Castillejo's Spanish Pride Held Up by His Belt

By PAUL GUTIERREZ

June 22, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LAS VEGAS —

Javier Castillejo bristles when it is suggested he’s selling his World Boxing Council super-welterweight title.

After all, the Spaniard is being paid handsomely--the $800,000 payday for the voluntary defense is the most lucrative of his career--and, as an unknown underdog, Castillejo seems tailor-made for Oscar De La Hoya to pick up his fifth title in five weight classes when the two meet Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“Someone said that I’m selling my title?” Castillejo asked incredulously. “That is a big lie. I’m not selling anything. I won my belt fighting very hard and I am putting it on the line.”

De La Hoya said he’s not thinking of it as a mere cash transaction either.

“That is not the way I or any of the people around me feel,” he said. “To be a world champion you have to respect the fighter because it takes a lot to step inside that ring and capture world titles, so I certainly respect him.”

If he puts on a good show, Castillejo would seem to help his lagging stateside marketability, not that that’s his main goal.

“To take [the belt] from me,” Castillejo said, “you are going to have to kill me because I am not going to give it up in the ring. I never thought about the money. I thought about the glory.”

American fight fans, though, haven’t given Castillejo a second thought.

In compiling a record of 51-4 with 34 knockouts, Castillejo, 33, has fought in a ring of relative anonymity.

He has never fought in the United States and 50 of his 55 bouts have been in his native Spain. His last fight, a fourth-round technical knockout of Javier Martinez on Oct. 21, was in Mexico City.

“I have made my career in Europe so it is normal that Oscar has fought people from the United States because that is where he is from,” Castillejo said. “I fought people from Spain because that is where I am from.

“What is important to me is that I have come to the United States as a world champion. I’ve defeated two Americans in my career, Keith Mullings and Tony Marshall. I’ve shown that I can defeat American fighters.”

Castillejo took the belt from Mullings with a somewhat controversial 12-round majority decision (116-112, 115-114, 114-114) on Jan. 29, 1999, in Madrid.

He became Spain’s first world champion since Cecilio Lastra lost his World Boxing Assn. featherweight title in April 1978, and his victory set off celebrations in Madrid that lasted until the sun came up.

Castillejo, who is also fluent in German after spending eight years in Germany as a youth when his parents’ work took them there, is quick to show his pride in being Spanish.

Hailing from a land where bullfighting is a national obsession, Castillejo turned to prizefighting after his mother would not allow him to become a matador.

“Saturday night, I am going to be both the bullfighter and the bull,” Castillejo said. “I’ve faced better fighters than Oscar, such as Julio Vasquez [of Spain] and Laurent Boudouani [of France]. Both of them were bigger than me and both were stronger than Oscar.”

Both also beat Castillejo.

While the slightly tarnished Golden Boy is making his first fight at 154 pounds and plans to join Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns as the only fighters to win titles in five divisions, De La Hoya (33-2, 27 KOs) has yet to take any verbal jabs at the champ.

However, De La Hoya did say he’d retire if he lost to Castillejo.

Castillejo and De La Hoya are the same height at 5 feet 11 inches, but Castillejo wins out on the rest of the tale of the tape, including a longer reach, larger biceps, a thicker neck and a bigger fist.

Castillejo may be bigger and stronger and he has a strong chin, having been knocked out only once, by Boudouani, but he often leads with his head and fights in a more awkward and plodding manner than De La Hoya, who’s working with another new trainer in Floyd Mayweather Sr.

“I’ve seen tapes of [De La Hoya’s] last four fights,” Castillejo said. “Even though he has a new trainer, I don’t see much difference in his fighting style. He moves a bit different with his shoulders to protect himself but that’s about it.”

Castillejo, meanwhile, is coming off the longest inactive period of his career. He was scheduled to face ninth-ranked Akira Ohigashi of Japan on Feb. 16 but the fight was scrapped after Castillejo hurt his back in training.

Buoyed by his new promoter, Murad Muhammad, Castillejo set up camp on a ranch just outside Las Vegas in late April to get himself acclimated to the dry desert air.

His handlers brought in sparring partners from Mexico who, they say, have sparred with De La Hoya, and Castillejo insists he will not get rattled by the glitz and glamour of a De La Hoya fight in Sin City.

“I will not get nervous,” he said. “In Spain, I am used to fighting in a stadium with 15,000 people in attendance. For me, every fight is a big one.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TALE OF THE TAPE

OSCAR DE LA HOYA

Birthdate: Feb. 4, 1973

Birthplace: East L.A.

Hometown: Whittier

Age: 28

Weight: 154*

Height: 5 feet 11

Reach: 73 inches

Chest-N: 39 inches