BAD FOR BUSINESS, BAD FOR BOXING

By Michael Swann        

Prior to the now infamous tale of the scale that resulted in the cancellation of the Diego Corrales - Jose Luis Castillo III fight last week, there was visible apprehension and concern in the eyes of many from both camps, the media, and the assembled gallery of fans that gathered to view the most talked about weigh-in in memory. Afterwards there was a look of disappointment and anguish, the atmosphere similar to a “dead man walking” scene.

In the Augustus Ballroom at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, photographers were taking shots of the scale before a single fighter was present. The scale was checked, rechecked, and checked again. Even at that, it had to be pointed out by Joe Goossen, Corrales’ trainer, that the 100 pound weight on the scale was missing. It’s a rarity to see such drama at a weigh-in, but all assembled anxiously awaited the results as the participants arrived for the moment of truth.

Castillo, appeared drained and depleted as he sat forlornly in his chair, even lying on the stage at one point. First to the scale, Castillo stepped on and off the scale three times before announcer Jimmy Lennon called out, “Jose Luis Castillo weighs 140 pounds.” For reasons difficult to fathom, he was given a second chance on the scale to see if he had made the 135 pound limit, and weighed 139 ½ .

Keith Kizer, the new executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission [NSAC] rolled his eyes.

Diego Corrales took the scale and was 135, triumphantly shouting out his accomplishment after weeks of hard work.

Castillo was given two hours to lose two pounds in an effort to save the fight, although it would be a non-title affair as in their second fight last October. There was no guarantee even if he lost the weight, as Corrales had the right to make the call. For health reasons, the most that Castillo would be permitted to lose was two pounds.

Supposedly, officials of the WBC were monitoring Castillo’s weight so that there would be no reoccurrence of the October fiasco when many suspected that he sought a competitive advantage by not even trying to make the lightweight limit. Castillo weighted 138 ½ for that fight and knocked out Corrales in four. Castillo stood to be fined 25% of his $900,000 purse by the NSAC, and an additional $175,000 by the Showtime network for failing to meet the contracted weight, which should have provided all the motivation needed.

Promoter Bob Arum was incensed.

“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t want to represent him,” Arum told reporters. “I don’t want him to fight. I don’t think he deserves to fight. He disgraced me. He disgraced everyone else. It’s not acceptable to me. I feel sorry for Diego. He made the weight. This is [expletive deleted]. He weighed 138 pounds in El Paso [against Rolando Reyes in February] when he had a tune up fight. I put a scale in his room for Christ sake. All I’m saying is it’s a total disgrace. This is total [expletive deleted].

Joe Goossen spoke of the hard work that Diego did to make weight:

“The bottom line is that I really believe the guy [Castillo] should not have accepted the fight. Look, the guy tried, he just couldn’t do it.

“I would advise him [Corrales] not to fight. If it was up to me we wouldn’t fight him, but it’s up to the powers that be.”

Keith Kizer explained the many Castillo steps to the scale.

“I was trying to go up one pound at a time, but he kept stepping off the scale,” Kizer told a reporter. “I wanted him to stand there so that I could just go, but every time I went up one weight, he’d back off the scale. The second time, when I got to 137 he got off. The last time I started at 138 and then I went all the way just short of 140. And then he came back on and I set it for 139 for that, and that was the 139 ½.

“After the issues are settled, and whatever fine he gets, it’s really more medical and he’s not going to fight anymore at 135 in Nevada. I asked the doctors if there was any problems with him losing the two pounds and they said no.”

Kizer was asked about the monitoring of Castillo’s weight.

“It’s easy if he’s training in Nevada,” he replied. “Then we know it’s the correct weight. He was in Mexico in some mountain. He was weighed, but how do you know if it’s the correct weight? They’re telling us he weighed 138 at noon today. I find that hard to believe, but even 138 is out of line.”

Two hours after the first weigh-in, Castillo returned to the scale to the cheers of fans and supporters who had patiently waited in the gallery. Lennon announced 140 pounds, then on a second try 139 ½. In all, Castillo stepped on and off the scale seven times. He ended up 139 ½ on the first go and he was 139 ½ in his final effort. 

