By Johnny Ortiz
There was a fight that was fought nearly twenty-eight years ago, it was one of the most exciting fights I have ever had the privilege of witnessing. It was a bout between two monster-punching, undefeated bantamweight champions, WBA champion Alfonso Zamora and WBC champion Carlos Zarate. They were referred to as “The Z Boys.”
Now, just about twenty-eight year later, two Hispanic lightweight champions, who we will refer to as the “C Boys”, WBC champion Jose Luis Castillo and WBO champion Diego “Chico” Corrales will try on May 7, 2005, to emulate the electricity and the intensity the “Z” Boys generated on the day of April 23, 1977.
The week of the Zamora-Zarate fight had all of Los Angeles biting at the bit. It seemed that all of Mexico filled the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood the day of the fight. Not to be outdone, I believe every fight fan in LA was there on that Saturday afternoon. It was very reminiscent of the Mexican War years earlier, when on April 2, 1971, the rabid boxing fans from across the border and LA, nearly tore the Forum down during the sensational Bantamweight title fight between Mexico’s beloved champion “Rockabye” Rueben Olivares and the challenger, former champion ChuCho Castillo.
I, along with everyone else, was there to see the “Z Boys” train at the old hallowed shrine known as the Main St. Gym. The most famous fight gym in the world played host to capacity crowds, day in and day out. The Damon Ruyonsque, Howie Steindler was the owner of the celebrated gym at the time.
Former World Boxing Hall of Fame President and family friend, Charlie Casas, had a couple of fighters that were being trained at Main St. by the legendary trainer, “Duke” Holloway. I would tag along with Charlie, Duke, who was my boyhood trainer, would also work me out. My now being a saloon owner, I wanted to keep in shape. It was then that I would watch the “Z Boys” train, at different hours of course. Studying Alfonso, I found him to be very outgoing; he would play to the young ladies in attendance and seemed to enjoy that part of his workouts. Alfonso was extremely handsome; he had the look of a choirboy. The way his hands would beat the heavy bag and his sparring partners, the good looks would give way to a serious dedication.
Carlos, on the other hand, seemed to be more committed to the task at hand. He was quiet, and went about his training with a relentless effort. He almost seemed ‘too serious’. I was told that the two heavy-handed warriors were having trouble keeping good sparring partners. The “Z Boys” were definitely on a collision course…they were headed to war.
Going into the fight, Zamora had an unblemished record of 29 wins, 0 losses W/29 KO’s. Zarate had an incredible resume of 45 wins, 0 losses W/44KO’s. That comes out to: 74 total fights between them, while amassing an amazing…73 KO’s.
The fight hit a snag right before it was to be staged. The WBA and the WBC wanted both Zamora and Zarate to pay a large amount of money before sanctioning the bout. The California State Boxing Commission stepped in and decided to sanction the bout as a ten round, non-title fight instead. The energized fight fans couldn’t care less; no one expected the fight to go more than five rounds anyway. They didn’t care if a title belt was involved or not.
The day of the fight, the Forum was packed to the rafters. The fight was everything the fans expected, the two little dynamos went at each other from the opening bell. Alfonso struck first blood, staggering Zarate with some hard shots. At the end of the round, a drunken man jumped into the ring to presumably attack one of the fighters. The Forum police immediately removed him. Zamora and Zarate gave everything they had, near the end of the third round, Zarate visibly hurt Alfonso, the smaller man hung on until the bell sounded. Carlos started the fourth round fast, picking up where he had left off, Alfonso fought his heart out, but to no avail, Zarate stopped him in the fourth round. By scoring a knockout, Carlos Zarate proceeded to gain recognition by most boxing fans as the undisputed world champion of the Bantamweights.
The fight did more than end Alfonso’s amazing KO streak, he seemed to lose his confidence with the loss, he never regained the devastating aura that once surrounded him. Ring Magazine later recognized Alfonso Zamora as one of the hardest punchers in boxing history. He finished with a record of 33 wins, 5 losses W/32 KO’s.
