By Tom Donelson
There is nothing that can match the anticipation of a big fight. Boxing is unpredictable because one punch can end it at any time. You add the arbitrary nature of judging and boxing becomes theatre of the unexpected. You just don’t know what will happen in the ring.
The Bobby Pacquaio-Carlos Hernandez was an example of this. Pacquaio is an excellent boxer, but he is not the fighter that his brother is. In the first two rounds, Pacquaio popped and move as he connected with an assortment of punches against the former champion. Pacquaio connected on short straight left on Hernandez's head and sent Hernandez down with four seconds left in the round. The unexpected occurred as the lighter punching Pacquaio sent the stronger Hernandez down for the count.
As the fight proceeded, Hernandez wore Pacquaio down or appeared to. Pacquaio's hands lost their quickness and Hernandez’s body shots slowed Pacquaio's foot movement down. Hernandez was safely ahead on the card or we all thought. Pacquaio dug deep in the final round as he nailed Hernandez with some excellent straight lefts. The arbitrary judging came in as Pacquaio won on a split decision. Close fight, yes but Hernandez dominated the fight from the third round on and appeared to connect on the harder punches. Pacquaio fought well and Hernandez's left eye was swollen, but most of ringside observers along with me gave the fight to Hernandez. Two of the judges disagreed with us and gave the fight to Pacquaio. Not the worst decision, but a controversial one to say the least. It is the kind of things that makes boxing intriguing because gives fans something else to talk about.
The second fight featured Julio Chavez, Jr. against Jeremy Stiers from Garden City Kansas. Junior came in the fight with no blemishes but Stiers' job was to look good before losing. He was not brought in to challenge Chavez. Chavez is tall, lanky kid with no amateur experience. He has his father’s left hook but he is also more of a boxer. His height and build produces a different fighter from his father. When his punches hit, the sound is unmistakably similar to what was heard when his father hit his opponent's rib cage. What makes Chavez different is that he is nearly six foot and he still has much to fill out on his frame. Team Chavez has brought their young charge slowly and even though he has fought 22 fights, he is still fighting six rounders. Chavez is not being rushed and we will not be seeing Julio Chavez, Jr. in a championship bout for a while.
Jorge Arce fought Hussein Hussein from Australia for the flyweight division. Arce pounded Hussien in their first fight in one of the year’s best fights. In a give and take affair, Arce's strength prevailed in the tenth round. Hussien’s problem was that he could not match Arce punch for punch. He allowed his warrior instinct to dictate his strategy and Arce wore the game Australian down. Hussein came out boxing in the first round but a Arce’s right sent Hussein down. Hussein got up but he went on his bicycle for the rest of the round.
In the second round, Hussein went down again and he jumped up quickly. But as he was telling the referee that he was okay, a towel came floating out from his corner. While Hussein appeared okay, his corner felt otherwise. His corner saw that every hard punch sent their boxer down and if their man could not hurt Arce- why continue.
The big news going into the fight was Castillo not making weight. In the old days of boxing, it was not uncommon for fighters to fight in an “over the weight bout.” In 1940, Billy Soose defeated the two recognized champions of the world, Tony Zale and Ken Overlin but he was not rewarded with a championship. In both fights, the fighters contracted for the bouts to be over the Middleweight limits. This allowed Soose to fight both fighters, but it also allowed both fighters to retain their titles Soose would repeat the same tactic when he fought Abrams a third time after winning the title from Overlin. These bouts were often designed to set up bigger money fights.
Castillo came in to the fight three pounds overweight. How could Castillo in his biggest fight come in overweight? As fight time approach, controversy over the weight gain threatened to undermine the fight. With Castillo over weight, this was no longer a championship fight. This resembled some of those over the weight bouts that past champions would fight when they wanted a nice payday without putting their title on the line.
Corrales-Castillo picked up where they left off in the tenth round in their previous fight. Castillo picked up the pace immediately, abandoning his slower start of past fight. Corrales, like he did in the first fight, fought in close. All of this did was give Castillo the advantage as his hooks to the body followed up uppercuts busted up Corrales’ face. In the third round, Castillo's left hook sent Corrales reeling at the two-minute mark. In the fourth round, Castillo stopped Corrales with a left hook. Corrales gamely tried to get up but he wobbled at the count of ten.
Corrales fought Castillo's fight a second time and this time, Castillo won. Corrales fail to adjust his strategy but Castillo did change his. Castillo used his right and uppercut to compliment his fierce left hook. Rematches are often won before the fight. Castillo adjusted by starting quicker while adding to his arsenal. Corrales fail to adjust and use his height. As I wrote in the beginning, what makes boxing special is that one punch can end it. One of the most dramatic moments in sports is the knock out and Castillo left hook that ended the fight was the picture perfect punch. Castillo left hook provided a dramatic end to a dramatic fight.
Both fighters are a reminder of what boxing can be at its best when two warriors fight, even when there are no titles at stake. Now there will be trilogy since Castillo may have conquered Corrales but not his title. Act three will follow in 2006.
