By David P. Greisman

Three-and-a-half pounds cost Jose Luis Castillo $120,000, ten percent of his purse, and deprived him of his chance to take Diego Corrales’ lightweight titles. It could have been worse. Before Saturday’s rematch of 2005’s Fight of the Year could commence, the debacle of Friday’s weigh-in had caused sanctions and implications.

Heavy negotiations between the numerous non-combatants led to an agreement on a second weigh-in for Castillo, to occur about five hours prior to ring entrances, with a maximum limit set at 147 pounds. For each extra sixteen ounces, Castillo would make Corrales $75,000 richer, adding on to the sixty grand that Chico had gleaned from the initial fine.

Castillo topped the scales at the welterweight limit and then readied himself for the night’s combat. Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists pondered the possibility that the infraction was intentional, that a prideful warrior would shame himself by abstaining draining his body down to 135 pounds, so as to gain an advantage over his leaner, presumably more weakened foe.

After less than four rounds, Castillo had made those three-and-a-half pounds nearly as infamous as Corrales’ mouthpiece spitting just five months-and-one-day ago, but it was only the final result that mattered: Corrales had been knocked out, Castillo’s hand was raised in victory, and the possibility of a lucrative rubber match to seal the trilogy looked promising.

For Jose Luis Castillo, the weight was worth it.

With the knockout, Castillo gained vengeance for his dramatic tenth-round stoppage loss in their May rumble, laying out a man who had been sent to the canvas in previous fights but never before counted out. As an extra bonus, the two-time lightweight champion recouped a majority of his losses, cashing in on a $100,000 bet with Gary Shaw, Corrales’ promoter, that he would do to Corrales precisely what occurred.

The actual fight was brief, fast-paced and one-sided, but wholly satisfying to those who had waited with intrigue and anticipation for this night to come.

Just like before, the action was up close and personal, full of more hooking than Las Vegas had been designed for, brutally hard shots that assured a war of attrition. And just like this rematch had perhaps occurred too soon after the first go-around, everything happened earlier than expected.

Castillo, usually a slow starter, came fast out of the gate, taking an early lead on all three cards, wobbling and bloodying Corrales and swelling his face much sooner than had happened the last time. He was the proverbial man on a mission, determined to follow the exact same game plan, fighting the only way he knew how, the style that had brought him oh-so-close to winning in May, before that momentum-turning right hand and the eventual referee stoppage.

That Corrales won their first battle may have made Chico overconfident, sure that he needn’t change a thing in order to achieve a similar result. Never mind that Castillo had punished him so remarkably once before, distorting his facial features and making him urinate blood. It was back into the fire, hooking with a hooker, mano-a-mano with a dauntingly dangerous foe.

Corrales played right into Castillo’s hands, standing in his wheelhouse and opening up by pulling back for a right hook. Castillo countered quickly with his lethal left hook, the punch that had dropped Corrales twice in the tenth round in their first match. Corrales went down hard, struggled to beat the count but couldn’t regain his footing properly before referee Joe Cortez reached ten.

It was over, but it’s not over. Pairings like Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo are deserving of trilogies, defining sets that tend to satisfy the cravings of any involved and all interested. But after thrilling viewers twice in 2005, both men deserve time to rest and heal their scars of the battles before they return to finish their war.

And whenever that concluding clash transpires, it will be worth the wait.

The 10 Count

1.  After fighting as a lightweight for the better part of five years, Jose Luis Castillo’s coming in overweight is an obvious sign that it is time for a move to junior welterweight. Whether that endangers a third fight with Corrales remains to be seen, especially with some of the opinions coming from Chico’s team. Nevertheless, Castillo’s inevitable migration one weight class up will only serve to further the fantastic depth and potential for mega-fights in the 140-lb. division, possible matches with Ricky Hatton and a third tussle with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

2.  Like Castillo, Diego Corrales has teased a jump to junior welterweight in the near future, and that thought had generally been deemed intelligent, considering Chico’s height and lean frame. But with his knockout loss this weekend, the question arises of whether Corrales could handle the power punches of men like Hatton, fighters who walk around thirty to forty pounds higher than their fighting weights. Still, the addition of Corrales would only serve to enhance, although there is still plenty at lightweight (especially Acelino Freitas and Jesus Chavez) to occupy him for another year or so.

