Troubles Looming for Castillo

After failing to qualify for Saturday’s scheduled lightweight title fight when he came in overweight Friday, Jose Luis Castillo now faces the scales of justice.

Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, was expected to issue a complaint today or Tuesday against the former two-time World Boxing Council lightweight champion. Castillo, who weighed in at 139 1/2 pounds for the 135-pound fight against Diego Corrales, causing the cancellation of the match, will have 20 days to respond.

The matter will then be turned over to the Nevada commissioners, who are expected, according to several sources, to revoke Castillo’s license.

They can also fine him up to $250,000 or opt for a suspension rather than a revocation.

A suspension would be for a specified period. A revocation would mean that Castillo could not reapply for his license for one year.

Nevada officials expect other commissions around the country to follow their lead.

The revocation of a license has been used in more serious boxing violations of recent years. Mike Tyson’s license was revoked when he bit both of Evander Holyfield’s ears in a 1997 match. Armando Barak, an advisor to Castillo, had his license revoked after he was accused of attempting to tamper with the scale at the weigh-in for the second Castillo-Corrales fight in October.

And in April, welterweight Jab Judah, his father, Yoel, and trainer Roger Mayweather had their licenses revoked for their part in an altercation during Judah’s fight against Floyd Mayweather.

“The facts about what happened are certainly not in dispute,” said Kizer, referring to Castillo. “We had a conversation with him May 8 in which we warned him about coming in over the weight limit and he assured us there was no problem, that he was on target. He said there would be no weight issue come June.

“I was shocked by his weight. You would figure he would have told someone in advance.”

Castillo’s promoter, Bob Arum, has accused Castillo’s handlers of lying to him about the fighter’s weight in the days leading up to the weigh-in.

Ultimately, it was Gary Shaw, Corrales’ promoter, with the approval of Corrales’ manager, James Prince, and his trainer, Joe Goossen, who called off the fight.

They could have gone ahead with the match, as they did in October when Castillo came in at 138 1/2 pounds. That match was staged as a nontitle fight and Corrales was knocked out in the fourth round.

Shaw and Arum are responsible for splitting the $135,000 rental fee for the Thomas & Mack Center, site of the fight. With an estimated crowd of 2,000 to 2,500 on hand for Saturday’s show minus Castillo-Corrales and a 75% discount on most tickets, Shaw figures the live gate at $30,000. Adding in expenses, Shaw estimated he lost about $250,000. Corrales lost his $1.2-million purse and Goossen wound up training Corrales for nearly two months without receiving any money.

“Nobody believed me when I said we would pull the plug on the fight,” Shaw said. “Now maybe next time, fighters will know we are serious about their obligation to make weight. Maybe they’ll realize they can’t always negotiate their way out of this kind of situation with money. Maybe they will think twice before doing this.”