MORÓN — Jorge Castro, the former WBA middleweight champion and one of Argentina's most prolific fighters, has died aged 59 after collapsing at the Morón Bingo Hall in Argentina on Wednesday, 14 October. A heart attack was subsequently determined to be the cause of death.
Born in Caleta Olivia, Santa Cruz, in 1967, Castro compiled a remarkable 130-11-3 record with 90 KOs across a 20-year career that ended in 2007. He claimed the WBA middleweight title in 1994 with victory over Reggie Johnson and produced his most famous performance in his second defence, stopping John David Jackson in a rip-roaring, roller-coaster contest widely regarded as the best of the year. He defended the belt twice more, including another victory over Johnson, before losing the title at the end of 1995 when he was outpointed by Shinji Takehara. In 1997 he split two bouts with the great Roberto Duran at super middleweight before a run at cruiserweight saw him twice challenge unsuccessfully for world titles at the start of the following decade.
According to a police report, Castro, who suffered from diabetes, received medical attention after collapsing but died at the bingo hall, where he had been accompanied by his daughter and her mother. Describing his final moments, his daughter said: “We were fine and suddenly he told me, ‘I’m going to the bathroom.’ He went to the bathroom and when he came back he said, ‘My chest hurts a little.’ I told him, ‘That’s because you smoke like a savage.’” She added: “They took him to a separate room, started doing CPR on him privately, and that was it.”
In recent years Castro was known in the Buenos Aires area for his charitable work in soup kitchens and community centres. He had been married six times and is survived by his partner, Noeila Vigliarolo, his 15 children and 14 grandchildren.