09.10.05 – By Frank Gonzalez Jr. Congratulations to Jose Luis Castillo (53-7-1-47 KO’s), who’s left hook found Diego Corrales (40-3-33 KO’s) on the sweet spot and ended the fight in the fourth round. Corrales never let the mouthpiece fall out this time either. Both were scoring at will but Castillo was landing the harder shots. The left hook that knocked Corrales down in the fourth looked like it would’ve knocked out a Heavyweight. It was a perfectly timed shot that hit the mark and made short work in what had to be a lucrative purse for both. Too bad too many boxing fans didn’t get to see it.
Last May, after a vicious battle that many considered, “the fight of the year,” Corrales snatched up a dramatic TKO Win after being downed twice in the tenth round, losing his mouthpiece (intentionally or not) and getting lots of extra time to recover as his gear was replaced and he was penalized a point for removing his mouthpiece the second time.
The extra time afforded Corrales enough recovery time to mount an unlikely comeback and blast Castillo into the ropes, until Referee, Tony Weeks stepped between them and called a halt to the bout. That night, it was a different story and in the end, Corrales arms were raised in victory.
This time, though Castillo won the rematch, he did not win the WBC and WBO Title Belts that should have come with this victory because he failed to make the contracted weight and someone in his camp was busted trying to manipulate the scale during his weigh-in, bringing some dishonor and a splash of controversy to an otherwise noble Champion.
The fight went on according to schedule and though Diego Corrales made weight originally, there was no listing of his actual weight at the time of the contest. After the fight, Castillo offered that Corrales came into the ring weighing 151-pounds, a point of contention during the post fight interviews. Neither fighter was a Lightweight that night. They were instead, a pair of Jr. Welterweights when they stepped between the ropes to fight.
Castillo evened the score with Corrales in their highly anticipated rematch, which was exciting from start to finish. They brawled like two kids in a schoolyard as the crowd roared behind them. This time, Castillo’s redemption came when he landed a flush, left hook in the fourth round that found Corrales on the canvas and unable to beat the count.
It’s often said, “if it works, don’t fix it.” So, Corrales employed the same strategy he used in May, fighting in close, forcing the action early and attempting to tire Castillo out, while taking away the inside advantage of Castillo, who’s known to start slow and come on strong late. In hindsight, that strategy was a mistake in the rematch. No two fights are ever the same and Castillo may have had a tougher time had Corrales used his long reach to box outside where Castillo would have had to employ a different strategy himself. Another cliché is, “hindsight is 20/20.”
Using short jabs and hooks, Corrales offered up some quality offense but Castillo’s chin was as solid as his stamina early in the fight. Corrales strategy fell short because Castillo was prepared to fight non-stop from the first bell and was armed with the experience of knocking Chico down with left hooks that Corrales appeared to have trouble defending against. Castillo also proved to be the stronger fighter Saturday night and though both were landing about the same amount of shots, Castillo’s had a little more pop in his punches. At the time of the stoppage, I had Castillo up 30-27.
Castillo has a huge chin, literally. Watching him walk down the isle, all you see is his big chin. It takes a lot to break that big chin. Last time, Corrales took Castillo into deep waters and was able to pull off the dramatic TKO win because Castillo had to be fatigued after ten rounds of fisticuffs. He also didn’t anticipate Corrales resiliency after being downed twice. But, though Corrales won by TKO last time, Castillo was still on his feet at the time of that stoppage last May. Smaller men than Castillo have floored Diego. Take away all that extra time Tony Weeks allowed Corrales in their first fight and the odds clearly favored Castillo in this rematch. But Corrales is a WARRIOR and I’d never count him out. Unfortunately, Joe Cortez counted to ten and Corrales didn’t quite have his legs under him, so he did count him out. It was the right call.
There will be a rubber match. There has to be. Both Castillo and Corrales have each won a battle, but not the war. They should do it with at least seven months recovery time from the last fight and it should obviously be for the Titles. Of course, Castillo HAS to make weight and Corrales HAS to keep his mouthpiece in place like he proved capable of last Saturday
night.
Great rivalries like Castillo vs. Corrales greatly improve the quality of this chapter in boxing history. Too bad the powers that be in the sport choose to put these high profile fights on Pay-Per-View, which limits the audience considerably. Young kids that like boxing can’t afford PPVs and since so many of the big fights are on PPV, it feels like Boxing is telling the fans of the future to piss off. It’s my opinion that PPV is destroying the future of boxing.
It’s bad enough that most big name match ups are on PPV, but having to watch Roy Jones Jr. posing and posturing for 12 rounds against an out of condition, Antonio Tarver, who wins because he threw more punches is not my idea of PPV quality boxing matches.
The truth is, the boxing moguls take us fans for suckers as we pay to see one or two big name fights sandwiched between a few stinkers that wouldn’t make it on ESPN or Telemundo, like Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. or Andre Ward, taking on Tomato Cans, who have no chance to win and are there to lose and everyone knows it. For those types of fights to be on PPV is insulting. PPV
would be more acceptable if it were only once or twice a year and featured match ups worth paying for. A better idea would be to do what they used to do in the old days; show the big fights at movie theaters, where the fights can be shown all week long and rake in new fans and big bucks.
The movie business is not doing so well because the films these days mostly suck and ticket prices are too high. Most of these crappy movies are on video after just a few months anyway. Its just not worth it to pay over ten bucks a ticket to see a crappy film based on a failed Television sitcoms like “Bewitched” or remakes of old movies like, “The Stepford Wives” and even “War of the Worlds,” where special effects hardly substitute for good story telling. Hell, boxing matches at the movies could save both enterprises. I’d spend $35 bucks between movie ticket and refreshments to see a great fight card on the big screen of a movie theater. We have the technology. Too bad we don’t have the creativity to make it happen.
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