Castillejo KOs Carrera in thriller!

November 14, 2007

By Wolfgang Schiffbauer
Photos: H. Prang (Pressefoto Baumann)

Lukasik-Hernandez

Gutknecht-Goury

Weber-Kaefer

Tereshkin-Szalai

Dahlen-Oleynik

Meyerdiercks-Rafael

In December of 2006, Javier Castillejo stepped into the ring in Berlin, Germany to defend his WBA middleweight crown against mandatory challenger Mariano Natalio Carrera from Argentina. The 39-year-old Spaniard had won the belt five months earlier when he scored a shocking TKO over highly regarded Felix Sturm in Hamburg.

In a brutal battle, Castillejo was upset and lost his title to Carrera. But weeks later, the Argentinian was tested positive for Clembuterol. As a result, the bout was changed to a “No Contest”, Castillejo got his WBA title back and Carrera was suspended.

Since then, Carrera, at 27 years of age, had scored two easy TKOs over journeyman opponents in Argentinia and Nicaragua. On the other hand, Castillejo faced Sturm in April 2007 in a rematch. And lost. This time fair and square, by unanimous decision.

Now both, Castillejo, ranked third by the WBA, and Carrera, ranked second, faced each other again in a WBA middleweight title eliminator at the Hohenstaufenhalle in Goeppingen, Germany. The bout was promoted by Spotlight Boxing and turned out to be just as good as their first one – a German, or maybe even European, fight of the year candidate.

The first two rounds were dominated by the Spaniard. Both exchanged a lot of punches but it was Castillejo who got the better of it. Especially the uppercut (the punch he knocked out Sturm with) worked well for the former world champion. The tide turned dramatically in the third as Carrera woke up and stunned his foe with straight right hands to the head and good body shots. Seconds before the bell, Castillejo looked out on his feet but was able to finish the round.

And come back strong.

The fourth was another give and take battle. But Carrera got sloppy with his punches and the 39-year-old Spaniard scored with a great right hand nearing the end of the round. Both took a break in the fifth. Until the final seconds of the round. Just before the bell a hard right hand connected on the jaw of Carrera and right after the bell, he went down. Although he looked hurt, he got up immediatly. Referee Steve Smoger rightfully issued a eight-count and declared it a knockdown.

Going into the sixth, Castillejo's killer instinct took over. From the beginning, he went after Carrera and hurt him with several combinations. The Argentinian seemed out of it, standing at the ropes and taking vicious punches by his opponent. But suddenly he came back, landing hooks and straight punches to the head of Castillejo. However, just as it looked like Carrera had turned it around again, Castillejo came back. For a final assault, he hit the twelve year younger Carrera with blazing uppercuts on the inside, forced him back into the ropes. A right hook followed by two brutal uppercuts knocked Carrera down. After the first uppercut, he lost his mouthpiece, after the second, his head turned. Carrera barely got up but one of his cornerman was already into the ring to stop the bout. It did not look like Smoger would have let him continue anyway. Official time was 2:14 minutes of round six.

It was a thrilling fight between two warriors. But Castillejo seemed more game, landed the harder shots. Carrera came back strong twice but so did the Spaniard who deserved the victory. Carrera looked sloppy at times while “El Lince De Parla” Castillejo aggressivly went forward and landed the harder blows. Carrera, however, had his moments and should still be considered a worthy player in the middleweight division. He falls to 31-5.

With the victory, Castillejo, now 62-7 with 45 KOs, is in line for a rubber match against WBA champion Felix Sturm, who was in attandance in Goeppingen. In July 2006, Castillejo scored a tenth round TKO over Sturm. In April 2007, Sturm evened the score with a unanimous decision victory. A rubber match could settle the score once and for all and determine who really is the better fighter of these two.

* * *

In undercard action, unbeaten super middleweight Eduard Gutknecht outpointed Laurent Goury over eight rounds by scores of 80:71, 80:71, 80:72

Female Super Welterweight champion Karolina Lukasik dominated Yahaira Hernandez over ten rounds winning by scores of 100:87, 100:87, 100:88. The bout was for the WIBF, GBU and WBC interim championships.

Super welterweight Maurice Weber took a ten-round unanimous decision over Daniel Kaefer in a bout for the German championship. Scores were 97:94, 98:92, 97:93.

Female jr bantamweight Magdalena Dahlen defeated Viktoria Oleynik in a four-rounder by scores of 39:38, 38:38, 39:37.

Heavyweight hope Vladimir Tereshkin crushed Viktor Szalai, winning by TKO at 2:34 of round one.

Featherweight Marcel Meyerdiercks had no problems with Elemir Rafael, winning 40:35, 40:34, 40:34 over four.