Denise Castle's Quest For Justice...and the WBC Atomweight Title

 

There is good reason why boxing is often likened to the Wild West. Several reasons, come to think of it, not least of which what an egregious integrant to the landscape thievery is within both realms. So commonplace as to cross the border into parody. Incompetent or partisan officials seated at ringside scoring tables are the new masked bandits on horseback sticking up innocent victims at high noon.

Of course, just because playing fast and loose with the rules is part of the scenery that can’t be painted over with a few effortless brushstrokes doesn’t mean it should be accepted with a casual shrug of the shoulders, or that the purveyors of these injustices be permitted to ride off into the sunset unencumbered by the consequences of their actions. Or inaction. Take your pick. Sometimes they’re one and the same.

Anybody who implies that a boxer should “just deal with it” or “stop being a crybaby” because they participate in this unquestionably crooked sport of their own free will does so from the perspective of a keyboard warrior know-it-all who obviously does something for a living that doesn’t involve getting repeatedly punched in the face. Are there occurrences of sour grapes or sore losers of the vintage “We wuz robbed” variety? No doubt about it. But that argument fails to stand beneath the weight of carefully considered evidence so overwhelming in its veracity that it cannot be ignored or laughed off with some sort of snarky quip.

Think about it. The very fact that these men and women, cognizant of the risks inherent to their chosen vocation, sacrifice their bodies and brain cells for their shot at immortality or even short-lived glory, not to mention for our entertainment, is instantly and undeniably worthy of your respect, if not admiration. At the bare minimum, a fighting chance at being treated fair and square. Unfortunate as it is, fighting for title belts occupies the same domain as fighting for accountability in a sport which has been known to all too often reek with the stench of malfeasance.

Consider the case of Denise Castle, 51-year-old atomweight fighting out of Bournemouth, Great Britain who somehow manages to balance her boxing career with working two jobs and caring for three daughters. Repeatedly denied a license by the BBBofC based on what can only be categorized as age discrimination, Denise has been forced into the unenviable position of a road warrior constantly fighting in her opponents’ homelands or on supposedly neutral ground. Her last bout being no exception, Castle journeyed to Dubai on March 26 of this year where she came out on the wrong end of a split decision to Filipina Norj Guro in an eight-round battle for the vacant WBC Silver title. 

“Denise worked up until Wednesday, flew in on Thursday, weighed in Friday, fought Saturday, flew home Sunday, and took the kids to school Monday,” her husband and trainer Lorne detailed matter-of-factly. This summary provides a fleeting glimpse into the intricacies of a fighting life for a woman who wears many different hats on any given day. It goes without saying that there’s much more to the story.  

Formerly an elite long-distance runner representing the team assembled by her then-employer Chase Manhattan Bank, Denise (maiden name Mellor) would pound the pavement for six miles every morning and lift weights during her lunch breaks in preparation for competing in both the London and New York City Marathons.

This is the point at which Denise’s life path intersected serendipitously with that of Lorne Castle, a Muay Thai instructor who had himself run the London Marathon as part of the Global Gym Fitness First team. Denise became his running partner. Lorne became her Muay Thai trainer. The rest, as they say, is history. Not to mention a love story.

Denise dispatched her first five opponents, collecting the UK National Muay Thai championship in the process, and never took a backward glance. A mere eight weeks after giving birth to their daughter Leah, she was back in the ring competing for the Muay Thai International Title, losing on points in a competitive fight to Patti Teran of Las Vegas who Denise would defeat in their rematch one year later to take the International Title.

She would go on to collect multiple championships in the discipline of Muay Thai and take third place in the Miss UK Fitness competition along the way. In 2013, Castle was recognized by the WBC as their Inspirational Female Athlete of the Year. As if you needed more convincing as to the kind of awe-inspiring physical condition Denise is in, she once set a new course record in a 10k marathon in the morning before flying to Belfast, Ireland to participate in a five-round title fight that evening. So, there’s that.

“Her experience developed in Muay Thai paid dividends,” says Lorne regarding Denise’s 2014 transition to prizefighting. “This is a similar but different sport. The head is not the main target. Her entrance into professional boxing at a late age meant that she had plenty to offer safely.”

Nevertheless, Castle ran into an immediate and imposing stumbling block in the form of the British Boxing Board of Control. The lengths to which she has had to go in order to circumnavigate this impediment have been as substantial as they have been costly.

“I am angry with not being supported for a fight license in my home country,” Denise tells me. “The Board have belittled me, similar to a bullying tactic. I feel I have lost out on being able to fight in my own country, which in turn has negated any ability to get recognition and sponsorship. They don’t look at me as an individual, all they looked at was my age. That’s not right. I can fight anywhere in the world but my home country. My biological age is far lower than my chronological age, and never once in any fight have I put in a bad round.”

