By David P. Greisman
Superlatives like “amazing” and “incredible,” occasionally used without merit, are instead truly accurate when it comes to describing Saturday’s lightweight unification bout between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo. For ten rounds, these two warriors overwhelmingly outdid March’s Manny Pacquiao/Erik Morales battle, taking the lead in the “Fight of the Year” category. In this week’s edition of Fighting Words, we will rave about the feeling and fever that Corrales and Castillo instilled in viewers, answer a couple emails and wrap things up with The Ten Count.
Fever and Fury, Fight of the Year
After Diego Corrales knocked out Jose Luis Castillo in the tenth round at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, boxing writers no doubt hustled to their computers to hammer out a piece that would properly encapsulate precisely what they had just seen.
Ringtalk.com’s Cliff Rold emailed me his piece, “Corrales Scores KO in Best Lightweight Title Fight Ever,” while I was in the process of editing my own words before sending them out. I was just as eager to send out my take, returning Cliff the favor with my opus, and adding my father, a couple friends and Maxboxing’s Jason Probst to the list.
A fight like Corrales/Castillo should be seen by everyone, and for sportswriters, our form of water cooler discussion is one of the highest compliments that can be paid to pugilists. I’m not sure if press row stood up and cheered, like they did after the twelfth round of the third fight in the Erik Morales/Marco Antonio Barrera trilogy, but the atmosphere where I was sitting was absolutely electric.
Typically, I’ll watch boxing privately, with my family or a couple friends, but circumstances forced me to sit down at a crowded sports bar, where I took notes while leaning on a menu.
The place was distracted with other concerns and NBA basketball during the undercard/co-featured bout in which Juan Manuel Marquez nearly shut out Victor Polo, but once round one of Castillo and Corrales got underway, everything changed.
These patrons responded to every heavy punch landed, gasped as the swelling under Corrales’s left eye worsened, screamed at referee Tony Weeks for calling time in the eighth round to get Corrales’s mouthpiece back in, and exploded when “Chico” came back from two tenth-round knockdowns to beat Castillo via TKO.
While the environment was not the most favorable for working a match, it demonstrated the impact that great boxing has on the people. When two men like Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales lay it all on the line, let their hands go and throw all caution to the wind, although only one fighter will end up with their hands raised, everyone comes out as winners.
For a full write-up on the bout, please see my results article, “ ‘Diego’ KOs ‘The Man’ in Castillo, Unifies Lightweight Titles.”
Reader Email Returns
KOgirL425 writes, “Tony Weeks gave Diego Corrales way too many chances and way too much time to recuperate. It was ridiculous how much time Diego was allowed to get up and put the mouthpiece back in. The fight should have been stopped after the second knockdown. It was as if Weeks was just waiting for a reason to give Corrales the fight. Corrales better get down on the hands and knees and thank God, because he should have lost that fight. And then he better give Castillo a rematch, and hopefully next time there will be a different referee.”
Tony Weeks did a superb job as referee, following the rules and responsibilities of his job to a T. The first time Corrales’s mouthpiece came out in the tenth round, Weeks did the proper thing in calling time to get it rinsed out. Yes, it gave Chico more time to recuperate, but that’s what the tactic was meant to do. And it’s also why Weeks docked Chico a point when the mouthpiece came out after the second knockdown, giving Castillo a tremendous 10-6 advantage for the round.
Corrales may have gone down twice, but he did not show signs of being badly hurt. Chico has hit the canvass eight times in his previous fights, only to get right back up and continue. His two losses had come by technical stoppage; the first, against Mayweather, had Chico’s corner throwing in the towel while Corrales wanted to keep going. A similar situation came in his first fight with Joel Casamayor, when a cut in his lip (caused by his mouthpiece) forced the ringside doctor to call a halt to the bout.
For a fight to be stopped, the pugilist needs to be defenseless, not launching any offense, incapable of protecting himself from dangerous damage. The left hooks that sent Corrales to the floor hurt, and the time called by Weeks helped, but the referee had no reason to wave it off.
Yet when Castillo had his back on the ropes, his cranium going straight backwards, his knees buckling, arms going limp and his eyes rolling to the back of his head, Weeks stepped in to protect Jose Luis at just the right time, preventing the fatal consequences that a continuation would incur, such as with Emile Griffith and Benny “Kid” Paret.
Corrales earned his victory, and there is no need for controversy. Both Corrales and Castillo proved themselves, enhancing their reputations and earning them glory.
Muning 444 chides, “You must be kidding. Toney would get destroyed by either Klitschko.”
I never wrote that Toney would easily beat Vitali, if you were thinking that. My exact phrasing in last week’s Fighting Words read, “He [Toney] has the knowledge, the skill and the ability to unify, or at least entertain while attempting to do so.”
Yes, James Toney gives up ten inches in height and tremendous reach to Vitali Klitschko, and should the WBC heavyweight titlist throw a stiff jab, Toney could be kept at bay for twelve rounds. John Ruiz, briefly, was able to trouble Toney with a good jab.
But should Toney have the time and willpower to get in shape, he has the smarts and the skills to compete with V-Klit. Vitali’s punches are lacking in speed, making it easier for a defensive stylist like Toney to roll with the impact. If Vitali’s jab gets lazy, Toney could counter with overhand rights (and to reach the Ukrainian’s chin, they’d have to be overhand) all night.