Carlos Zarate finished his career of 70 total fights with a record of 66 wins, 4 losses, W/63 KO’s. He also holds the distinction of being the only boxer in history to put together two streaks of 20 or more KO’s wins in a row.
It didn’t end there, in October of 1979, when Howie Steindler’s daughter Carol and I assumed ownership of the Main St. Gym after the untimely murder of her beloved father; Alfonso’s career was winding down. Like all of the top contenders, former champions, and current champions from Mexico, they would all train at Main St. whenever they had a fight coming up in LA, Vegas or another nearby state. At Main St., they could spar with the very best. I had a chance to become exceptionally good friends with the original baby-faced assassin. I will never forget the good times I had with Alfonso at the old shrine. Alfonso Zamora retired after his loss to Rigoberto Estrada at the Olympic Auditorium on September 19, 1980… he was my little friend.
Carlos called it a night after losing to up and coming Daniel Zaragosa on February 29, 1988. I spent many a day talking to Carlos at the gym, as I stated earlier, he wasn’t much of a talker, but just being around his greatness will be a boxing thrill I will always cherish…they were the best of times.
If you were lucky enough to be there on that very special Saturday afternoon, you witnessed what Mexican fighters are all about.
The “Z Boys”…they were truly two of a kind!
It will be hard to imagine that the lightweight unification fight this Saturday night on Showtime between boxing’s “C Boys” could live up to the magic of the Zamora-Zarate fight, but then again, not many fights could. Even so, I am sure Castillo and Corrales will bring their own magic, making their contest a very memorable one. Like the “Z Boys”, they come to fight. It has been a hard fight to figure; all week long I have been running it through my head. Last night, after much deliberation and reasoning, I believe I now know who I am comfortable in picking.
They both bring different techniques to the bout, Diego is an awesome puncher with a hard, long left jab, while Jose Luis, an instinctive fighter, can both bang and box. The way I see it, Diego is going to have to start faster than he did with Acelino Frietas, he has to go after Jose Luis from the opening bell. He gave away the first six or seven rounds against the fleet-footed Frietas; he cannot afford to do that with Mr. Castillo. With PoPo Frietas, Diego did not seem to respect his vaunted power; he was content to follow him around the ring until he could land his big power punches. If Diego elects to follow the same game plan with Jose, he is going to find an opponent who is willing to exchange…Castillo is not a runner. Jose may or may not punch as hard as Diego, but he is a very smart, and experienced competitor.
Breaking the fight down, according to their last three fights, I will begin with Diego (39-2, 33 KO’s). In his last fight on August 7, 2004, against PoPo Frietas, he closed the show in ten rounds, but took too long in doing so, after the seventh, Diego was in with a beaten, intimidated fighter who eventually signaled his retirement to the referee in the tenth round.
On March 6, 2004, Diego won a controversial split decision over former champion Joel Casamayor, winning the vacant Super Featherweight title that had been vacated by Acelino Frietas. Casamayor had Corralles down in the tenth round. Diego won by the close scores of 115-112 twice, and the third score of 113-114.
In their first fight on October 4, 2004, Joel Casamayor had Diego down twice; Diego returned the favor by decking Joel once. The fight was stopped due to severe cuts inside Diego’s mouth.
Going over Jose Luis Castillo’s (52-6-1, 45 KO’s) last three fights, we find that on March 5, 2005, just two months ago, Jose defended his WBC lightweight title with a TKO win over a tough, Julio Diaz in ten rounds. While doing so, Jose really busted up Julio pretty good. That tells me that although not considered as big a puncher as Diego, Jose lands enough punches to do a lot of damage. Taking into account how Casamayor was able to bust up Diego’s mouth, Jose’s punch output might very well be able to do the same.
On December 4, 2004, Jose Luis took on Diego’s old nemesis, Joel Casamayor. It was a hard fought, technical contest that Jose Luis won via a 12th round split decision. Beating a great fighter the caliber of Joel Casamayor, proved to the boxing world that Jose Luis Castillo was for real, a fighter very worthy of being the lightweight champion of the world.
