LAS VEGAS – World lightweight champion Diego Corrales and former world champion and top-rated contender Joel Casamayor, with a combined record of 73-6-1 (53 KOs) and a winning percentage exceeding 91 percent, will step into the ring and go mano-a-mano for the third and final time to settle their fantastic trilogy. Promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, LLC., in association with DRL Promotions, “MANIFiST DESTINY!” – Corrales vs. Casamayor III – not only will determine the division’s true world champion, but the winner will leave the ring knowing he expanded his legacy in boxing history..
Showtime Championship Boxing will televise this world championship bout live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Saturday, October 7. The fight will begin at 9 p.m. EST/PST (delayed on the west coast) as part of a free preview weekend whereby the network will be available in more than 35 million homes nationwide.
Tickets to “MANIFiST DESTINY!” priced at $300, $200, $100 and $50, not including applicable services or taxes, go on sale This Friday, August 25 at noon. Tickets will be sold at any Mandalay Bay box office and all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (Tower Records/WOW!, Smith’s Food and Drug Centers, Robinsons-May stores and Ritmo Latino). To charge by phone with a major credit card, call the Mandalay Bay box office at (702) 632-7580 or Ticketmaster at (702) 474-4000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mandalaybay.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
In their first encounter October 4, 2003, Casamayor emerged victorious when the wild brawl was stopped at the end of the sixth round with Corrales bleeding badly from the mouth – a stoppage Corrales vehemently protested. Casamayor knocked down Corrales twice, and hit the canvas once himself, in a slugfest that drew cheers when the boxers battered one-another and “boos” when it was abruptly stopped by the referee on advice of the ringside physician. Casamayor was ahead on all three of the judges’ scorecards at the end of the sixth round, though Corrales had Casamayor hurt when the bell rang.
The two warriors met again five months later March 6, 2004, only this time the stakes were higher with the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior lightweight title on the line. Corrales returned the favor and won a split decision by scores of 115-112, 115-112 and 113-114 as well as his second world title.
Corrales (40-3, 33 KOs), from Las Vegas by way of Sacramento, Calif., holds the World Boxing Council (WBC) and The Ring magazine titles – making him the latest in the line of great linear lightweight champions including Benny Leonard, Barney Ross, Henry Armstrong, Beau Jack, Bob Montgomery, Ike Williams, Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez and Pernell Whitaker. Corrales captured his first world title in 1999 when he knocked out undefeated International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior lightweight champion Robert Garcia in the seventh round. Corrales successfully defended his title four times including knockout victories over Derrick Gainer, Angel Manfredy and Justin Juuko, before losing his first fight 14 months later to WBC super featherweight champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in 2001. Corrales ended his two-year hiatus from the ring in January 2003, under Shaw’s promotional banner, and went on to win four straight bouts in a six-month span, all by KO.
Following the two Casamayor fights, Corrales solidified his legacy in boxing lore by knocking out undefeated WBO lightweight champion Acelino Freitas, August 7, 2004, and then unifying the title when he knocked out WBC/The Ring magazine champion José Luis Castillo in the 10th round, after hitting the deck twice himself in the same round. The epic battle, which occurred May 7, 2005 at Mandalay Bay, was awarded “Fight of the Year” by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and “Fight of the Era” by all of the fans. In the rematch against Corrales, Castillo failed to make weight but later won a tainted victory with a fourth-round TKO. The rubber match, originally scheduled to occur June 3, 2005, was canceled when Castillo again failed to make weight when the scale read 140 pounds, the junior welterweight limit.
Casamayor (33-3-1, 20 KOs), a native of Cuba who now resides in southern Florida, transitioned from a brilliant amateur career to a sterling professional résumé that is highlighted by winning a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics as well as winning the World Boxing Association (WBA) super featherweight title. His only losses, all in world title fights, have been via controversial disputed decisions. In his 18th bout, Casamayor captured the interim WBA super featherweight title by winning a 12-round decision over Antonio Hernandez in 1999. One year later, he unified the WBA title when he knocked out defending champion Jongkwon Baek in the fifth round.
In January 2002, following four successful title defenses, Casamayor met undefeated WBO champion Acelino Freitas and lost a decision that had fans booing and ringside media scratching their heads. Casamayor returned to the ring the following June with a win and continued by winning his next three fights including the first Corrales rumble. He is 3-1-1 in his last five bouts including a disputed split decision loss to WBC lightweight champion Castillo in 2004 and a draw against then-undefeated Almazbek “Kid Diamond” Raiymkulov last year in a WBA lightweight title elimination bout. Casamayor’s streak has raised his world rating to No. 1 in The Ring magazine, No. 3 in the WBA, the IBF and the WBO ratings and No. 6 in the WBC.