by David P. Greisman
Photo © Ed Mulholland/FightWireImages.com

Shame.

Diego Corrales felt shame. He had let the fans down. He had let himself down. He had failed to make weight for his rubber match against Joel Casamayor. In turn, he lost his championship. He lost the fight. He lost his pride. He left the ring with nothing to show for his efforts but shame.

“You’ve seen the end of me at 135, and as of right now it’s time for me to go home and decide if you’ve seen the end of me period,” Corrales told interviewer Jim Gray after the fight.

Corrales was always one to give his everything. He drained his six-foot frame to make junior lightweight and lightweight. He fought in the trenches, put on a show. He never quit – not against Floyd Mayweather, when he complained vocally as his corner stepped in after the fifth knockdown. If he would keep falling, he would have to keep rising. And Corrales did not quit in his first match with Casamayor, when blood poured from his mouth, forcing Dr. Margaret Goodman to halt the bout despite his protests. Why worry about this red deluge when he could end it with a barrage?

This time, he had nothing left to give. Not when he sacrificed so much just to make weight. And not when said sacrifice failed to produce the desired result.

“I was stuck at 142 for three weeks virtually eating nothing,” Corrales said on a March conference call. “I did not get under 142 until I got to Vegas … I almost died to make the weight … My heart was skipping beats.”

The defeat left Corrales heartbroken. The downtime has gotten his blood pumping again.

Corrales returns Saturday as a welterweight, a jump of two weight divisions into the deep waters patrolled by legitimate contender Joshua Clottey. But if the choice of opponent seems overly ambitious, then Corrales’ corpus colossus makes the decision necessary, the victory possible.

Unlike with Jose Luis Castillo, who migrated north after thrice checking in above the lightweight limit, 140 was absolutely out of the question for Corrales. The smudges that the last Casamayor fight left on Corrales’ reputation would have to translate into a dirty dozen – a 12-pound rise straight into the dangers of Welter Skelter.

Not that Corrales minds it. Another challenge, another day at work.

“There was no hesitation at all,” he said on the conference call. “I want to be known as a great fighter, and the way you do that is by fighting the best fighters out there.”

Corrales watched in December as Clottey gave Antonio Margarito trouble, taking the early rounds until Clottey injured his hand and Margarito took over.

“I got me a brown bag and packed me a lunch because I knew I was going to have a long night,” Corrales said. “The kid is strong. He is physical and aggressive and I know I am in for a rough fight. I sat back and thought [about] how I put myself in another good one.”

The pride is back. The warrior mentality bursts forth once more. Win or lose, Corrales is almost guaranteed to come out bruised if not battered, swollen if not smashed.

He will not, however, be ashamed.

The 10 Count 

1.  Henry Maske’s first and only loss sent him into retirement, a 10-year sabbatical from the Sweet Science in which the split decision defeat must have gnawed endlessly on the pride of the former light heavyweight titlist.

Maske returned Saturday for one fight only, a unanimous decision victory over Virgil Hill, the one man who had beaten him. It was a storybook ending that sent a content Maske back into retirement – this time, on his own terms.

Although both men are 43, the general consensus was that Maske’s long layoff made him an overwhelming underdog against a Hill who had remained in boxing and had since captured a cruiserweight belt on two separate occasions.

But as Hill’s career wound down, so too did his activity – the 1984 Olympic silver medalist had fought just seven times since 2000, his two title wins mixed in with two losses to current cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck. Hill’s last appearance was in January 2006, a surprising outpointing of Valery Brudov

Perhaps the reported $1.33 million payday will ease the pain for Hill, who nevertheless holds onto his belt because the Maske rematch was a non-title bout held with a 190-pound weight limit. It may finally be time for Hill to forgo the gold and think of the money as a more-than-suitable retirement package that came at the end of a long and storied career.

2.  Former 108-pound beltholder Victor Burgos is out of intensive care but remains hospitalized at Los Angeles County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, according to a March 28 article by ESPN.com scribe Dan Rafael.

