It’s a thrilling thing seeing a badly beaten fighter, a fighter who has pretty much been beaten up all night long and is way behind on the scorecards, come back to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. We think of great turnarounds legends such as Jake LaMotta pulled off, and Matthew Saad Muhammad, and Diego Corrales, and some others.
On this day in 1994, Argentine tough guy Jorge Castro was being beaten like a drum for almost nine full rounds by an unbeaten John David Jackson. The fight, that saw Castro defend his WBA middleweight title, took place on a huge bill that took place in Mexico and was topped by Julio Cesar Chavez-Tony Lopez and Felix Trinidad-Oba Carr. And we saw something truly incredible.
Jackson, perfect at 32-0, his WBA belt having been stripped from him due to him having taken a non-title fight that the WBA disapproved of, was pretty much in his prime at age 31. Castro, an already grizzled 95-4-2, this at age 27, had won all but one of his last 25 fights, this after dropping a wide decision against Roy Jones in June of 1992. The other loss during this period came against Roberto Duran, who Castro had beaten in their earlier fight.
Castro had already shown he had a rock for a head, but what he managed to do against “Action” Jackson was, to repeat, incredible.
Castro did have some flashes of success in some of the early rounds, such as in the opening session when he cracked Jackson with a shot to the top of the head that briefly wobbled the southpaw from Denver, Colorado. But for the most part Jackson, more aggressive than in plenty of his other fights, hit Castro with just about every head punch in the book. Again and again, and hard and flush. Castro was often bullied to the ropes, his great chin the only thing saving him from being taken out. That and his raw fighting heart. The action was thrilling, if mostly one-sided. Jackson seemed hell-bent on getting the KO or stoppage, and he was so close to doing so in round nine.
Then it happened.
What had already been a great fight, again, of a mostly one-sided nature, was elevated to legendary status in the ninth. Castro, who had taken a real going over in the seventh, with blood pouring down his face, his right eye spurting blood, was in bad shape in the ninth. Both eyes of Castro were now bleeding badly, and Jackson, after accidentally belting Castro with a low blow, let loose with both hands. The sharp, accurate shots were coming in in sickening fashion, and even as tough a guy as Castro surely could not keep on taking them.
With Castro taking a pasting in a corner, the third man, Stanley Christodoulou, was looking very closely at Castro. Yet the action was permitted to go on. Jackson then whacked in a brutal left hand that had Castro hurt and almost bent over, with him once again being assaulted on the ropes. Jackson was going for the finish. But then, out of nowhere, Castro countered the savage attack he was under with a sizzling left hook that landed flush on Jackson’s exposed jaw. Down on his back, Jackson somehow staggered back to his feet on unsteady legs.
Nobody would have complained if the fight was stopped right there. But the ref let it go on, only for Castro, battered and bloody, to score two more knockdowns. Jackson was totally gone. It was over, and Castro had given us the comeback KO of the year, if not the decade. The fight was also awarded FOTY status by numerous publications.
How tough was Castro? After separating Jackson from his senses to retain his middleweight title, Castro would go on to have an additional 31 fights, with him campaigning as high as cruiserweight. Among the fighters Castro would face after the Jackson stunner being: Juan Carlos Gomez, Imamu Mayfield, Vassiliy Jirov, Paul Briggs, and Sebastiaan Rothmann.
Finally retiring in 2007, Castro exited with an amazing 130-11-3(90) record. Only two men ever managed to stop Castro.
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