Danny Castillo: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard

When UFC lightweight Danny Castillo was growing up as a kid he was always fond of the great Latino fighters because whenever they were involved in a big boxing match it was like a holiday for his family.

The pride of being Hispanic was instilled in Castillo at an early age and while other kids were watching football or basketball, he was gathered with the rest of his family around the television set on a Saturday night watching the best boxers in the world.

No wonder he became a fighter.

"Coming from a Hispanic family, every big boxing fight there was a family get together. Ever since I was a kid," Castillo told FOX Sports.  "From Julio Cesar Chavez to Roberto Duran, every show, whenever any Hispanic guy fought there was a huge get together. I grew up watching these boxers -- tough boxers, just durable and big punchers. Hispanic boxers were always those guys that always stayed in the pocket, took two shots to the head to give three shots to the body.

"Oscar De La Hoya was one of my idols, Diego Corrales, just like all Hispanic fighters in terms of boxing were just built like that.  I was shadow boxing around the house at like five-years old, trying to punch my uncle.  There was a sense of pride being Hispanic, but there was definitely pride in being a Hispanic fighter, tying it all together."

What Castillo learned watching the best Hispanic fighters was a similar ideal he learned from his mother, who raised him and his sister while often times working two jobs just to help make ends meet. And through it all he never heard his mother complain, get angry or show frustration that she was sacrificing so much for the sake of her children to grow up the right way.

"After every, single one of my fights where they give me the mic to talk or say anything, I'm always thanking my mother. She's the one that put the hard worker in me.  I watched her as a kid growing up and she was a single mom, working two jobs and working her butt off. She raised two kids, but not just two kids but two bad kids.  I just learned from watching her," Castillo said.

"In my opinion, those are the real heroes of the world. It's the mothers that are picking up their kids and working hard.  I learned my work ethic through her and she never complained about it."

Castillo's mom working so hard day in and day out forced him to learn to do the exact same thing.  He was definitely no angel growing up, but no one was ever going to accuse Castillo of being lazy or unwilling to do hard work.

"I can only speak for myself in a Hispanic household, but one of the worst things you could be called in my house growing up was lazy," Castillo said.  "Being called a liar was worse than being called lazy in my house.  If you weren't willing to do the work and your share and pull your weight, then you're useless.  That's something that stuck with me my whole life.

"I can still hear my mom yelling at me from when I was eight-years old 'don't be lazy!' and I'm like hell no, I'm never going to be lazy.  It pushed me to be a hard worker."

From watching the greatest Hispanic fighters in the ring to his mother, who might be the toughest Hispanic person he'll ever know, Castillo used everything he saw growing up to mold him into one of the toughest wrestlers when he attended Menlo College in California.

He wasn't always the best.  He wasn't always the strongest or fasted. Castillo was just the one that was willing to put in the extra time when the other guy wasn't.

"In the beginning of wrestling I would get stomped and just beat up all the time, but I was the guy you went with you'll score a bunch of points on me but I'm going to be one of your toughest fights and it's going to be one of your hardest rounds.  In the beginning when I first started wrestling," Castillo explained.

"Over time that heart and that attitude and I guess what you could call machismo put me over the hump.  I was a tough kid and I just kept sticking with it, and sticking with in and all of a sudden here comes the technique to back it up and now I'm a tough kid who will never give up and I have technique behind me.  Pretty soon I was winning tons of matches."

Now at 35 as he gets ready to enter his 20th fight under the Zuffa family banner, the hard work is still paying off for Castillo.