07.03.04 – By Phillip Przybylo: Diego “Chico” Corrales had very little to regret as he out-slugged and contained former conqueror Joel Casamayor throughout most of the fight in a well-deserved split decision Saturday night in Mashantucket, CT, USA.
Pumping a piston-like jab and unleashing left hooks and straight rights when needed, the newly crowned WBO Junior Lightweight Champion upped his record to 38 wins and two losses. Overcoming a late knockdown, he also avenged a controversial loss and put himself on top of the 130-pound division in the process.
The rematch between the two former champions began before the bell rang as both men came into the ring confident and stared each other down for upwards of a minute before the official introductions were even made to the Foxwoods Casino Resort crowd.
By contrast, the first round started out innocently enough with Casamayor landing a couple of his trademark straight lefts with Rolex timing. Even though the former Cuban Olympian’s punches were the only ones of substance in the opening stanza, Corrales’s ring generalship and effective aggressiveness may have won him the round on a couple of scorecards and set the tone for the fight.
The second round saw Casamayor still moving and landing pretty well until the two fighters got physical in clinches. Corrales was clearly asserting himself, winning exchanges, and escaping before danger came.
With two close rounds under his belt, Corrales came on strong in the third round. Leading with left jabs and left hooks while following throw with scoring combinations, the 5’10 ½” junior lightweight was mixing his punch output extremely well. Three items of note became apparent for Corrales—the jab was becoming a useful weapon (something not used well in the first fight), his own defense had improved, and the pace suited his straight forward style.
The improvement was aided by his new trainer, Joe Goosen, who Casamayor had recently let go of. While calmly imploring the value of the jab in between rounds, Goosen said, “You’ve won every round so far.”
Goosen was right.
In rounds four and five, “Chico” seemingly left no doubt on the judges scorecards as to who was winning the fight, continuing to pressure the former WBA champion with his footwork and jab. Toward the end of the fifth three-minute period, Corrales was landing some of his best left hooks of the night.
Rounds six and seven showed that Casamayor was not going to go out quietly. He came out more energized and landed more lefts in the sixth than he probably did in rounds three through five combined. Corrales would quickly switch the role reversal of cat and mouse, and show more aggressiveness in the seventh. Still, Casamayor showed some signs of life.
The Sacramento resident took charge long enough in the eighth to earn himself yet another round over Casamayor while effectively ending the exchanges they partook in. He also took a couple of headbutts pretty well.
Casamayor started his late surge in the ninth and was very confident for a man down big on the scorecards. He landed more rights and the ample amount of bodywork on Corrales was beginning to take its toll, as the southpaw was a step/punch ahead at all times.
Stepping up his pace even more, Casamayor franticly tried to make something happen with pressure of his own in the tenth. Midway through the round, he landed a perfect counter left to Corrales’s jaw, sending him down to the canvas and to an eight-second respite. Casamayor improved upon his best round of the fight by landing even more straight lefts soon after. Unfortunately for the Cuba refugee, he was not able to capitalize any more during the last 60 seconds.
Stirred but not shaken, Corrales went on to have the edge in the next round that saw the most two-sided action of the bout. Corrales would rely with the left hook, Casamayor with the straight left. Both men were landing. The telling blow was a right hand by the soon-to-be-named champion in the middle of the round and in the middle of heated trading that visibly hurt Casamayor. “Chico” was hurt, too, by way of a clash of heads late in the round that opened up a nasty one-inch cut next to his right eyebrow.
In what had been a dramatic fight, the twelfth and final round saw little action with Corrales moving back most of the time. Both fighters thought they won by the time the bell sounded. Only one could be right.
Judges Julie Lederman and Donald O’Neill scored it 115-112 in favor of Diego Corrales. Judge Steve Weisfeld scored it 114-113 in favor of Joel Casamayor, inexcusably. This side of Eastside scored it 115-112 Corrales.
Casamayor (30-2) will likely have to do some pleading for a third match with Corrales. He put out a solid performance that should not be overlooked, so, he does have a chance in participating in a superb trilogy. Otherwise, he may have little positive options for a respectful career that is probably in its twilight.
The WBO Champion made the most of his night, exorcising any demons of his past. He had a two year layoff because of a prison stint, and has now reclaimed his spot at the top. More importantly, he looked solid and conditioned at 130 and has found a winning formula with trainer Dan Goosen.
Corrales said of the trainer who switched corners in between their two fights: “Joe Goosen was a big plus. He nurtured the gameplan. In boxing you have trainers and coaches. He’s definitely a coach.”
In the semi-main event, Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson found his winning formula at the 115-pound weight class when he made his first successful defense of his WBO Junior Bantamweight Championship over Luis Bolano.
Like the winner of the main event, Johnson too had spent some time incarcerated. He also had lost while on the comeback trail, albeit to the best regular bantamweight in the world, Rafael Marquez.
On a night of second chances, the Washington, D.C. native has made his second chance in boxing a success. Hungry for exposure and bigger fights, Johnson may have made his biggest impression yet in a nationally televised, non-pay-per-view event when he knocked out the overmatched Bolano.
Upon the opening bell for the fight between two southpaws, it looked things might be different as Johnson was quite passive and relaxed. Bolano may have made it an even round on his activity alone. But by the second stanza, Johnson was in control, living up to his nickname while being very accurate with the right hook upstairs and right uppercuts to the body. The blows foreshadowed the ultimate end of the fight two rounds later.
After a relatively dull third round that only stood out because of the three-time champion’s showboating toward the end, the fourth would be a round Luis Bolano would rather forget.
Midway through that fourth and final round, Johnson would partially land a left uppercut to send the Colombian’s stance more upright and follow up with a head-turning right hook that sent the challenger off his feet. If anything else, he should be given credit for getting up and taking more punishment after.
Johnson followed up with lots of uppercuts, some of them of the Bolo variety. A right uppercut to the body would force Bolano down for the second time. Spitting out his mouthpiece and writhing on the canvas, referee Arthur Mercante had no choice but to stop his count and the fight.
Johnson’s TKO win put his record at 44-3 with one no-contest. Bolano received his first loss in 39 fights, most of which came against inferior opposition in his home country.
As for setting the date for a fight against an undefeated fighter only three weeks beforehand, Johnson stated after the fight, “I stayed in the gym. I stayed ready. I really don’t care if he ever lost. I’m the best in the 115 pounder in the world.” He proceeded to call out IBF champion Luis Perez.
The second time around will prove to be more fruitful for Johnson and Corrales. Despite the nature of their previous convictions and downfalls, the boxing public will be able to look up to them for cleaning up their life and look forward to seeing more of them.
Questions or comments can be sent directly to the author at: eastside_double_p@hotmail.com