Time and again, Castle has complied with every standard procedure credible applicants must be put through, and met with only resistance. “I have passed all the enhanced medicals required by the WBC for athletes over 35 years, yet that wasn’t even considered in my home country. They wouldn’t even support me,” laments Denise. “They insisted I pay. As soon as I paid, they sent a letter saying they would not support me, and no refund would be given.”

(Denise with 'The Incredible Hulk' Lou Ferrigno) 

By necessity, Denise made the first two entries in the ledger of her pro boxing career with a pair of stoppages in Thailand, a first-round knockout of Dorkmaipa Keangpompetch (3-2) and a sixth-round TKO victory over Saranyaphong Theinthong just two days later.

In only her third outing as a professional pugilist, Castle was given a shot at the WBC world atomweight title on April 2, 2014. Legendary Japanese southpaw Momo Koseki was the first and, at that time, only WBC 102-pound champion, having laid claim to the inaugural title seven years prior when she decisioned Chirawadee Srisuk.

Koseki put an end to Denise’s first world championship bid in the eighth round of a Tokyo slugfest and would successfully defend her title eighteen times before relinquishing the belt to fight for—and win—the WBC world minimumweight title and retiring shortly thereafter in 2017, which was also when Castle gave birth to her daughter Savannah.       

With the world atomweight title now vacant, the WBC saw more than enough merit in Denise, who had been away from the ring for a little more than four years at that point, to grant her a second opportunity to fight for the belt, opposite undefeated Fabiana Bytyqi, in the Czech Republic contender’s backyard as was standard operating procedure for the globetrotting Castle. This action-packed scrap lasted the full distance with Bytyqi emerging victorious in what was deemed the 2018 WBC Female Fight of the Year. No chicanery. No excuses. An honest to goodness defeat which the soft-spoken Castle accepted with her customary humility.

Denise returned to Thailand in October 2019 where she again enjoyed a fruitful trip by stopping Bangkok’s Sutthinee Bamrungpao in the fifth round to win the vacant WIBA atomweight world title. It would be two and a half years before Castle would be back in the squared circle.

Now with three daughters to care for—aged 24, 16, and 5—Denise also works two day jobs. She is a Health and Fitness coach in the Physical Education department at the Bournemouth Girls Grammar School where she also teaches Boxing as a subject for GCSE (General Certificate for Secondary Education) and, as Lorne was quick to point out, “is an inspiration to many.” Denise is additionally employed by the Bournemouth University Fitness Department. These considerable responsibilities notwithstanding, the now 51-year-old and fit-as-a-fiddle Denise Castle is determined to forge ahead with her boxing career and take care of what she considers unfinished business. “Denise just lives and loves the sport,” affirms Lorne.

Back in March, not quite at the midway point between her 50^th and 51^st birthdays, Denise was offered the co-main event fight for the WBC Silver atomweight belt mentioned at the beginning of this story. A win may well have put her on the fast track to a rematch with Fabiana Bytyqi, who, four years later, still holds the world title.  

Knowing that she would have to soldier forward without the backing of the BBBofC, Castle once again took to the skies for a journey abroad. Dubai to be precise, where she would take on Norj Guro (11-6-1) of the Philippines. Unbeknownst to Lorne and Denise at the time, this spelled trouble before their wheels even touched down at Dubai International Airport. They would find out soon enough. “The Filipino community is the second largest community in the UAE,” Lorne informed me, having learned the hard way. “We were told it was a neutral country. Our bad.”

A 32-year-old southpaw, Norj Guro has been fighting since 2011 and came into Dubai with a record of 11-7-1. Four of her eleven wins had come by way of knockout, and she had been stopped three times herself, which reveals two elemental truths right off the bat. Guro can hit, but she can also be hit. The draw was the result of a technical decision when Nuro’s 2012 bout against Leslie Domingo was stopped in the first round due to Domingo suffering the effects of a headbutt. The clash of heads was declared accidental but, as we shall see, there is more than enough proof to call that into question although we’re not here to litigate that specific decision. It’s the injustice done to Denise Castle we are concerned with now.     

Mere moments into her fight with Guro, Denise is cuffed behind the neck by Norj’s left hand for several seconds as the two engage at close quarters after coming together at center ring. Guro doesn’t take advantage of this opportunity to throw anything, and Denise punches her way out of the illegal clutch. This happens again not ten seconds later and will occur many more times throughout the course of the bout without a reprimand of any kind. Keeping count beyond this point would be strictly academic. But take note of it regardless. The referee obviously didn’t.

“I found that so frustrating. From the early rounds I was surprised at the lack of enforcement action from the ref. I felt something wasn’t right, as so many fouls were allowed. I have fought at world level many times before and this was so different,” commented Denise. “There were times I had to even shout at the ref for him to stop Norj from holding. I have never had to do that before. I was there to fight, not fight and officiate.”