Burgos, who was hospitalized last month following his stoppage loss to flyweight titlist Vic Darchinyan, underwent emergency surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain and to reduce swelling.

Representatives from Don King Productions told Rafael that Burgos, who was once in a medically-induced coma, is now breathing on his own, though soreness from having a tube in his throat has made it difficult for him to speak above a whisper.

3.  It is incredibly unfortunate news that Burgos’ improving condition coincides with yet another ring death.

Lito Sisnorio, a flyweight whose record at the time was somewhere between 5-4-1 and 11-4-1, was knocked out in the fourth round of a March 30 bout against former flyweight champion Chatchai Sasakul.

Sisnorio, who had been stopped just two months prior by current flyweight king Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, reportedly fell unconscious hours after the Sasakul loss. He was taken to Piyamin Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, where doctors worked to remove a blood clot from the fallen fighter.

Sisnorio was 24.

4.  Boxing Promoter Behaving Badly: Chris A. Webb, whose Straight Out Promotions put on 2004’s Danny Williams-Mike Tyson bout, is facing three federal tax charges that are not connected with boxing, according to Louisville, Ky., newspaper The Courier Journal.

Prosecutors have charged Webb with one count of filing a false income tax return and two counts of failing to file a tax return. Webb faces three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the former, and one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for each of the latter.

Webb, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, is scheduled to return to court for his trial on June 4.

5.  Six of the boxers from The Contender were on the same card on Friday, joining stablemate Jerson Ravelo for “The Contender Challenge: UK vs. USA,” a tournament pitting the reality show contestants against half a dozen fighters from England. With the bouts yet to air on American television, please feel free to skip ahead to number 7 on The 10 Count if you don’t want to know the results.

In the six tournament bouts: Anthony Small took a split decision over second-season contestant Walter Wright, but Wright’s castmates Freddy Curiel and Cornelius Bundrage stopped Ross Minter and Colin McNeil, respectively. First-season star Alfonso Gomez also won via stoppage, taking out Martin Concepcion, while Gomez’ castmate Jesse Brinkley dropped a unanimous decision to former super middleweight titlist Robin Reid. Jerson Ravelo – who fights under the Tournament of Contenders promotional fold despite never appearing on the reality show – unanimously outpointed Paul Buchanan.

The American team took four fights to the United Kingdom’s two, giving America the win. Second-season contestant Michael Clark dropped off the card, and the UK’s Nigel Wright thus made short work of late replacement Jonathan Nelson.

6.  The eighth bout on the card featured first-season cast member Jonathan Reid, whose bout against Paul Smith didn’t count towards the tournament tally. Although Reid's loss came via a controversial seventh-round stoppage, it was his fifth defeat in six fights, and it may be best for the onetime middleweight title challenger to consider hanging up the gloves.

7.  Meanwhile in California, Contender first-season contestant Miguel Espino fought in a 10-rounder for only the second time in his career, going the distance and taking the decision over Juadiel Zepeda.

With the aforementioned Contender cast members fighting sporadically and in shorter bouts, Espino has been fortunate to remain somewhat active since his brief television run, a status essential for an inexperienced prospect. Steve Forbes’ bout against Demetrius Hopkins – held on the undercard of an HBO pay-per-view – was an exception to the rule, as is Peter Manfredo’s challenge this Saturday of super middleweight champ Joe Calzaghe.

8.  Too bad Sergio Mora doesn’t realize the difference between television and reality. Mora, who turned down a fight against middleweight champion Jermain Taylor because he was unhappy with the venue, should consider himself extremely lucky if he ever sees an opportunity half as important or lucrative as the Taylor bout.

9.  Dancing with the Stars Update: Laila Ali continued to impress on week two of the celebrity dancing competition, partnering with Maksim Chmerkovskiy for a mambo that the judges called sexy and seductive.

Ali and Chmerkovskiy earned 27 points from the judges, the top score for the week. Their total after two weeks is 50 points, which combined with the audience voting was more than enough to send the pair sailing past the show’s first elimination.

10.  Another year, another losing season for my Baltimore Orioles.

David P. Greisman may be reached at dgreisman@aol.com