Vitali Klitschko has faced a string of overweight challengers in Kirk Johnson, Corrie Sanders and Danny Williams, men who have never shown the guile and intelligence often demonstrated by Toney. Vitali has shown flashes of skill and dominance, but I think it would be a mistake to count Toney out of a competitive and entertaining fight.
As for Wladimir, let him earn (and truly earn) a mandatory contender position with showings that can overcome his dubious efforts since 2003, and then we can consider his chances against Lights Out.
The Ten Count
1. Juan Manuel Marquez did little to help his career on Saturday, boring the crowd with an easy twelve-round title defense against Colombian Victor Polo. While one could see Marquez trying to mix it up at times, the WBA and IBF featherweight champion was never able to put Polo away. Marquez knocked Polo down once, in the seventh round, but Polo bounced right back up, lasting the distance. After pricing himself out of a rematch with Manny Pacquiao (who subsequently battled Erik Morales), Marquez was stuck with a less-talented southpaw who was ranked at number twelve in both sanctioning bodies. JMM needs a megafight as soon as possible, be it with Pacquiao, Morales or Barrera, and he should take whatever financial offer he is lucky enough to have extended his way.
2. With Jermain Taylor’s July fight with Bernard Hopkins, my father was absolutely on the mark when he noted that it is a no-lose situation for the middleweight contender and former Olympian. Should Taylor beat Hopkins, he will have all four 160-pound belts and be the first to defeat the undisputed and still dangerous champion since 1993. A loss to Hopkins shouldn’t harm his career… everyone else has lost to the Executioner, from Tito Trinidad to Glencoffe Johnson. Props both to Taylor and his team, for taking this fight, and to Hopkins, for choosing to end his career against stiff competition.
3. Open Mouth, Insert Foot, Part One: Teresa M. Walker of the Associated Press reports on Antonio Tarver’s rematch with Glencoffe Johnson, writing, “Tarver said he didn’t get into shape for their first fight until after the contract was signed in mid-October.” As much as I like Tarver, I’m hoping the mild-mannered Johnson steps up the mic and asks, “Got any excuses tonight, Antonio?”
4. Open Mouth, Insert Foot, Part Two: I predicted Pacquiao over Morales, as well as Castillo over Corrales. Unfortunately, my correctly picking the exact round that Jermain Taylor would knock out Daniel Edouard does not make up for the above.
5. Super middleweight beltholder Joe Calzaghe (WBO) retained successfully May 7 with a sixth round TKO victory over Mario Veit. The win will hopefully set up a unification match between Calzaghe and IBF champion Jeff Lacy, although Lacy will first need to get past Robin Reid in August.
6. Championship Calendar Update: In the junior middleweight division, Winky Wright’s old belts will be dueled for on two separate Don King cards. On May 21, Rhoshii Wells and Alejandro “Terra” Garcia battle for the WBA interim title, while on July 23, Javier Castillejo shall defend against the un-retired Ricardo Mayorga.
The delayed super middleweight fight between the WBA’s Mikkel Kessler and Anthony Mundine is back on, set for June 8.
WBO bantamweight king Ratanachai Sor Vorapin is no longer slated to defend against Mauricio Martinez on June 4. Instead, Vorapin is scheduled to meet Jose Luis Araiza on July 8.
7. Since Castillejo is facing Mayorga on July 23, Fernando Vargas, who had wanted to face the Spanish champion after decisioning Raymond Joval, tentatively has a date set for August 6, although his dance partner is currently undetermined.
8. Jose Navarro, who in the opinion of many was stiffed of the WBC super flyweight title on January 3 against Katsushiga Kawashima, will return on May 20 in Texas. Navarro’s opponent will be Ruben Poma, whose record is 22-9-3 (8). Navarro deserves another go at Kawashima, but will have to wait until after the Japanese title-holder defends against Masamori Tokuyama in July.
9. Saw the first commercials today for Cinderella Man, the motion picture starring Russell Crowe that depicts heavyweight James J. Braddock. Along with the excerpt from Jeremy Schaap’s biography of Braddock, which ran in the recent Sports Illustrated, I am looking forward to the film, and glad to see that Hollywood is looking to do more with the sweet science than some of the past tripe.
10. The Contender Update: The final four are set, and the semifinalists will be Sergio Mora, Alfonso Gomez, Peter Manfredo Jr. and, thanks to the latest episode, Jesse Brinkley. Brinkley sweated off about ten pounds, survived some hard shots and appeared to come from behind to beat Anthony Bonsante by fifth round technical knockout. It wasn’t “shocking,” as NBC’s promos had promised, but it was surprising, considering how lethargic Brinkley seemed from being emotionally and physically drained. The series is set to wrap in a couple of weeks with a live championship match, as well as other fights from Contender contestants.
Next Week’s Fighting Words: Winky Wright vs. Tito Trinidad
Another highly anticipated fight coming up, and next week’s Fighting Words will discuss the middleweight battle between Ronald “Winky” Wright and Felix “Tito” Trinidad. I don’t know if I’ll be making a prediction, what with my recent streak of incorrectness. Until then, feel free to drop me your own predictions, comments and questions at dgreisman@aol.com, and don’t forget to check out my past articles. Fighting Words comes to you every Monday on BoxingScene.com.