By Ian S Palmer
Former WBA Super World Middleweight Champion Callum Smith of Liverpool, England will be taking on Lenin Castillo of the Dominican Republic at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London this Saturday, Sept. 25th. Smith lost this belt in his third defence when he dropped a unanimous decision to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez last December. He’ll now be fighting as a light heavyweight in this 12-round bout against Castillo. The fight can be seen on DAZN in most nations while those in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports Box Office. Castillo was last in the ring in July when he stopped Ronald Gonzalez after four rounds. Smith originally won his super middleweight belt by stopping George Groves in the seventh round of the World Boxing Super Series Final in September, 2018.
The 31-year-old Smith has a fine record of 27-1 with 19 Ko’s. He’s definitely big enough for the light heavyweight division as he stands 6-feet-3-inches tall with a 78-inch reach. Smith enjoyed a fine amateur career and was once the British Super Welterweight Champion as an amateur. Since turning pro in 2012 he’s fought 146 rounds but other than Alvarez, Groves and Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, he hasn’t really taken on anybody else who resembles a Grade A boxer.
Smith has also beaten the likes of Nieky Holzken, Erik Skoglund, Luke Blackledge, Norbert Nemesapati, Cesar Hernan Reynoso, Rocky Fielding and Christopher Rebrasse with a highly controversial decision against John Ryder in 2019 also thrown in there. Smith has displayed pretty good power up to now with a current knockout ratio of 67.9 per cent. Smith has also been an English, British, European, WBC International and WBC Silver Champion since turning pro.
Castillo’s a 33-year-old with a record of 21-3-1 with 16 Kos. He’s 6-feet-2-inches tall with a 76-inch reach which puts him an inch shorter than Smith with a two-inch reach disadvantage. Castillo’s best known for his shot a Dmitry Bivol’s WBA Light Heavyweight title in 2019 when he dropped a wide unanimous decision. Castillo’s boxed 105 rounds since turning pro in 2010.
He enjoyed a fine amateur career and fought at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China as a welterweight. Castillo won the vacant WBO NABO Light Heavyweight Title in 2018 with a ninth-round stoppage over Aaron Mitchell. His other defeats came to Joseph Williams by majority decision in 2017 and to Marcus Browne by unanimous decision in August, 2018 while his draw was an eight-rounder with Travis Peterkin in 2015.
Castillo has pretty good power himself with a current knockout ratio of 64 per cent. His biggest wins as a pro have been against Mitchell, John Cortez, Andy Perez, Jose Miguel Torres, Emilio Calletano and Eduardo Mercedes. He also stopped John Cortez in the second round in 2018 to win the WBO Latino Light Heavyweight Title.
Prediction…
Smith showed a lot of toughness against Alvarez in his loss but he’ll need to throw more punches this weekend to have success against Castillo instead of being on the defensive. He has the height, reach and power to accomplish it and needs to hit and hurt Castillo early and often to test his chin and make him think twice about attacking. Castilo should give it a good shot but I think he’ll fall just short. defeat.
