By Rusty Rubin

Don’t ask me to explain why a fighter like Jose Luis Castillo couldn’t make weight for an important fight with Diego Corrales. He didn’t even come close and the fight was called off, leaving a lot of people very angry, including Castillo’s promoter Bob Arum.

This isn’t the first time for Castillo who is facing suspension and fines by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Castillo, an excellent boxer/puncher is proving an embarrassment to boxing and has to be dealt with firmly. I trust the NSAC to do just that.***

This weekend you can bet the fight will go forward between two aging veterans, former long-time middleweight king Bernard Hopkins, who is moving up two weight divisions to take on light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver.

Hopkins has not fought above the middleweight limit in his career, and that in itself gives one poise to ponder the outcome of this event.

Neither fighter is an exceptionally hard hitter, both are smart and look for the openings.

Hopkins, a surefire Hall of Famer gets the edge on experience and ring smarts as well as a superior killer instinct. His last two fights (losses to Jermain Taylor) were close enough to have gone either way. Tarver on the other hand has the advantage of fighting at light heavy and heavyweight in the past. He certainly will have no trouble handling the poundage.

Win or lost, Hopkins will probably keep his word and retire, and Tarver will fight on.

Not an easy fight to pick by any means. But, since I have to, I’ll take Hopkins by close decision. If nothing else can be said, it figures that this battle will go the full 12-rounds.***

Agree or disagree, we’d like to hear from you. (Rngsportsr@aol.com).

Glove2Glove:

Former top fighter of a few decades back, Bobby Dykes passed away at age 77. Prayers for his soul.

Patti Brandenburg continues to have health problems and continues to need your help via prayers.

Prayer for the return to health to the father of Eva Futch, a great friend, and the widow of legendary trainer Eddie, who passed away in 2001. Eva’s father’s cancer has returned and recent surgeries have proved successful, but he still has a long way to go. And please pray that Eva has the strength to cope with this difficult challenge she faces at so close to her having lost her esteemed husband.

Prayers needed for Elise Brown, grand daughter of Ringside Products head honcho and good boxing guy John Brown. Young Elise has heart problems.

Prayers have also helped but continue to be needed for Dennis Wilcox, brother of boxing scribe David Wilcox, who is in an Oregon hospital suffering from Leukemia. The family and everyone at Glove2Glove ask for your prayers for his total recovery.

Prayers for the return to health of Audrey Talmo, wife of Ed, a long-time boxing fan who cares about our sport.

Please say prayers for the return to health of Helen Wambolt, wife of our East Coast World Boxing Hall of Fame writer Danny Wambolt. Cards will also be most welcome.***

Please say prayers for the soul of Orazio Esposito, father of our photographer Richard Esposito.***

Prayers for the return to health of Don Donelson, father of writer Tom, and Gene Sebastian, brother of former middleweight champ Billy Soose. Both are suffering from congestive heart disease.

Please say prayers for Phill Grazide of Santa Rosa, CA. a big supporter of amateur boxing, who is suffering the crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis.***

Needless to say we need prayers for the return to health of both former champs Greg Page and Gerald McClellan, both confined to wheelchairs.***

Glove2Glove is a non-denominational group set up to aide those boxing folks and their relatives in need of prayers and cards. We accept no money and only contact our members when someone is in need. It’s absolutely free to join. Simply send us your e-mail address. And even if you’re not a member, feel free to contact us if you are aware of some boxing person in need.***

Touching on politics briefly: I really wish that Congress will get their heads out of people’s personal lives and into the job they are paid to do, represent their constituents. That would be a refreshing and novel change. In my somewhat limited view, I am a strong supporter of states rights, not only in the issue of gay marriage, but abortion as well. The government has more important things to do than worry about what goes on when the lights go down or to come between me, my wife and my God in the abortion controversy.

Now please allow me to respond to a couple of questions that have been asked of me via the telephone and/or the internet.

A caller challenged me to say something nice about our elected President and the leader of the free world.

That’s easy, He comes from an intelligent, proud family and he speaks good Spanish, or, I’m sure much better than he does English. Another good thing about Dubya, he only has 2 ½ years left and he can’t run again.***

Next, How come my home Senator Harry Reid implies that I or people like me who want immigrants to obey our laws and come to America legally are racists? (I took the opportunity to re-phrase the question).

Personally, I like Harry Reid, I’ve met and voted for him on more than one occasion. That doesn’t mean he’s right and I’m wrong. I’ll let my record and friendship with the legal Hispanic community speak for itself.

As for Senator Reid, if I’m a racist because I want only legal citizens in America, then it follows that he are far worse, he’s a closet Republican, posing as a Democrat, who, along with most of those in the U.S. Senate thinks it’s more important to bolster the rich corporations, destroy the American middle class and, who want to allow people who knowingly break our laws to become American citizens. Senator Reid wants illegal aliens in the country so corporations can get rich by paying them what amounts to slave labor. Who’s the racist here?

Harry you shouldn’t be afraid to tell it like it is, and you and the other Democrats come out of the closet. Being a Republican is nothing to be ashamed of, unless of course you support this President’s anti-middle class policies, which is more anti-American than anti-Democratic. Under Dubya the middle class continues to shrink and the tax cuts for the wealthy only make the problem worse.

Racist? I think not, but I am a proud American and want everyone to obey our laws. Is that asking too much? I love my homeland and want to keep it safe, can the U.S. Senate and Congress honestly say the same thing?

I have the highest regard for the American Hispanic Community. They are by and large honest, hard working, family people who want to ensure that their chosen homeland remains the greatest country this world has ever seen.

And, like Dubya, I’ll ask the same question about Vicente Fox. How could the voters in Mexico have elected him?***

Via e-mail, a question as to if I’m working with any organization that wants to run a third party candidate?

As of now, no way. I believe that the only way to achieve equality in America is get people elected to the Congress first, so you have a base in Washington to do the job and not have to worry about having your vetoes overridden by a partisan Congress. Anyone trying to make headway in that direction, even if a third party candidate could be elected, it will only be an exercise in futility.

America desperately needs a third political party, maybe more, but it has to be done right in order to be effective. And I still favor getting rid of the labels of Republican and Democrat and having the three parties call themselves Liberals, Conservatives and Moderates. At least we may have a shot at ‘truth in advertising’.

A third party has to offer an alternative to the class warfare waged on America by Congress, and frankly, I still believe most Americans are too complacent, and care more about who wins American Idol than who wins the White House. Seems like they are going to continue to get what they deserve, being screwed!***

Agree, disagree or just want to help? I’d love to hear from you. (Rusty@ringsports.com).