Castillo a shell of former self

It was as if Willie Mays had traded in his New York Mets baseball cap for a pair of boxing gloves.

There was Jose Luis Castillo, the once-great champion, slipping and stumbling around the Thomas & Mack Center ring Saturday, waiting for Ricky Hatton to end the fight.

Castillo used to be the one who stalked his prey. This time, he was the one hunted down as Hatton leveled him with a left hook to the ribs 2:16 into the fourth round of their scheduled 12-round IBO super lightweight title fight.

Castillo, stunned by the blow, remained on his feet for three seconds and then dropped to a knee near Hatton's corner. Referee Joe Cortez began the count, and Castillo was in obvious pain. He never beat the 10 count as Hatton (43-0) knocked him out.

"I'd like to send an apology to all the fans I let down," Castillo said through an interpreter after the loss, which dropped his record to 55-8-1. "I am very sad and disappointed in the way I lost tonight."

Top Rank president Bob Arum, Castillo's promoter, feared going into the fight that Castillo may be reaching the end of the line, and Saturday's performance, which had him behind on all three judges' scorecards through three rounds, supported Arum's assertion.

"After a defeat like this, it's best to regroup and talk to the fighter," Arum said when asked if Castillo had a future inside the ring at age 33. "You can't make a hasty decision tonight."

Castillo never hurt Hatton and got in only a couple of clean shots with a left jab and a left hook.

From early on he clearly wasn't in a position to beat the 28-year-old from Manchester, England. In the opening round Hatton swung and missed, only to have Castillo hit the deck.

Castillo, who has had trouble making the 140-pound weight limit, made weight Friday. When he hasn't, as was the case when he was scheduled to fight the late Diego Corrales for the third time in June 2006, the Nevada Athletic Commission fined Castillo $250,000 and suspended him for the rest of the year.

Arum is convinced his fighter hasn't been the same since.

"When I made those statements about the commission being Draconian, I wasn't kidding," Arum said of his comments from a year ago. "It was like a death sentence for Castillo. You can't be gone that long at his age."

Castillo, who had fought only twice since his second controversial fight with Corrales on Oct. 8, 2005, looked gone Saturday. He was a mere shell of his former self, much the way Mays was at the end of his career as he stumbled around the Shea Stadium outfield as a Met trying to corral fly balls.

Whether Castillo will do as Mays did and leave the game remains to be seen. On Saturday, he didn't sound as if he was ready to quit.

"I don't decide whether I fight. Bob does," Castillo said.

Arum said he will sleep on it but probably is leaning toward having Castillo retire.

"We'll see," Arum said. "Like I said, you don't want to rush a decision this important."