By Sammy Rozenberg
Joshua Clottey (31-2, 20 KOs) showed exactly why he was the betting favorite in the fight, as he dominated former three-time champion Diego Corrales (40-5, 33 KOs) on route to a unanimous ten-round decision win at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield, Missouri.
The fight was held at a contracted weight of 149-pounds, two pounds above the welterweight limit. Corrales, who last fought at the lightweight limit of 135-pounds, was way over his head against Clottey, one of the better welterweights in the world.
Not only was Corrales moving up by two weight classes, he weighed 160-pounds as he entered the ring, while Clottey weighed a whopping 170-pounds in the dressing room, 5-pounds shy of the light heavyweight limit.
The difference is physical size and strength was apparent from the start as Clottey was pushing Corrales' head back with every shot he landed. Corrales had a lot of trouble with Clottey's hand speed, and fought the wrong fight by staying on the inside with a fighter that was outlanding him 5 punches to 1.
Clottey's blazing combinations and uppercuts were the keys to victory. Corrales threw a lot of punches to the body, but none of them were able to slow Clottey down.
In the ninth round, Corrales' face was swollen, he was bleeding badly out of his nose and running out of gas. Late in the round, a combination of punches sent Corrales to mat. He was able to beat the count as Clottey began landing more hard punches until the round came to an end. A nasty cut opened up above Corrales' eye during the ninth round, giving him even more problems.
When Corrales went down in the ninth, there was a brief timeout for Corrales to re-insert his mouthpiece and ref Mike England warned him that a point would be taken if it happened again - and it did.
The tenth and final round was more of the same with Clottey landing some of his punches at will as Corrales was being physical beaten up. A perfect right hand counter sent Corrales down for the second time in the fight. Once again he beat the count and lost his mouthpiece. As promised, the ref penalized him a point for spitting out the mouthpiece.
Clottey went right for the kill. To his credit, Corrales was able to last to the end. The final scores were a wipeout for Clottey, 97-90, 98-89 and 100-87.
Corrales will need to rethink his future in the sport. He admitted after the fight that moving back down in weight, even to the junior welterweight limit of 140-pounds would be next to impossible at this point in his career.
Clottey is not the hardest puncher at welterweight and Corrales had a lot of trouble dealing with a naturally larger man. There was also hand speed issues for Corrales. Unless he was fighting Clottey on the inside, he was barely able to land his punches. If he was facing some of the big punchers at the weight, like Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams or Kermit Cintron, the fight would have been over in six rounds or less.
Another issue was the lack of power. Many experts predicted that Corrales' only chance to be competitive at the weight would be an increase in power by moving in weight. He was never able to hurt Clottey or push him back in the fight. Clottey does have a good chin. He praised Corrales for his heart, though he admitted that at no point in the fight did Corrales hurt him.
Clottey picked up the biggest win of his career. Most will play down the win by saying that Corrales was a lightweight moving up by two weight classes. To some degree that logic is correct, but Corrales is still a dangerous fighter and did keep himself in the fight at all times by letting his hands go for ten-rounds.
Most of the top fighters at the weight are locked up in big fights. Clottey's only options would be IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron or a possible clash with Shane Mosley. One thing is certain, Joshua Clottey has finally arrived in the welterweight division.