Jose Luis Castillo is the lightweight version of Rodney Dangerfield. First, he downs the highly respected Stevie Johnston in June of 2000 to capture the WBC lightweight title. Only to make his first defense of that title against Johnston in his hometown of Denver, Colorado. In effect, he was being used as an opponent despite being the champion.

He would go 24 nip-and-tuck rounds against Johnston and came away with a win and a draw. Yet, some still insist he lost both fights. Then he would blast out Cesar Bazan (who had gone 24 grueling rounds with Johnston himself) in six action packed rounds. But people don't seem to bring that up too much as that strong showing was overshadowed by Floyd Mayweather's mastery of Diego Corrales later that night.

This past April he would give Mayweather the fight of his life -- only to lose a controversial decision and his championship belt. But instead of being lauded for his effort against 'the Pretty Boy' the talk was that Mayweather wasn't focused and didn't bring his 'A' game. The conventional wisdom is that a more serious and respectful Mayweather will easily dispatch Castillo the second time around this upcoming Saturday night.

I tell ya', I tell ya', no respect.

It says here that Castillo is one of the most improved fighters in the world the past few years and one of the best dozen or so fighters in the world pound-for-pound. He shouldn't just be known for being the former sparring of the great Julio Cesar Chavez. Castillo is a strong, durable and seasoned fighter who has come into his own.

He is hitting his physical prime -- as he will turn 29 a week after his rematch with Mayweather -- and is an experienced veteran of the fight game. Remember, he turned pro in May of 1990, just seven months before he turned 17. And after taking some early losses (most notably getting stopped by Cesar Soto in two rounds in 1993 and dropping a pair of fights to Javier Jauregui in the mid-'90s), Castillo would come into his first bout with Mayweather having won 22 out of is last 24 fights. He came into the sport as a kid, and now he's full-fledged man.

Mayweather was supposed to have easily out-boxed Castillo in their first encounter with his uncommon blend of speed and quickness. And things did start out well for Mayweather who was able to use those advantages early on to pepper Castillo with jabs and straight right hands. It looked early on that it would be a game of pitch and catch with Castillo doing his impersonation of Yogi Berra. But around the third and fourth rounds, something funny happened. Castillo figured out that Mayweather, for all his advantages in speed couldn't really hurt him.

Pretty soon, Mayweather's boxing became a full retreat and by the middle rounds he was no longer boxing at the center of the ring but rather getting on his bicylce and circling the perimeter.

One of the more underated aspects of Castillo's performance that night was that he was able to neutralize Mayweather's advantages in speed by simply using his own jab to off-set Mayweather's own quicksilver spear. While his jab was nowhere as quick as Mayweathers, it was much heavier and he had Mayweather on the outside for large portions of the fight. Also, while Mayweather and his camp had derided Castillo for his lack of defensive prowess, Castillo didn't just serve as a sponge for on-coming punches. No, he'll never be Willie Pep but he did do a decent job of tucking his chin in and moving his head.

Perhaps Mayweather made an error by not taking any interim bouts at lightweight prior to facing Castillo but it was clear that Castillo's strength and size surprised him. Where he could once hold his own physically with any 130-pounder, the five pound weight difference seemed to hinder him. Also, Castillo came into the bout after the weigh-in right around 147 pounds, so Mayweather wasn't just fighting a lightweight, he was fighting a welterweight.

And with Castillo being able to walk through whatever Mayweather threw at him, he was able to steadily walk him down and pound him to the body. And this realization from Castillo that came in the early rounds of their first encounter will be his biggest aid in the return bout. Simply put, in the opening rounds in April, Castillo seemed hesitant and apprehensive to let his hands go for the fear of getting countered. Now, he probably figures, 'If this guy can't hurt me, why even be worried about it? Just keep coming forward and throw punches'.

And don't buy this rhetoric that Mayweather thought that their first fight was an easy one. Just the fact that he was reluctant to face Castillo in Los Angeles in August -- because of the heavy Mexican population in that city -- is an admission that he felt that the first fight was a tough one and that the second time around may not be any easier.

And don't forget about those intangibles that can swing a fight in either direction. Castillo seems as though he's as stable a person as you'll come across. On the flip side, Mayweather always seems to have some turbulence in his life, whether it's with his promoter, his father, his baby's mammas and now reportedly with his current manager James Prince. It's pretty much a given that Castillo will be 100-percent focused coming into the rematch, we can't be so sure of that with Mayweather.

