Ex-junior bantamweight champ Castillo retires
Three months removed from a lopsided knockout loss, former junior bantamweight titlist Martin Castillo returned to the gym to train last week.
A few days later, Castillo stopped training and called his manager, Frank Espinoza.
“He said he just didn’t feel it anymore and that he didn’t want to continue boxing,” Espinoza said. “He didn’t have the passion for it anymore. I told him to think about it for a few days and he did.”
The result came Wednesday, when Castillo, with a resume filled with bloody battles and severe cuts, announced his retirement from boxing.
Castillo, 31, of Mexico, made three defenses of his 115-pound title from 2004 to 2006 before losing it to Nobuo Nashiro via a 10th-round, cut-induced TKO in July 2006 in Japan. Castillo had an opportunity to win another belt in February but was blown out in four uncompetitive rounds by Fernando Montiel in Las Vegas.
“We’ve talked numerous times over the last couple of weeks and Martin has concluded that this is the end of the line for him,” Espinoza said. “He didn’t feel like himself during the Montiel fight and is happy with what he has accomplished in the sport. As he put it, ‘I owe everything to boxing and I don’t want to fight anymore if I can’t go at a world class level.’”
Castillo (33-3, 17 KOs) owns two victories against current titleholder Alexander Munoz and also defeated former flyweight titleholder Eric Morel. As an amateur, Castillo defeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a 112-pound bout and made the 1996 Mexican Olympic team.
His first title opportunity came against Felix Machado in March 2002, but Castillo lost a controversial sixth-round technical decision after he suffered a cut on his scalp from an accidental head butt.
“The fans have always been very supportive of Martin and he wants to thank them for all their years of terrific support,” Espinoza said. “It’s meant so much to him. Bob Arum and the whole Top Rank family have been great to work with and he also wishes to thank them for the opportunities they gave him.”
Arum, whose Top Rank promoted Castillo for most of his career, said he made the right decision to hang up his gloves.
“He is a terrific kid, a very good fighter, but it’s time for him to retire,” Arum told ESPN.com when reached Wednesday night on vacation in Costa Rica. “I only have the utmost respect for him as a man and as a fighter. I am sure he will be very successful in his future endeavors, but it was time for him to retire.”
Dan Rafael covers boxing for ESPN.com.