Javier Castillejo

42

Javier Castillejo : biography

22 March 1968 –

After six months, Castillejo returned to the boxing ring, beating the well regarded Xavier Moya by a knockout in five rounds, On 11 January 2002, to win the vacant European Community’s Junior Middleweight title, in Barcelona.

On 12 July of 2002, he partially regained the WBC light middleweight title, when he beat Roman Karmazin by a twelve round unanimous decision in Madrid, for the WBC’s "Interim" title. This interim recognition was later retired from him, however, because he did not fight the WBC’s recognized champion, which at the time was Shane Mosley, who had suffered an injury and was unable to box for the period being.

Castillejo then won four fights in a row, all by knockout.

He fought Fernando Vargas, in a fight that was supposed to be for the WBA’s vacant light middleweight title, on 20 August 2005, in Chicago. It was decided ultimately to make the bout a ten round affair instead of a world championship fight. Despite being dropped in round three, Castillejo was able to last ten rounds with fellow former world light middleweight champion Vargas, but he lost a ten round decision to the Mexican-American.

Winning a middleweight title

On 15 July 2006, Castillejo sprang back on the boxing scene by defeating younger Felix Sturm of Germany to seize the WBA middleweight belt in an exiting fight. Sturm, making his first title defense, was headed to a one-sided win until Castillejo (61–6, 41 knockouts) caught him with a left hook against the ropes with 13 seconds left in the 10th Round.

Castillejo, then hit Sturm (27–2, 11 knockouts) with three uppercuts before the referee called the fight, making Castillejo, 38 at the time of his upset victory, the oldest man to win a recognized version on the World Middleweight Championship. He lost his title in his first defence against Argentine Mariano Natalio Carrera via a disputed 11th round TKO. Later on, Carrera tested positive for Clenbuterol and was suspended for 6 months by the WBA, thus Castillejo regained his title on 23 February. . He lost the title 28 April 2007 in a rematch against Felix Sturm. He fought Mariano Natalio Carrera again on 13 November 2007, this time winning by KO in the 6th round.