December 3, 2004
LAREDO, TEXAS-Slick-punching Martin Castillo (27-1, 16 KOs), WBC interim 115-pound champ, 115, impressively seized the unified WBA belt as he dropped the previously unbeaten legitimate champ Alexander Munoz (25-1, 24 KOs), 115, Venezuela, twice and pounded out a unanimous decision over twelve heats on Friday night at the Laredo Entertainment Center, Laredo, TX.
The official tallies were as follows: Ruben Garcia and Ray Howkins both 117-109, and Oren Shellenberger 116-110, all in favor of the technically excellent Castillo. Referee was Laurence Cole. All the officials were from the US.
Castillo showed his intelligence and patience in outboxing and outclassing the highly taunted hard-puncher from Venezuela, who suffered his first defeat in his career. Castillo, the more skillful boxer, took the initiative all the way by averting Munoz’s big punches and countering with precision. The Mexican, in the fourth, effectively shook up the champ with crisp left hooks, swarmed over him with furious combinations and floored him with a well-timed right on the seat of his pants. Castillo gamely mixed it up in the fifth, scoring more accurate combos to the wild-swinging Venezuelan. Munoz, who had won and kept his belt three times all in Japan, was in command in the sixth, but found Castillo too elusive and fast to catch up with. The Mexican's defensive skill was superbly excellent against the KO artist.
Castillo didn’t run around but occasionally fought toe-to-toe with the hard-hitting champ, and proved superior in precision. The eighth saw Castillo have the champ almost thrown out of the ring as he quickly turned around near the ropes and exploded a wicked right to the champ’s face. Munoz began to bleed from the inside of the mouth from the seventh onward to show his absorption of the interim champ’s constant assault. The Venezuelan desperately attempted to turn the tables with his aggressiveness, but the Mexican hombre was smart enough to avert them as he kept moving side-to-side and finely countered him with solid left hooks to the belly and face. Aware of being behind on points, Munoz furiously kept stalking the faster opponent with roundhouse shots in the last three rounds, but Castillo caught him with a vicious countering right to almost topple the champ in the final session.
The 25-year-old Munoz, nicknamed “El Explosivo (the explosive man)” in Venezulela, registered 23 victories straight from his pro debut-all within the distance. Though Munoz brilliantly disposed of Japan’s Celes Kobayashi to capture the WBA throne in March 2002, his unfortunate knee injury caused his 14-month hiatus after his first defense with a second-round demolition of Eiji Kojima in Osaka, Japan in July of that year. Munoz failed to score an expected KO win only to be satisfied with a unanimous decision over Hidenobu Honda, a southpaw defensive boxer, in October of the previous year, and decked Kojima five times en route to a 10th-round TKO again in Japan last January. Munoz was slated to defend his belt against Hideyasu Ishihara, but his sickness prevented him from going to Japan. Castillo then fought Ishihara on his behalf on a one-month notice and finely acquired the interim belt by a come-from-behind one-punch KO in the tenth session this May. Castillo, 27, had tasted his sole setback at the hand of Felix Machado, a lefty Venezuelan, in dropping a controversial technical verdict in Reading, PA, in March 2002. The sharp-punching Mexican, now residing in Hacienda, CA, thus gained his recognition as the full WBA champ by defeating the Venezuelan legend, Munoz.
Promoter: Top Rank, Inc.
WBA supervisor: Gonzalo Lopez Silvero (US).
(12-3-04)