Eliseo Castillo (born April 29, 1975) is a Cuban former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 1996 to 2009, holding the NABO cruiserweight title in 2006. He is the younger brother of Heavyweight boxer Elieser Castillo.

Amateur career

From the ages of 12 through 16, he trained to box through the Cuban state government's amateur boxing program. (This is the same program that produced such boxing legends as Teofilo Stevenson, Félix Savón,

Joel Casamayor Joel Casamayor Johnson (born July 12, 1971) is a Cuban American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2011. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA super featherweight title from 2000 to 2002; and th ...

, and

Juan Carlos Gomez ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philippi ...

.) Despite winning the vast majority of his approximately 90 amateur bouts in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, the young fighter could not manage to capture an international title.

Defection from Cuba

At the age of 17, Eliseo Castillo escaped from Cuba on a raft with his brothers Elieser (a very well known fellow Heavyweight boxer) and Eliades and two other friends. The group spent five days at sea before they drifted ashore in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. Soon thereafter, they were returned to Guantanamo Bay. After 18 months of processing the group was allowed to emigrate to the United States. He then moved to

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Professional career

At the age of 20, he began his professional career as a boxer. His first bout was against Anthony Mack (who was also making his professional debut that evening) on February 24, 1996. Castillo won the bout via first-round knockout. He fought off-and-on into the new millennium, at one time even taking 3 years off from the sport. Though his career had been spotty, he still managed to remain undefeated up until April 2005. The only blemish on his record up until that point was a draw to Terry Pitts (who later changed his name to Sajad Abdul Aziz) on November 13, 1998, at the famed Mahi Shrine Temple Auditorium in Miami. Aziz was able to score knockdowns in both the 4th and 5th rounds, but Castillo fought back and secured a majority draw. These fights were at cruiserweight. His biggest victory came on July 3, 2004, against former Heavyweight champion

Michael Moorer Michael Lee Moorer (born November 12, 1967) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2008. He won a world championship on four occasions in two weight classes, having held the WBO light heavyweight title from 1988 t ...

at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. He beat the former champion by a unanimous decision in their 10-round bout. This brought him some level of attention from the boxing press and garnered for him a fight with

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...

the following year. At 2:51 in the fourth round, Klitschko was declared the victor after referee Daniel Van de Wiele stopped the fight. Shortly after the fight with Klitschko, Castillo moved back down to the Cruiserweight division. He won two straight since the Klitschko loss and was KOd by, the then undefeated,

Johnathon Banks Johnathon Banks is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2014. He held the IBO cruiserweight title from 2008 to 2009 and challenged once for the IBF cruiserweight title in 2009. He currently works as a boxing train ...

on July 26, 2006.

Professional boxing record

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Hallandale, Florida Hallandale Beach (formerly known simply as Hallandale) is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is named after Luther Halland, the son of a Swedish people, Swedish worker for Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railr ...

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Eliseo 1975 births Living people Cuban male boxers Boxers from Havana Cruiserweight boxers