There was only one problem with Floyd Mayweather's unanimous decision victory over WBC lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo: Pretty Boy Floyd lost the fight. Despite the fact that Castillo landed the cleaner, harder punches, swept the championship rounds, and set the pace of the entire bout, three blind judges incredulously handed Mayweather his 29th straight victory... and Castillo's championship belt. Luckily, the WBC-approved officials have no jurisdiction over the mythical pound-for-pound list, a list that no longer includes Mayweather's name. On paper, Mayweather's handspeed should have been more than enough to tame the come-forward style of Jose Luis Castillo. Indeed, the first round showed this to be true. Unleashing a very Roy Jones-esque lead left hook in the bout's opening moments, Mayweather quickly demonstrated the quickness that had made him a star. Castillo looked overwhelmed. Following Mayweather around the ring, Castillo hardly got a punch off as the young challenger jabbed him to the stomach and threw blistering combinations to the head. By round's end, Castillo's nose was trickling blood and it looked like we might have a repeat of Mayweather-Chavez on our hands. Mayweather resumed his assault in the second round, circling the champion and firing quick bursts of power punches. But mid-way through the round, the fighters clashed heads. Mayweather emerged from the clash pawing at an insignificant cut over his left eye. The wound was little more than a scratch, but the sight of blood confused Mayweather. Unsure of how badly he was cut, Mayweather's footwork began to morph into a retreat. Castillo, always coming forward, chased Mayweather around the ring for the remainder, landing a series of body shots every time Mayweather strayed too close to the ropes. Mayweather began complaining to his corner about a sore left shoulder before the third round began, but the arm looked fine as Mayweather began jabbing to open the third. Castillo applied constant pressure to Mayweather, and instead of keeping the fight at or near center ring, Mayweather was finding himself increasingly trapped on the ropes by Castillo. Normally, Mayweather is safe on the ropes; he simply tucks his chin and weaves out of harm's way. But this night, Castillo found success by digging to Mayweather's stationary body. One particularly hard shot was a beautiful Castillo left uppercut/hook that caught Mayweather on the chest. A moment later, Castillo threw a wild left hook (partially blocked) and a heavy straight right hand (unblocked) that scored. The sequence didn't buckle Mayweather's legs, but it did fill Castillo with confidence. From here on out, Castillo never again looked concerned with Mayweather's speed. Castillo continued putting incredible pressure on Mayweather in the fourth, staying right in front of him no matter which way he glided. Again, Mayweather's back was soon sliding over the ropes, giving him precious little room to work his magic. Mayweather responded to the pressure by simply moving more. But with Castillo always on top of him, Mayweather's movement started to look like running... especially when the only offense to accompany the shuffling was a flicking jab. Midway through the round, Mayweather switched to southpaw and landed his only effective blow of the round: a crisp right uppercut. But the punch didn't stop Castillo, who fired his long right at Mayweather before clipping him with part of a left uppercut. Mayweather was clearly giving Castillo respect, and with good reason: Castillo had gained 13 pounds since the weigh-in, giving him a full weight class of size over Floyd. Mayweather had a nice fifth round, perhaps the only frame in which he adjusted his style to compensate for Castillo's pressure. Mayweather succeeded in picking Castillo off as he came in, leading with left hooks, right hands, and occasionally even throwing his punches in combination. If Mayweather could have put together a few more rounds like this one, the fight might have more closely resembled his bout with Jesus Chavez. Castillo took all of Mayweather's shots with ease, his solid chin showing no dents. Castillo, who again continued to focus mostly on the body, may have lost this round, but he got in the last word. With 10 seconds before the bell, Castillo nailed Mayweather with a beautiful left hook, snapping his head like few opponents ever had. Castillo missed a few other swings and ended up in a clinch with Mayweather. The bell rang to end the round, and Castillo immediately ripped two gigantic left hooks to Mayweather's upper ribs. Mayweather put on his best gangsta face and slapped hands with Castillo after the fouls, but the body shots must have had some effect: Mayweather would only win one more round from here on out. The sixth began very close, with both men throwing and landing clean shots. But while Mayweather's speedy shots were effective, Castillo's thudding blows were the story of the