Edwin Rosario vs Jose Luis Castillo?

It becomes a war.

Both are world class aggressive boxers who fell short of greatness.

Fights like this are really hard to predict, I'd go for Castillo gun to my head.

 

This would have been a classic action fight. Castillo's style was like Chavez in a way but he wouldn't be able to do what Chavez did against Rosario. Castillo would dish out punishment on Rosario, but I think Rosario's power and counterpunching would be enough to stop Castillo in a war.

 

Moreover, of the better competition he did face, he either scraped by on an SD/MD/D (not without controversy) or just lost.

Other than his being Mayweather's apparent nemesis (and I do think Castillo was unlucky in the first bout) and being on the wrong end of a Fight of the Year, he didn't go anywhere in my book.

How much credit should we give him for the near-upset of Mayweather? I suppose it counts for a lot. But, it might have counted for a whole lot more, had he been emphatic in his other victories and not been so defensively flawed.

I appreciated what appeared to be his intelligent pressure fighting at times but, to my mind, he ran the gauntlet too closely, in almost every one of his top-level bouts, and wasn't all that convincing in victory.

 

I think Rosario was surprised at some of the BOMBS he landed on Chavez without effect. He landed flush, explossive, power shots and Chavez stood there, slipping and waiting for his moment. I don't think there are many lightweights who can take that much punishment, look at Camacho after facing Rosario, he had a GOAT chin and still was never the same. Castillo is good but he is a less talented Chavez and Rosario was a special talent.

 

His stock goes way up !!! if he got the May decision .. how could it not handing him his only loss imo.. I scored it 1 point win for Castillo because to me he Clearly landed the bigger shots throughout the fight ..... I like Rosario in other matchup

 

For sure. However, Castillo seems to earn much Kudos, as it is, just for nearly doing it.

Ironically, had Castillo been given the nod against FMJ and not been taken out by Corrales (a bout which, by the end of round 10, would have been well within his grasp), I think his LW rating would have been nearing that of the legends.

 

Agreed. And it just doesn't get any better than that fight cor vs cas ... what a fight

 

I thought Castillo got screwed a bit in that first fight. In the last round, the ref twice gave Corrales at least twenty seconds to recover after being knocked down.

 

I got Rosario by Stoppage. Castillo started too slow for me

 

There is an argument for that.
However, Corrales was docked a point for spitting out the gumshield.
It was Castillo, though, who failed to take the advantage.
I'm not sure how much the extra seconds helped Corrales summon up the energy to launch an assault in the way that he did.
On the other hand, Castillo had the same amount of time to steel himself for the rest of the round. It looked to me that, despite Corrales being knocked down, the action had taken more of a toll on Castillo.
I think he was more or less spent.

 

I just watched it again (brilliant fight). The ref did waste valuable seconds (for Castillo) by making Corrales go back and put his mouthpiece in after the first knockdown and then penalising Corrales for spitting out the mouthpiece after the second KD. A fighter who scores a knockdown and has to wait 30 seconds to get a chance to finish his man can count himself hard done by IMO. The ref could have waited and deducted the point from Corrales at the end of the round.

Maybe as you say it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Just something that stood out to me.

 

I think you make a very valid point.

It is difficult to know exactly how the referee's delay influenced the then ensuing action, but there can't have not been an influence.