Much worse and more egregious than the holding and cuffing, however, was Guro’s repeated headbutting. This the referee could not ignore, issuing his first warning in the second round for blatant use of the head. That said, thanks to her effective counterpunching and aggressive body work, Guro came away with the edge in the first two frames, which even Denise will admit.

“I knew at that point Norj had won rounds one and two, as her tactic was to try and finish me early as my stamina was known to be superior,” Denise says. “However, after round two I had her worked out and that’s when I started to make the fight mine.” Any impartial observer viewing the fight film will be left with little choice but to see eye to eye with Denise on this. Two of the three ringside judges saw things quite the opposite, from what will prove to be a very skewed perspective.     

“After round four, when the open scoring was passed and I saw that I was down when I and Lorne knew it should be even, a real rush of disappointment fell in as I knew that no matter how hard I then fought I was fighting against more than just Norj,” attests Denise. “I knew by round four, I had two and she had two rounds. Yet the score cards said different, and that’s hard. I had to go back out there with that on my mind. That’s a factor that organizations need to consider with open scoring, as it can affect a fighter if they know the wrong scores are being given.”

As fatigue and desperation visibly begin to set in for Guro, the fouls really start piling up, resulting in two additional warnings for headbutting in the fourth round alone. “I felt it was clear that Norj was getting frustrated when her tactic of finishing me early wasn’t working, and that’s why she then started fouling continuously,” Denise theorizes, speaking from firsthand experience. “That frustration should have shown to the judges. How can a fighter win when their most successful tactic is fouling?”

Good question without a satisfactory answer unfortunately, especially since there seems to be no doubt about the fact that Castle starts to take command from the third round forward, and Guro has little to offer by way of response to being outsmarted and outhustled other than unsportsmanlike conduct. Here is where we encounter some semantic gray area.

Conventional wisdom has pretty much always dictated that a referee will first “caution” an offending fighter for an infraction, deliberate or otherwise. A boxer who has been “cautioned” three times, will next be issued an official “warning,” for which a point is to be deducted on the occasion of each repeat offense.

When it comes to the handling of fouls during championship fights, the somewhat obscure WBC rules state that warnings and point deductions are left to the discretion of the referee. In this case, Robert Verwijs, an 18-year veteran from the Netherlands with 174 fights under his belt as of this writing. Verwijs, who has been on the job long enough to display at least a basic competency for officiating, created further needless bewilderment in the penultimate stanza.     

“Round seven confused me. I felt and knew I had hurt Norj with a couple of straight shots, and so when the ref sent me to the neutral corner I genuinely thought he was stopping the fight, as there are no standing eight counts in female boxing,” states Denise. “Yet he just spoke with her and then continued the fight. I still await official confirmation of exactly what happened there.”  

Indeed, just prior to this incident Verwijs seemed to be keeping a very close watch on Guro with an eye toward potentially stepping in to wave off the fight after she absorbed several unanswered head shots. And yet the expression on his face as he addresses Guro is stern which leads you to believe that she was receiving her fourth admonishment, in other words a “warning” which should have brought about a point deduction. No clarification was forthcoming from Verwijs, neither in the moment nor since then.

“By round eight, Norj was throwing nothing and not even coming forward at all,” recounts Denise. “I felt I finished rounds seven and eight very strong, yet on two judges’ scorecards I lost round eight. I don’t understand that at all.” Again, simple scrutiny of the fight footage corroborates Denise’s evaluation of her performance and strongly supports her suspicions regarding funny business among the officials. Not so funny to Denise, of course.

“I felt it was a tough fight, but only because of the continuous fouls. Nothing hurt me at all from Norj boxing, and the only marks I had were from Norj’s head,” she says in her closing argument. “I felt dominant throughout. I held the center and believed that it was clear Norj was backing off and the fight was clearly mine. The effectiveness of my shots meant that the fight was my fight. The only way that was broken was through Norj’s fouls which shouldn’t have been allowed or scored. I felt I won.”

Mike Hayel was the only one of the three ringside judges who concurred with Denise’s assessment, awarding her the pivotal last two rounds and, thus, the decision by a 79-76 tally. Gary Kitanoski, who ruled 77-75 in favor of Norj Guro, is seen making unusual hand gestures before the beginning of round eight. This was brought to the attention of WBC Supervisor Oksana Semenishina, former Miss Lithuania and translator to Don Sulaiman, but has still yet to be addressed.       

Edwin Aliong, a UAE native of Philippine descent who judged the bout in favor of Guro by a margin of 78-74 had posted a photo of the fight poster on his personal Facebook page three days prior with a caption reading “Support our Filipina boxer.” So much for fair and balanced officiating. 

