Chavez Overcomes Sprained Ankle to Retain Title on Sixth-Round KO

Undefeated world super-featherweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez of Mexico, boxing on a sprained ankle, steadily wore down Bakersfield’s Ruben Castillo and knocked him out in the sixth round at the Forum Friday night.

In the second World Boxing Council title fight on the Don King card, Juan (Kid) Meza knocked out Mike Ayala in the sixth to successfully defend his world super-bantamweight championship.

Ex-world bantamweight champion Lupe Pintor, in a third feature, knocked out Torito Morgan in the second round.

With tickets scaled from $15 to $150, a crowd of 7,109 was present.

Chavez is building a world class record. He’s now 44-0, and Castillo was his 39th knockout victim. Some boxing reporters in Mexico think that Chavez, who made his first title defense Friday night, may be on his way to being one of Mexico’s all-time greats. He was asked about that afterward.

The question: “What do you think of talk you’ll be one of Mexico’s great champions?”

The answer: “I agree,” he dead-panned, then broke into a wide grin.

Chavez said he sprained his ankle 10 days ago and did no road work the last 10 days of training. He didn’t appear to be favoring his right ankle during his destruction of Castillo, but he limped when he walked into the interview room afterward.

Chavez, 129 1/2, studied Castillo, 130, cautiously in the first round, then steadily turned up the heat in every succeeding round.

Chabez established control of the fight in the second round and was never in difficulty against Castillo, now 0 for 4 in world title fights. When Castillo landed a solid left hook to Chavez’s jaw midway through the second round, Chavez dropped his fists and flashed a taunting smile, as if saying: “Is that your best?”

By the fourth, Castillo was bleeding from cuts over and below his left eye, and Chavez was steadily turning up the volume.

In the sixth, Chavez went back to basics, punishing Castillo with left jabs and straight rights. He backed him up to the ropes, where Castillo finally caved in, not from any one of Chavez’s punches, but from their sheer numbers.

After taking about 20 solid blows to the head on the ropes, Castillo went down in center ring, where he remained on his back for more than a minute.

Castillo (70-5-2) had previously lost to champions Salvador Sanchez, Alexis Arguello and Juan LaPorte. Arguello (11th round) was the only boxer ever to stop him before Friday.

“There was no fighter greater than Salvador Sanchez,” he said when asked afterward to rate Chavez. “He’s no Arguello, either. But he’s a good fighter, very strong in the upper body. I tried to put pressure on him early because I knew he’d have trouble making weight (Chavez denied that he did), so I wanted to force the fight, wear him down.

“His punches did slow down, but I was on the end of them. He got in some good shots on me when he had me on the ropes (in the sixth). I remember the gash over my eye, then the next thing I knew, I was down. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t.”

Castillo said he may pack it in.

“I’m going home to Bakersfield, think things over and decide what I want to do,” he said.

Said Chavez: “He never hurt me. I wasn’t in my best shape, but I knew I’d knock him out sooner or later. I’d seen him fight before--I knew he wouldn’t run, I knew he’d mix it up, and that’s what I wanted, because that’s my kind of fight, too.

“I’d like to make three more defenses, then move up to the lightweight class. If Hector Camacho can ever win a title, I’d like to fight him.”

Ayala, from San Antonio, went down with 30 seconds left in the sixth round of his bout from a three-punch combination by Meza. Ayala was oddly inactive for the most part, taking considerable punishment on the ropes from Meza.

Pintor, on a comeback after missing a year following a serious 1983 motorcycle accident, rocked Morgan with a half-dozen short left hooks in the first round. He dropped him in a neutral corner for a six-count, then knocked him flat on his back with a left hook.