters, but, not HOF worthy. Close, but, no cigar.

 

He was pretty close to it, but only was at the top level for about five years.

Had he made weight for the second and third Chico fights, and given us two more classics, he'd have a better case and also be in the hof. The way he showed up way over the limit for the second Corrales fight really discounted what should've been a career defining win.

 

I was a huge JLC stan back in the day! I cussed up a storm and threw a couple couch cushions when Hatton knocked him out

But I'd say he was not quite great. He was extremely formidable though, and I think he'd fight his way into the top 5 in just about any era in lightweight history.

His tendancy to start slowly was his single biggest weakness. But he made up for that with his brilliant inside fighting, his excellent conditioning, and of course that legendary chin. He had some very nice scalps that get less attention: Cesar Bazan, Stevie Johnston, Juan Lazacano, and Julio Diaz. The shame is that all of those guys went into career tail-spins shortly after losing to JLC. That fact slightly undercuts the value of Castillo's wins.

 

He was very good once he hit his stride. Between like 2000 and and 2006 the only person he lost to was Floyd twice. That's a very good run and it didn't really end until the Ricky Hatton loss.

 

Corrales beat him too.

 

True, but I would still consider that part of his prime, as he was winning that fight, and then we all know what happened in the rematch.......nefarious weight games or not.

I consider the Hatton fight his real..........ending as a prime guy

 

I think he could've been a great fighter but just slightly misses the mark, very good wins over Stevie Johnston, Joel Casamayor.

But then seemed to fall off after coming in heavy vs Corrales the 2nd time, which ruined what should've been a highlight win.

I tend to agree with @NoNeck had he won a trilogy vs Corrales, and maybe had 1 or 2 more standout wins he could've been great.

On a side note had Castillo got the nod vs Mayweather the 1st time, would that have altered his standing on whether not he would be classed as great ? Maybe.

Overall though for me hes a very good fighter but not quite great.

 

Neither was the same after that fight.

 

He was very, very good. I have a fairly high standard for great and he falls quite short of that in my eyes.

 

I can accept that. But Castillo did have one last hurrah with their rematch.

 

I think I did this identical thread about him and some other fighters and I don't think I started on the fence. I decidedly had him as very good. But bolstering an anti-Floyd case or an anti-anyone case by saying a very good fighter beat them or came close is...a dumb case, taken by itself. Even if you figure Castillo isn't near great. If you consider him a great, I'm not going to act like it's ridiculous. I do consider him a pretty typical fare for being a borderline case. When I was doing threads like that I think I also did Kenny Norton and Max Schmeling. These cases where someone has these spectacular best wins officially or hotly disputed official losses to someone amazing or has no great win but kept consistently dominating over underwhelming contenders like a Narvaez, it becomes interesting where you have to just accept they're arguable, even if you don't like the argument.

 

I don't know about ATG but HOF worthy just for the Corrales fight alone IMO.

 

He's great. handed Floyd his only clear loss .. strong, granite chin ,, made of iron .. and Vegas *** floyd couldn't handle it

 

JLC is in the Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 2020 at the Red Rock casino into the Nevada BHOF.