I first sat up and took notice of Castillo’s give and take ability when on April 20, 2002, he beat the young, highly touted, undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr., I know Castillo lost the decision, but I have eyes, I know when a fighter wins or loses. I watched that fight more than once, there was no way Jose lost their first fight, to Floyd’s credit, he did win the rematch rather handily, but there is no one that will ever convince me that Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat Jose Luis the first time out.
On June 5, Jose took on our boy, Juan “The Hispanic Causing Panic” Lazcano; Jose Luis won a twelve round decision, winning the vacant WBC lightweight title while doing so. Jose was able to get Juanito out of his game plan, he lured him into a slugfest, Juan should have known better, he’s smarter than that, credit must be given Jose for orchestrating the way the fight was fought. As in the Diaz fight, Jose landed quite a few facial punches, something Juan was not accustomed to being on the end of.
So there you have it, in a fight involving a common opponent, Joel Casamayor, Diego was stopped in the sixth round due to bad cuts. Diego won a split decision in the rematch. In the two bouts with Joel, Diego was knocked down a total of three times. Jose Luis never hit the deck against Casamayor.
In his loss to another common opponent, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Diego lost on a tenth round TKO after hitting the canvas a total of five times.
On paper, Jose Luis lost both decisions to Floyd – in my eyes and mind – he lost one. I would pay to see them fight again.
Diego looked impressive in beating Acelino Frietas. Jose Luis Castillo is a whole different ballgame…Frietas ran, Jose will not.
I had to be careful not to pick with my heart, Diego’s trainer, Joe Goosen is a long time, very good friend of mine. My father and one of my brothers were both named Diego; they are gone now, so you see, its kind of a sentimental thing with me.
A couple of years ago, I met Diego at the Playboy Mansion, they had a fight card on the premises that particular evening. Diego and I had a very nice, informative conversation; I was very impressed with the young man. I would like to see him win Saturday night, but I do not think it will happen. Number one, I believe Diego has to win by a knockout in order to have his hand raised, Jose Luis has a good chin, he just has to stay out of range of Diego’s big power shots. The same advice can also be directed to Diego.
Everything coincides with the fact that Diego has been down a total of eight times in his fights with Casamayor and Mayweather, aware of this, Jose Luis is going to be testing Diego’s jaw. Diego said recently that although he respects Jose’s power, he is not concerned about getting knocked down because he gets up. He also had this to say: “We both have fought the best guys, and have a lot of knockouts. I really do not see how the fight can go the distance with each of us dropping bombs on each other in the middle of the ring. I love these kind of fights. It has been a long camp, but I am so ready.”
Castillo countered with: “It took me a while in my last two fights to get warmed up, but if Corrales comes to me, this fight is going to be a brawl, the winner will be the one who is the strongest and the most prepared. I keep hearing how big and strong Corrales is, and how hard a hitter he is, but we will all find out Saturday. I do not know who has the advantage; I fought two months ago and he has been resting. Mentally, it is hard fighting as often as I have, but physically I am great. I had a great camp and am in top shape. We both know that this is a very big fight, one that is important to both our careers.”
A couple of other reasons, besides having been in with the better horses, that I am picking Castillo to win is that he is the more experienced fighter with 59 total fights to Diego’s 41, that, and the fact that this will be only Diego’s second fight at the lightweight limit against a high caliber fighter. Most of his fights have been at the Jr. Lightweight limit of 130 pounds. Jose Luis had three fights at 147 pounds prior to fighting Juan Lazcano, so you see; Diego’s size will not present any problem for Jose Luis.
Castillo is a much better fighter than most people give him credit for, and given the fact that Diego has been known to cut, and that Jose Luis is in the habit of busting people up, it could play a significant role in the fight. Unless Diego can land a huge bomb, I cannot see him beating the WBC world champion.
The way I see it, Chico Corrales had better respect the punching power of Jose Luis Castillo, 45 KO’s in 59 fights tells me that Jose may hit as hard, or maybe harder, than Chico. Jose Luis also yearns to be mentioned in the same breath as Mexico’s other fistic idols…Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales. A big win over Diego Corrales would put him right there.
From the “Z Boys” to the “C Boys”…who could ask for more?
