I've been studying certain fighters lately and watching ALOT of fights... Having seen Sanchez' fights with Lopez and Gomez, I watched this Castillo fight, and it instantly became one of my favorites ever... What a show of skill. It's a boxing purist's dream. I knew nothing of Castillo before I watched, and he had some major skills going on... In the last 15 seconds of the 3rd, he momentarily wobbles Sanchez with a left hook, making Sal's legs go funny for a sec, then, after a brief exchange, he BUCKS him with a right... Sanchez, cool as he is, takes it like it was nothing. The whole fight is a masterpiece, and on both sides. Very competitive, very high level stuff. Hard punches landed consistently by both men. Just awesome. Thoughts?
A brilliant display from both fighters and a very close fight. I think it gets very overlooked especially it being a classic Mexican vs Mexican American rivalry. This was definitely Rubens best performance 126 was a great weight for him and he had very fast hands, but Sanchez was the clear winner when he took control second half of the fight. Some pretty nice exchanges in that fight.
Yeah, great display of confident patience by Sanchez. Castillo was clearly there to win, and fought like he belived he belonged in there, and he did. I'm just impressed with the fight as a whole.
Ruben definitely belonged there and put up a hell of an effort. In turn, one of Sanchez's best performances and wins.
Ruben was a hard luck guy. He was great against Sanchez and though I haven't seen it, I've read he was excellent against Laporte too, only to come away wth the wrong end of the stick. He also challenged Arguello and later havez for 130-pound titles. Four times........damn. He is a lighter weight Yaqui Lopez.
Castillo was a very good textbook boxer.It's a pity the tough fights with Arguello and Sanchez within such a brief space of time seemed to take something out of him.He lost a few notches of sharpness quite quickly afterward and never did manage to get a title.
It's been 30 years since I've seen it but recall scoring it a draw after 15 excellent rounds. Must watch it again if it's out there on youtube. Funny thing about Castillo, he was interviewed in depth for the Art Hafey documentary. He and Art would train together and he freely admits Art was a training nut and that he would always be rousting Ruben early in the AM for roadwork. He stated, "I did not have one quarter of the drive and determination Art had and the ironic thing was that Art never got a title shot and I got four." Scartissue