3.  How bizarre was that ending to Jorge Arce-Hussein Hussein II? In what might be the most controversial towel-alighting since Nicolette Sheridan dropped hers in favor of Terrell Owens on Monday Night Football, Hussein’s trainer, Jeff Fenech, threw in the sign of surrender a bit prematurely.

While I can understand Fenech’s desire to protect his fighter, especially one that continued to be trapped on the ropes by the ever-dangerous Arce, Hussein deserved more than an embarrassing ending that may serve to temporarily knock him off of television and out of contention. Yes, Hussein Squared had been sent to the canvas twice, and the end may have been near anyhow, but he did not appear to be hurt badly or in serious danger.

4.  Carlos “Famoso” Hernandez is now at a crossroads point in his life, having been defeated in three of his last four bouts, including this weekend’s controversial loss to Bobby Pacquiao. He’s been competitive, the past two losses being by split decision (Hernandez came up on the short end against Jesus Chavez in May), and his style and diminishing skills mean that he guarantees to entertain. But since winning a technical decision over Steve Forbes two years ago, his lone triumph has been a split decision over Juan Carlos Ramirez, the man who was the victim of a Rocky Juarez first-round knockout earlier this year. Hernandez has had a long, moderately successful thirteen-year career, but he has come up short in three title tries. A loss to a journeyman like Pacquiao, no matter the dubious decision or his brother being superstar Manny, should signal the beginning of the end for Hernandez.

5.  Forget the quality of his opponents (since we’ve already forgotten most of their names). It’s been fun watching Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. grow as an extremely young prospect this year, with four of nine appearances in 2005 to date being special attractions on pay-per-views. In November, the kid will actually get to have a bout with some meaning, when he confronts Grover Wiley, the journeyman that his father lost to (quit against) last month.

6.  Reports are that Don King is planning a tournament pitting his four junior middleweight beltholders against each other. While unification is always a good thing, I fear that, with Winky Wright seemingly staying at middleweight and Kassim Ouma out of the picture, the end result will be one 154-lb. champion that no one cares about instead of four.

7.  Speaking of Ouma and Wright, “The Dream” is set to return for the first time since his lackluster loss in July to Roman Karmazin. His opponent this Thursday will be Freddie Cuevas, a middleweight with losses to Jermain Taylor and Kingsley Ikeke. As for Winky, he and Sam Soliman have a date in December, when the two will vie for a mandatory shot at the winner of the rematch between Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins.  For both Ouma and Winky, winning and staying in public view is necessary, as otherwise they will be avoided due to the curse of being high risk and low reward.

8.  The Antonio Tarver-Roy Jones Jr. rubber match sold 405,000 pay-per-view buys, an amount higher than their two previous fights. It will be interesting when the figures for the Corrales-Castillo II PPV are released, so it can be seen just how boxing fans chose to use their money, if Tarver-Jones compromised the potential sales of Corrales-Castillo or if people decided to dish out nearly one hundred dollars to catch both.

9.  If Pongsaklek Wonjongkam is the WBC flyweight titlist, and Jorge Arce holds the interim WBC flyweight belt, then why is the sanctioning body mandating that Wonjongkam must next face Rosendo Alvarez? Arce fought this weekend, while Wonjongkam is set to defend against Daisuke Naito shortly after this column goes to press, so it would make sense that the two should be facing each other next. Meanwhile, Alvarez is scheduled to fight in his native Nicaragua towards the end of this month, and Arce spent time following his TKO of Hussein Hussein calling out Alvarez instead of Wonjongkam. What a mess.

10.  The Contender Update: Saturday night has a three-bout card, featuring a main event rematch of Sergio Mora’s one-sided championship (cough, cough) win over Peter Manfredo Jr. On the undercard, Anthony Bonsante will attempt to avenge his technical knockout loss to Jesse Brinkley, and Alfonso Gomez is slated to face unheralded Luciano Perez. Just as it remains to be seen whether The Contender’s move to ESPN will be successful, there is no certain answer as to when the big names from the first season will take advantage of the television exposure and move forward with their careers.