round. Castillo was clearly the harder puncher, and he scored repeatedly to Mayweather's body. More than a few of these downstairs hooks caught Mayweather on or slightly below the beltline, and all of the bodywork visibly bothered the challenger. At one point, with Castillo on top of him, Mayweather turned and complained to the ref about the body shots. Before the ref could respond, Mayweather had slipped to the canvas, showing how unfocused he was. On his feet again, Mayweather could do little more than skate along the edge of the ropes, stopping occasionally to get hit. Castillo landed two solid right crosses before the round was out, perhaps the hardest shots Mayweather has ever taken. Castillo had begun to turn the tide in the sixth and he took full control in the seventh. Mayweather was now in full retreat, using his feet as a mode of transportation away from the incoming. Castillo's own footwork was to be commended, as he repeatedly cut the ring off and trapped Mayweather with his back to the ropes. Again and again and again, Castillo dug to the body with loud, flush shots. Mayweather had no effective answers. Near the end of the round, Castillo uncorked two more big hooks to the side and followed with a slashing right that Mayweather could not avoid. The punch swiveled Mayweather's head and drew a broad smile on his face. The fight was getting closer on the cards. Mayweather needed to bring the action to center ring. Early in the eighth, Mayweather was able to move off the ropes and get some footing over the Budweiser logo. Here, his jab and long punches landed clean. But after a brief rally, Castillo pushed a long right hand into Mayweather's face, snapping his head straight back. This was all it took to send Mayweather back into safety mode. Castillo could not afford to get into a boxing match with Mayweather, and so he continued to press the action. Again, Mayweather frequently found himself on the ropes eating a seemingly endless diet of Castillo body shots. Castillo was so intent on roughing Mayweather up that he frequently ignored referee Vic Drakulich's calls for break by getting in one or two more punches before being physically separated. By the eighth, however, this trick was wearing thin with the ref, and after Castillo brushed Mayweather's face with a blatant post-break hook, Drakulich called time and deducted a point from Castillo. Because of his relentless pressure and high volume of landed body shots, Castillo won the round... but the deduction reduced his effort to a 9-9 on the cards. Mayweather's corner asked their man to attack Castillo at the start of round nine, but it was Castillo who drew first blood. Pinning Mayweather into a neutral corner, Castillo ripped with a huge lead right-left hook combo that shook Mayweather. Floyd responded by simply running. Moving left, then right, Mayweather spent most of the ninth trying to simply not get hit. Occasionally he would flick out a jab or lead with a hook of his own, but Mayweather seemed to have little more than survival on his mind in this stanza. No matter which way he went, however, Castillo was within range. The pressure being applied by the champion was impressive, but in this round his accuracy failed him. With Mayweather offering little beyond the occasional pick-off, Castillo really only needed a few clean shots to bank another 10-9. Unfortunately for Castillo, those punches didn't come, and Mayweather eked out a much-needed round with his potshots. Castillo was doing a pretty good job recreating the style of his mentor, Julio Cesar Chavez. Pressuring Mayweather to the ropes, Castillo repeatedly gave himself opportunities to score. Again and again, Mayweather would be trapped against the wires, allowing Castillo a free swing or two before Mayweather could move to another side of the ring. Often, Mayweather ducked the most lethal of Castillo's attempts... but the body shots continued to land clean and Castillo found Mayweather's chin more often than any of his previous foes. Mayweather didn't appreciate the pressure he was under, and had begun shoving Castillo off with his elbow when he got too close. Drakulich began warning Mayweather of this foul early in the round. Near the end of the round, Castillo again had Mayweather on the ropes and landed a heavy left uppercut/hook and a right cross. Mayweather responded by throwing his right forearm into Castillo's nose, restarting the blood flow. A second later, Mayweather was again warned about the elbow/forearm use, and two seconds after that Mayweather did it again. Drakulich stopped the action and now deducted a point from Mayweather. The fouls had now cancelled each other out, although this one changed Castillo's 10-9 into a more lucrative 10-8 round. The fight was now even on the Boxing Chronicle scorecard, although Castillo had long since established control of the momentum and pace. Now in the championship rounds, it was do or die time for Mayweather. Needing a new tactic