Round table discussions began in the ballroom with Arum, Corrales’ promoter Gary Shaw, Corrales, his manager James Prince, and Antonio Leonard, who works for Prince, Goossen, and Showtime vice-president Ken Hershman. After about 45 minutes, Shaw addressed the assemblage.

“Diego is extremely disappointed that he worked so hard to please all of you. That is not to be. For the record, it is not the pay. Ken Hershman has given Diego the opportunity to fight in July or September. He will not be fighting tomorrow. So don’t penalize Diego Corrales who for eight weeks was in a battle every day trying to make a payday and make 135 pounds. We’re truly disappointed. It’s now up to the commission to levy any fines or however they see fit.”

Corrales was due to receive a purse of $1.2 million. In addition, he would receive half of Castillo’s fine, estimated to be $112,500. It has also been widely reported that Arum offered to sweeten the pot to get Diego in the ring.

Arum took the mike and said, “I am mortified and embarrassed by what happened here. It’s inexcusable. Anyone who bought a ticket who doesn’t want to see the show will receive a full refund.”

The gallery booed.

The promotion was anticipating 10-12 thousand or more in attendance for the event. It appeared on fight night that the vast majority took Arum up on his refund offer. Judging from the number of people boarding shuttle buses returning to the various casinos who were wearing casino credentials, it would be reasonable to estimate that a large number of the Thomas and Mack Center “crowd” was comped. Attendance was not announced, but it was a sparse crowd indeed. So many seats were empty that it appeared to effect the acoustics, and everything seemed to echo.

One person close to the promotion was asked about the attendance.

“It looks like 17,000 dressed in red,” he replied, referring to the color of the seats.

In the final moments of the weigh-in, a persistent questioner repeatedly asked Shaw why the show couldn’t go on. Shaw’s eyes glazed and he appeared ready to jump off the stage.

“THE FIGHT’S OFF!” Shaw roared emphatically. “Because I’m not money hungry. It’s not about the money. The last time I put my man in danger. It’s about the safety and welfare of the fighters.”

Shaw may not have realized it, but that might have been his finest moment as a promoter.

Before Shaw left the ballroom to jet off to Santa Ynez to attend his fighter Chad Dawson’s fight with Eric Harding, he spoke to Kizer about his thoughts on imposing stiff disciplinary action on Castillo. There has also been talk of possible legal action in the matter, initiated by both Shaw and Corrales, and maybe others.

No one knows the true story of Castillo’s weight and the monitoring, or lack thereof. A letter to Bob Arum, Gary Shaw, Fernando Beltran, [Castillo’s manager], and the NSAC on May 12 was the first sign of trouble.

Dear friends:

The WBC performed the mandatory 30 day weigh-in to Jose Luis Castillo regarding his upcoming bout versus WBC champion Diego Corrales, which will be held on June the 3rd in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Jose Luis Castillo was found 2 pounds heavier over the 10% limit 30 days prior to the bout.

The WBC will send another representative this coming May 15 to monitor Jose Luis Castillo weigh-in again.

We would like to share this information to you with plenty of time, as we are all aware of the difficulties that happened in their second match on October 2005.

Sincerely yours,

 Luis Escalona
Medical Control General Supervisor

c.c. Jose Sulaiman Ch.

This letter was followed by a fax on May 17 to Top Rank, Gary Shaw Productions, the Nevada State Commission, Fernando Beltran, and Luis Escalona from Jose Sulaiman, Chairman of the WBC:

Dear friends:

The WBC sent a supervisor to Temoaya, where Jose Luis Castillo is training, to follow up on his mandatory 30 day weighing and his current weight as of May 17 is [146 pounds].

The following weigh-in will be performed 7 days before the fight, which will be Saturday May 27, when he must register 142 pounds at the most.

We are happy to announce that Jose Luis Castillo is within the parameters of the mandated weigh-ins to prevent dramatic weight loss in a short period of time.

Best regards,
Jose Sulaiman, Ch.

Escalona, who is the WBC supervisor in charge of weights and fighter safety interestingly wrote the May 12 letter detailing Castillo’s two pounds overweight as of that date, but was a recipient on the May 17 fax. The WBC’s guideline for championship fights is that the participants weight no more than 10% over the required weight at the 30 day weigh-in and no more than 5% at the seven day weigh-in. Therefore, if the fax is accurate, Castillo was back in line as of May 17.