And with that he is still one of the game's best boxers, no doubt about it. And he may do enough to win the rematch, but it's no sure thing. After all, he may have not won the first fight.

BIG TIME VS. THE DOC

I don't think there's much debate (if there was any at all) about who may have been pumping Fernando Vargas' system full of steroids prior to his bout with Oscar De La Hoya when the news broke that Mazen Ali -- who was hired by Vargas as his nutritionist about a month before the fight -- was arrested for felony assault and kidnapping and that in a raid of his gym that steroids were found.

It's hard to forget in the post-fight aftermath of Vargas' knockout loss to De La Hoya that John Philbin -- who had been the physical conditioner of Vargas for the past two-and-half-years -- resigning due to philosophical differences with Ali. Philbin would make his announcement at the post-fight press conference where he gave his reasons for leaving Vargas. One of the reasons he gave was the work of Ali, who was recommended to Vargas by Jameel McCline and Omar Sheika.

McCline, who fights Wladimir Klitschko in Las Vegas on the Mayweather-Castillo II card, was in attendance at the Mandalay Bay that night. As Philbin would make his exit from the stage he would be confronted by McCline.

Now, as this was going on, the triumphant Oscar De La Hoya would arrive to talk about his big victory. So as the focus shifted to De La Hoya and members of the media were eagerly asking their questions, I happened to be where McCline would come up to Philbin. And trust me, this would be much more enthralling or entertaining than what Oscar had to say.

McCline, is called 'Big Time' for a reason -- he's big, about 6-6, 250 pounds of muscle. Philbin is no small fry in his own right either as he goes about 6-3 and around 220 pounds. For about 10-15 minutes they would have a heated conversation about Ali, training for fights and what occured with Vargas prior to the De La Hoya fight. McCline, who was a client of Ali, was there to stick up for his man. Philbin was there to stick up for himself.

It never got close to becoming physical or anything like that, but to see two big guys like that look a each other eye-to-eye and state their case, was engrossing.

In the ensuing aftermath of his resignation many had derided Philbin as having a case of sour grapes and saving his own hide. But in light of what has happened with Vargas' positive steroid test and the recent legal troubles of Ali, I'd venture to say that Philbin has been fully vindicated.

As for McCline, I think it'd be safe to say that Ali is no longer a part of his team. But it will still be interesting to see how he tests out with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

TELEFUTURA FURY

It was another solid edition of 'Solo Boxeo' this past Friday night from El Paso, Texas. First there was a huge upset as Ray Sanchez, who came into the nigh with a record of 8-0, would get stopped by Juan Jose Mendez.

Mendez, who came into the bout with a mark of 8-6-2, was brought in as your typical opponent and Sanchez, who hails from Alburquerque, New Mexico, was thought of as a bright prospect. Mendez, who was at least three inches shorter than Sanchez, would land a devastating left hook to the chin of Sanchez that would send the young jr. welterweight prospect to the canvas at the end of round three. Sanchez would survive round four but his corner would mercifully halt the bout as he was taking a beating throughout. It just goes to show you that prospects are really 'suspects' until proven otherwise.

The main event would see IBF flyweight king Irene Pacheco successfully hold off the game challenge of Alejandro Montiel.

It was an entertaining battle that saw Pacheco dominate early on with his size, reach and speed. With Montiel getting back into it by backing up his larger opponent on the ropes and banging away to the body -- and oftentimes much lower than that. But it was apparent that Montiel was simply outgunned by the bigger man.

Although the scores were a bit lopsided (117-110, 115-112 and 118-109) it was still a pretty damn good fight.

FINAL FLURRIES

Congrats to Mo Harris on winning 'the Fistful of Dollars'. This guy really is the ultimate boxing survivor. He wins $100,000 and is probably a couple of wins away from making some serious money again.... Of course, sources tell me that half of that 100 grand will be paid in 45 days and with the state of Cedric Kushner's company, Harris shouldn't count his money quite yet... So according to our man Kevin Iole, it's the latest, newest, reformed Mike Tyson, huh? This guy has reinvented himself more than Madonna... A couple of nights ago while flipping through some channels I happened to run across a showing of 'ThunderBox'. I've got to say, it simply is one of the most embarrasing things I've ever seen. Here are a bunch of fighters putting their lives on the line and they're making a mockery of the fights. It's so bad that it makes the "KO'd Nation" look respectable.