07.10.05 – By Wray Edwards: There are several very good reasons why this re-match between Chico and Jose is not a good idea. In a previous article the author compared Corrales-Castillo One to a work of art which might be very hard to follow. “Leave well-enough alone” comes to mind every time thoughts of this re-match come to the surface. Rematch agreements aside, because of the brutal nature of the first meeting, it might have been the better part of valor for this encore to have been scheduled after each fighter had taken one or two interim bouts with other opponents.
The sport of Boxing is, sometimes, a monster which devours its children. Courageous, young men tempted by fortune, fame and hubris are quite vulnerable to the momentum of their “success” and the adulation of their “friends” and fans.
The fight game ranks right near the top when it comes to the question “What have you done lately?” Movie directors, footballers, round-ballers and baseballers all ply their trades within the collective comfort of team efforts, and despite free agency, they bask in the security of team support.
Though boxers are often accompanied by corner people and management types with the word “team” on their shirts, it is only he or she alone who enters the ring to risk life and limb. Single combatants who enter the lists of golf, tennis or track and field competition do not regularly face death in their confrontations with others. One-on-one, full-contact encounters such as occur in the squared circle, are subject to consequences which make trivial all other forms of combat save full-blown,
military war.
Recent hype presentations surrounding this contest have featured familiar boxing commentators and pundits extolling the virtues of this fight. Gone are the brief caveats mentioned in post-fight commentary. Statements like, “I don’t know Larry, sometimes a fight like this can take so much out of a guy that it might shorten his career”…or, “Wow, I wonder if they will ever be the same after that bloodbath?”
The sport is replete with cautionary examples of death, brain damage, speech impediments, tremors and ocular dysfunction. In ancient Rome death in the arena was par for the course…or should one say, “Par for the coarse”? During the recent bout between Jones and Tarver this writer abandoned ringside (due to the endless posing of Antonio and Roy) and retreated to the highest point of vantage to observe the boxing organism from the edge of the spectacle.
Due to reluctance on the part of both fighters to truly engage except for a few thrashers in two or three rounds, there was a lot of very loud fan outrage from lack of action. As the crowd, once divided into partisan camps, began to discover their mutual frustration with the fight’s obvious failure to live up to its “no excuses” hype, they joined forces to whistle, boo and make cat-calls for more action. It was almost humorous to watch their emotions whipsawed from excited screaming, when their guy got in a few pokes, to disappointed carping as the “fight” once again degenerated into a tentative posing contest.
This series of contrasting atmospherics surrounding the ring demonstrated how fans can become a mob in just a few seconds. They had little patience with the boxers, and averaged about thirty seconds to mutate from respectful expectation to ranting about the paucity of action whenthings got slow. How appropriate that this avarice for mayhem should echo in a place called the Forum as the reluctant gladiators did feign combat. Buddy shook his finger at Tarver seeming to side with the crowd. Roy’s corner was more subdued and content, it seemed, to get the big check with a minimum of risk.
It is instructive to note that Joe Goosen got pretty severe himself with Chico after the second KD. Ever since he left Joel Casamayor to shepherd Diego’s career, his fatherly support has served to provide Chico with just enough encouragement to win the day. Joe, and his counterpart in the Castillo camp, share responsibility with the referee in keeping an eye on the fine line which Boxing treads between civilization and anarchy. Civilization mediates for the highest degree of action and excitement without causing any permanent harm. Anarchy partners with the blood-lust of the mob which cries for annihilation.
As the human emotions in the arena swing between surrogated violence and appreciative compassion, everybody knows that lives are at stake and sometimes are lost. The saga of Baby Joe’s (Mesi) to obtain credentials to fight from some commission (any commission) demonstrates the tension which exists between common sense and the possibly clouded judgment of Joe and his Dad. Cheering fans who identify with this or that fighter may, perchance, join a “family of guilt” which mourns a dead hero.
Everything in life is timing. Evander has been on the cusp of tragedy for quite some time now. As more and more people and authorities come to the conclusion that his boxer’s heart is stronger than his common sense.
This realization can come relative to a career, a single fight or even a round in a fight where the ring doctor, the trainer or the ref finally decides that they do not want to let this continue. Watching a trainer pick up the towel and bite his lip, only to put it down as his guy rallies briefly, then pick it up again as his fighter fades yet again is really hard to watch sometimes. Castillo-Corrales, Elder Burton, Barrera-Morales, Elder-Sim, Morales-Barrera, Morales-Hernandez and many other fights which have had us on the edges of our seats, and have also had the boxers on the edge of survival.
What the second fight between Castillo and Corrales portends in the minds of Bernstein and Farhood, if one takes their excited prognostications at face value, might be far from a brutal reality. The first fight was called the Fight of the Year, the fight of the decade the greatest fight they had ever seen. The Hollywood ending after the back-and-forth brutality of inside combat was impressive by any scale. The announcement of the re-match caused this writer to take great pause.
Both Chico and Jose have darn good outside boxing skills. It was probably a surprise to Castillo that Corrales decided to step in and fight for the phone booth instead of the ring. Can anyone truly say that they would rather see a Winky-style jab-match this time, instead of the all-out war of the first contest? Truth be told, this writer would rather that they not fight again. What are the odds that they will be able to emulate LaMotta-Robinson, Gatti-Ward or any other violent series of
re-matches?
The level of action in Castillo-Corrales Two depends on many factors. This time Castillo is the challenger. Does this make him more dangerous…hungry? How much courage or reckless heart does Chico draw from his belts? If it should somehow be possible for these two warriors to equal or even exceed the astronomical Compubox numbers of their first duet, it stretches credulity that such a result can obtain without testing unusually dangerous waters. “A man’s got to know his limitations” (Dirty Harry) seems good advice, but by what benchmark do we survey this necessity in the uncharted waters these two are likely to navigate? How might even they come to know in the heat of battle?
By the post-fight reactions of Corrales-Castillo One, it was and is obvious that their fight was at the pinnacle of the sport’s mountain. Where they went that day, few can follow. Their contest was the Everest of Boxing. Very few ever climb that high and the danger increases exponentially with every agonizing step. At these athletic altitudes the air of excitement thins judgment and tests the fighters, the officials, the corners and the fans to the limit.
Humor is a vital aspect of human existence. This fight is no laughing matter despite the happy-face pundits, smiling boxers, and the much expanded venue of the Thomas and Mack Center. The lead-in to most fights imbue the author with pleasant excitement and expectation. This contest has prompted rather, a note of morbid caution. After the brutality of the first meeting, in which the outcome was fun and exciting, upon reflection, the level of heavy contact and physical damage has tempered expectations for this one.
This is the first boxing match I would rather had not been made, because number one was so great and satisfying. To risk the fond memory of it by going to the well once again seems chancy. Like a great work of art, the mould should, perhaps, be broken. Otherwise attempting to duplicate, or mass-produce that ecstasy, might dilute or sully the pristine memory of that special visit to boxing paradise.
“Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make man.” All boxing matches tempt fate, but this one surely does, especially in the light of its predecessor. And that, alas, is the morbid truth which draws us to look upon our determined heroes with cautious excitement in some fights more than others. These two guys are a perfect match of differences. I will watch this one with a cautious heart. See you at the fights.