By James Blears

Their first fight was an all time classic. Lionhearted, rugged, utterly savage and peppered with tremendous controversy.  Diego Corrales dug ever so deep, spat hard, and like a phoenix, rose above the caldron’s embers- controversially pulling off an unlikely, yet incredible win.

His never say die sheer determination and knockout power, caused a sensational turnaround, rendering Jose Luis Castillo befuddled, dazed and helpless on the ropes. The referee had no choice, but to stop the fight- and rightly so.

Diego had proved himself brave and also aware, under the heaviest bombardment, and the severest pressure a fighter can face.

His face was grotesquely puffed up, and then it got much worse. By his own admission he had to wear his Wife’s sun glasses, as nothing else would fit, while the swelling developed even further. For several days he could hardly walk. He himself admitted with trepidation, that he never wants to ever again feel the agony from the internal pain, which Jose Luis’ body blows and wrought, which was far worse than what happened to his visage.

That sort of explosive close range combat has the fans clamoring for more, yet after such a slugfest etched with greatness, a second fight was unlikely to live up to what had gone before.

The footsy on the scales, more than matched the gum shield controversy. And warrior as he is, Diego allowed the fight to proceed even though Jose Luis had obviously not made sufficient efforts to boil down to the required limit.

As he was the first to bravely and candidly admit, carelessness in dropping his guard, triggered the huge left hook which clinically took him out in four, although he was still the title holder because Jose Luis had fallen foul of the Wizard of OZ.

In both of these fights, Diego has been badly pounded and was on the receiving end of the vast bulk of the punishment.

The savage give and take brawl, has undoubtedly taken its toll on both of them, but more so on him. Fighters like Diego, who’s will to win burns so intensely and brightly, are prepared to go to hell and back, to triumph. And I fear that a lot of punch resistance has been drained out of Diego in the fourteen combined rounds of the encounter.

Will Jose Luis Castillo be as strong as last time, because this time he’s got to come in at 135 pounds? How much has Diego Corrales got left in the tank, and how much of his greatness has he left behind from the first encounter, which stirred memories of Ali and Frazier’s grueling and cruelly great Thrilla in Manilla epic?

Diego who’s tall and rangy unwisely refuses to take advantage of his natural reach and skills advantage and says he’s determined  to go toe to toe with a proven slugger, who loves nothing better than an in your face telephone booth war.

If this happens yet again, I feel that Diego is going to be on the receiving end of a painful knockout within the first six rounds.

Diego is a delightful and engaging character outside ring hours, with a ready grin, a huge laugh, a  wonderful sense of humor and an engaging personality.

I sincerely hope that his astute trainer Joe Goosen keeps an eagle eye on the action,  insures that Diego is firing on all cylinders and if the untoward happens, he will move in fast.

The actual action and its sequence third time around is still not easy to predict, but I’d be willing to venture that on track record up to date, controversy is bound to rear up yet again and once it does, everyone shouldn’t be surprised or slow to act.