The May 27 weighing is another matter. An informed WBC source claims that he is “unsure” if that event even took place. Keith Kizer said that he received no further communication from the WBC after assuming his position on May 23. Further, the WBC source claims that in the El Paso fight, the announced 138 pounds for Castillo was actually 140, because of his jumping off the scale prematurely.

With all of the chicanery involved in the second fight, [with Castillo’s doctor placing his foot under the scale and so forth], and the various tales of weight surrounding the cancelled third fight, what can we believe?

First of all, Castillo’s trainer, Tiburcio Garcia, and manager Fernando Beltran, have to accept their share of the blame. They had to know about it, and failure to disclose the problem is what makes it so indefensible. The WBC appears to be negligent at best, and criminally deceptive at worst in their monitoring.

Castillo weighed 150 pounds in January 2002 before his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. that April, when he came in at 134 ½ pounds. After Mayweather II that December, he fought his next three fights at 147, 146, and 145, before returning to lightweight to win the vacant WBC title over Juan Lazcano in December 2004. By the second Corrales fight last October he was 138 ½, 138 officially this February in El Paso, and now 139 ½ for Corrales III. It appears that, at age 32, he can no longer reduce his weight at will to meet the lightweight limit.

So when Castillo says with a shrug, “I’m just not a lightweight,” it begs the question - why then perpetrate this fraud on the promoters, the casinos, the media, Showtime and the sporting public? Why even sign the contract? At the very least, why not notify all concerned parties a week or two before the fight when perhaps an arrangement for a catch weight fight could still have been arranged?

It wasn’t just another embarrassment for boxing. Arum claimed to have lost $1 million, Shaw hundreds of thousands. Caesar’s Palace and Wynn, who co-sponsored the event, took a bath on their investment. Showtime received an undeserved black eye and lost money marketing a highly anticipated non-event. Probably worst of all, many fans paid $600 for the tickets, and reserved lodging and airfare. Receiving a refund on their tickets was just a fraction of their expenses. Some of these ordinary people might think twice about making such an investment in the future.

Boxing has been making a slow but steady resurgence of late and could benefit greatly from a contract from one of the major networks. However, Castillo’s incomprehensible disregard for the sport does not make a good selling point to network advertisers.

By the evening of the weigh-in, members of the Castillo team, still wearing their jumpsuits with their logo, were seen moving through the casino hallways, pulling suitcases behind them. Jose Luis Castillo had returned to Mexico. The NSAC does not meet again until June 8, and at some point soon afterward, Castillo will be given notice of the complaint, and given 20 days to respond. Then there will be a hearing scheduled to determine the sanctions, suspensions, or fines to be levied against Castillo, who will be given the opportunity to state his case at that time.

The maximum fine is $250,000. Hopefully the commission will see that figure as just. He could also be suspended or even have his license revoked. Many would agree that any suspension decided upon by the commission could not be too long, but hopefully they will decide on at least a year.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the other state commissions and sanctioning bodies fully support the ruling of the NSAC, whatever the outcome, and not reward him with a major fight. There is considerable talk of a fight with Miguel Cotto in November for the WBO jr. welterweight title in New York, along with other rumors that would simply reward a man whose unprofessional conduct damaged the sport.

If the NSAC ruling, as expected is not favorable to Mr. Castillo, television may be another problem for him. One wonders if Showtime would take the name Castillo to the bank, so to speak, once again. HBO didn’t appear to be very interested to begin with, and will probably remain at arm’s length. In any event, his negotiating power at this point is zero.

On the night of the weigh-in, Arum hosted a media dinner to introduce the August 12 Hasim Rahman-Oleg Maskaev II fight. He was clearly still angered by what had transpired, but when asked if he would still promote Castillo, he was pragmatic. Arum said that he didn’t know, after all he had a lot of money tied up in him.

The veteran promoter’s face brightened and he said jokingly, “I know what I’ll do - I’ll put him in with [Antonio] Margarito.”

Now that’s one way to get even.