to combat Castillo's inertia, Mayweather now opted to plant his feet and left Castillo run into him at center ring instead of push him back to the ropes. The result was most of the eleventh round being fought on the inside. Cheek to cheek, Mayweather and Castillo leaned on each other in center ring and waged a brutal inside war. For the first minute of the battle, it was all Castillo, as the champion showed a fluid deftness at inside work, hammering Mayweather to the body and head. Mayweather rallied in the second minute of this new battle, by stepping back a half step and finding just enough range to fire punches in groups of two and three. As Mayweather began to move his arms, Castillo returned to the body, landing hooks and jabs to Mayweather's midsection over and over and over again. As the seconds clicked away, Mayweather's efforts looked to be making this another close round. But just before the bell sounded, Castillo dipped his knees slightly and then shot up with a long uppercut. The punch caught Mayweather on the chin and snapped his head straight back. The punch drew a gasp from the pro-Mayweather crowd and gave Castillo the close round. Mayweather was trailing on the unofficial Boxing Chronicle scorecard and had to know that the fight was close. He needed to win the final round big. Instead, he hardly mounted an effort. In fact, the first minute of the twelfth was largely uneventful. Castillo finally began throwing punches at the halfway point... and Mayweather didn't. Castillo was clearly tired, but his face bore a look of sheer determination. His punches in the final round weren't as hard as some of his earlier shots, but it was clear that he was digging deep to mount the effort. For his part, Mayweather simply coasted, jabbing occasionally, holding when he could, and doing next to nothing to demonstrate that he wanted 10 points. It was a pretty shabby display from a man who claims to be pound-for-pound best. The bell finally rang, and both fighters took a moment to get in an extra punch before each raised their hands in victory. But while Castillo shots his arms in the air and began jumping in place, Mayweather meekly raised his arms and shuffled back to his corner a defeated man. The final tally on the Boxing Chronicle card was 114-112 for Castillo, a tally that reads much closer than the fight actually looked. So dominant was Castillo down the stretch, and so passive was Mayweather at times, that nothing seemed odd when Michael Buffer announced that the judges had scored the bout 115-111, 115-111 and 116-111. And then there were those awful words: "And NEW..." Castillo had been robbed. This was a completely bogus decision, and one that will absolutely knock Mayweather's name off the pound-for-pound list. With Forrest, Hopkins, Jones, Barrera, Tszyu, Austin, Ayala, Mosley, Lopez and Morales (not to mention DelaHoya, Vargas, Trinidad, Tapia, or Morel), there simply isn't room on the list for a light-hitting runner who couldn't move up five pounds and beat an easy-to-hit brawler. Mayweather may keep his pristine record (now 28-0/20) and add another WBC belt to his collection... but he has suffered a serious setback. After the fight, Mayweather repeatedly claimed that a shoulder injury only left him with one arm (of course, he also repeatedly claimed that he had no excuses)... but he also downplayed talk of a rematch. Unfortunately for Mayweather, a rematch will be the only way he can restore his standing. The likely next Mayweather opponent won't be Castillo, but the man Castillo conquered, two-time lightweight champ Stevie Johnston. Unfortunately for Mayweather, Johnston didn't look his age on the undercard. Instead he looked fresh as ever during a one-sided boxing contest against former featherweight titlist Cobrita Gonzalez. After a bit of a slow start, which included a Gonzalez left hook in round two that seriously wobbled Johnston, the former champ got into a rhythm. Johnston set it all up with one of the most versatile jabs in all of boxing. Sometimes his stick was a mere range-finder for his crisp, accurate left cross. Other times, Johnston would stuff the jab into Gonzalez' face with force. Still other times, Johnston would triple up on the jab, throwing three distinct jabs in combination, getting a slightly different angle on each shot. Despite spending a week of his training camp in the clink (Johnston was way behind on child support payments), Little But Bad looked as good as ever. He retains decent hand speed, can still box circles around most guys, and still looks like he can make 135 with ease. Against Gonzalez, Johnston threw a variety of punches, including some great body shots and a wicked right hook. Even now, on the backside of his career, Johnston might prove to be a serious challenge to Floyd Mayweather... especially if this lackluster version of the Pretty Boy shows up in the ring again. .....Chris Bushnell (Please send comments to us at: BoxingChronicle@aol.com)