BoxingScene Staff Predictions; Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo

This Saturday night, two fighters come from under the shadow of Floyd Mayweather Jr. to battle in what should be a fight of the year candidate. Diego Corrales was an unstoppable force for a better part of his career, his freaklike physical attributes had many experts comparing him to the second coming of Tommy Hearns. Standing close to 6 feet tall and weighing only 130 pounds, Corrales had size and strength advantages over most if not all of his opponents. Corrales was dealt two heavy blows to his career in back to back fashion. First Diego was dominated in his biggest fight against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in a fight that saw Corrales taste the canvas several times until his corner stopped the fight. Following the Mayweather bout, Corrales was sent to prison for domestic abuse and most felt that we might never see Corrales at the top again. Corrales came back to active fighting not long after his release from prison and fought 5 times in 2003, he won four by knockout and lost one to Casamayor due to cuts. In 2004, Corrales brought his career back to the top and landed a spot among boxing's pound for pound best. In early 2004, Corrales defeated Joel Casamayor in a rematch of their high pitched battle by way of a split decision, Corrales used his boxing skills instead of slugging to outbox Casamayor. Corrales followed up the Casamayor win in a very big way by beating the previously undefeated Acelino Freitas into submission. After three knockdowns, Freitas had enough and did not want to fight any further. Corrales snatched the WBO lightweight title with the Freitas win and also picked up the biggest win of his career. Jose Luis Castillo had to fight a bit harder then Corrales to become a pound for pound caliber fighter. After being stopped in four fights, it appeared that Castillo would be another middle tier fighter. It appeared that way until he scored the upset of the year in 2000 when he decisioned Stevie Johnston, considered one of the best boxers pound for pound at the time of Castillo's win. Castillo would go on to fight Johnston to a draw in the rematch and then stopped all of his opponents until he ran into Mayweather. Castillo fought a spirited battle with Mayweather, but came up short on the score cards, some experts even felt that Castillo won the fight. The fight was so close that the two men staged a rematch. Unlike the first fight, Mayweather clearly outhustled Castillo to win their return bout. Mayweather moved up to 140 pounds and Castillo went back to dominating the lightweight division. Castillo grabbed big wins over Juan Lazcano, Julio Diaz and Joel Casamayor in order to position himself a spot on boxing's pound for pound list. details]