Oksana Semenishina admitted to Lorne immediately after the bout that Aliong’s score was “wide and not right.” However, she was dismissive when confronted by Castle regarding Guro’s repeated rule violations. “I am not sure how many fouls there were, sorry,” she responded to Lorne. “Yes, maybe one point should have been deducted but that would not change the result.” Having filed her report without watching a replay, Semenishina upheld Aliong’s suspect score and Guro’s split decision victory.    

In the role of Supervisor, Semenishina herself should have been paying undivided attention to the fight from her ringside seat. Instead, during the eighth and deciding round, she can be seen frequently focusing her gaze not on the action in the ring but on the man with whom she is conversing.

(left to right, Judge Gary Kitanoski, Jose Mohan, WBC Supervisor Oksana Semenishina)

The individual in question, seated between Semenishina and judge Gary Kitanoski, is Jose Mohan, the Dubai boxing commissioner who is also a manager and promoter with direct links to the WBC. The conflict of interest stems largely from the fact that Mohan additionally owns and operates the Round 10 Boxing Club, a Philippine gym located behind Dubai’s Times Square Mall where Norj Guro prepared for the fight against Denise, as evidenced in the photos posted to the social media account of Round 10’s head trainer, Jun Paderna, who worked Guro’s corner that night.     

“By the end I genuinely thought it was a clear win to Denise, as did the other foreign fighters who were on the show and next to us,” Lorne tells me. “Yet when Norj was announced winner I was disgusted, and we launched an appeal immediately with the WBC. I was amazed and saddened with the whole event and believed that the appeal we sent was clear and supported our concerns.” 

Accountability was not a top priority for referee Robert Verwijs either. Upon paying a perfunctory post-fight visit to Castle’s changing room, Lorne says that he told Denise, “What do you expect? You come to a country like this, you have to knock them out to win.” Not surprisingly, this didn’t sit well with them. “We were shocked,” exclaims Lorne. “He protected Norj. We were genuinely shocked. It was so clear Denise had just been robbed, and he is trying to protect his actions.”

For what it’s worth, even though the WBC seem to stand behind the original fight result, if not unanimously that is, they did order a rematch set for 2023 with the date and venue still to be determined. The official press release announcing the rematch was posted on October 24, coincidentally Denise’s 51^st birthday which made the news at least a timely consolation prize and the very least they could do in an attempt to set things right. It is hoped that bringing awareness to the injustice of the first fight will have a direct effect on the neutrality of the location and officials chosen for the rematch. 

In the meantime, Norj Guro was given the opportunity to compete for the vacant WBO Asia Pacific minimumweight title in Sakai, Japan on November 27, a fight she lost to Riyuna Yoshikawa by unanimous decision. If Denise emerges victorious in her return bout against Guro early next year, winning the WBC Silver atomweight belt would make her boxing’s oldest female titleholder. This distinction currently belongs to Alicia ‘Slick’ Ashley, who was sixty-seven days past her 48th birthday when she reclaimed the WBC World super-bantamweight championship in 2015. Denise came close to breaking this record back in 2019 but had turned 48 just two days prior to defeating Sutthinee Bamrungpao for the WIBA World atomweight title.   

Like a shoot-em-up pulp novel or a rerun of Gunsmoke, the fight game is populated by a mostly upright citizenry who have little choice but to cohabitate alongside dirty rotten scoundrels. Those whose duty it is to enforce the rules must demonstrate an unimpeachable integrity which proves to those they are obligated to either protect or punish that the lawmakers themselves are not above the law. Otherwise, the repeated and flagrant corruption of the rulebook ensures that there is nothing separating the town sheriff from the village idiot, and the hanging judge can claim no moral high ground over the common criminal he has sworn an oath to send to the gallows.    

“Denise just wants a fair fight. She has lost before, including at home, and never complained. So, she can’t be called a bad sport,” beseeches Lorne. “I just want everyone to know our side, so it’s clear we are not just sore losers. This is why we want to show everyone.”

 

Sources:

Author interviews with Denise and Lorne Castle

Boxrec.com

WBAN Profile: Denise Castle (https://www.womenboxing.com/NEWS2020/news100320castle-denise-biography.htm

WBC Ordered Rematch—Atomweight Female Silver Belt (https://wbcboxing.com/en/wbc-ordered-rematch-atomweight-female-silver-belt/)

WBC Profiles: Oksana Semenishina (https://wbcboxing.com/en/wbc-profiles-oksana-semenishina/)

World Boxing Council Rules For Championship Fights (http://wbcboxing.com/downloads/WBC-SYNTHESIZED-RULES-FOR-CHAMPIONSHIP-BOUTS-AL-2017.pdf)

🇵🇭NORJ GURO vs 🇬🇧DENISE CASTLE FULL FIGHT / WBC SILVER ATOMWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP / MARCH 26,2022 (YouTube, posted by Baki Sports on March 27, 2022—accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi43T2yHBrM)