Corrales picks the wrong opponent

On October 7th, live on Showtime Championship Boxing, Diego 'Chico' Corrales will take on none other than Joel Casamayor for the third time. This rubbermatch occurs in the wake of the collapse of Corrales' rubbermatch with Jose Luis Castillo when Castillo failed to make weight. In their first meeting, 'El Cepillo' stopped Corrales, sending him to the canvas twice and cutting his mouth viciously with accurate punches. The damage to Corrales' mouth prompted Dr. Margaret Goodman to stop the fight. Corrales protested mightily and a rematch took place five months later. This time, in one of the most interesting plot twits in boxing history, the fighters exchanged trainers. Corrales again went down in the competitive rematch, but won a split-decision. Corrales seemed to win the fight clearly, albeit closely. Chico then went on to win against two of the top fighters in the sport, Acelino Freitas and Jose Luis Castillo. He rose up on the pound-for-pound lists and was leaving Joel Casamayor to eat his proverbial dust. Corrales did suffer a brutal 4th round KO to Castillo in their rematch, but was redeemed somewhat when Castillo failed to make weight for their 3rd fight. Meanwhile, El Cepillo kept himself busy fighting Almazbek Raiymkulov, Antonio Ramirez, and Lamont Pearson. Casamayor showed his age vs Raiymkulov, scraping by with a draw in a fight he could have just as easily lost. Then against Pearson on ESPN2, Casamayor looked flat while landing only 19% of his shots against a man that was not supposed to be on his level. Pearson quit after he was cut around the eye, leaving Casamayor with a TKO win. The years of making weight and the fights with Corrales seemed to have taken their toll. Corrales was the in-studio guest with Brian Kenny for Casamayor-Pearson, and after being verbally assaulted by Casamayor, Chico stated accurately that Joel did not look good enough to warrant a rubbermatch with himself. Apparently, Casamayor managed to get under Chico's skin because Diego Corrales has taken the fight against his fading nemesis. This move is questionable on Corrales' part, who instead could be looking at fresh opponents such as Juan Diaz. Granted, Diego took the kind of punishment that can forever change a fighter during those 14 rounds with Jose Luis Castillo. Still, if Corrales is going to show that he is done at the top level, he might as well have granted the boxing public that collapse vs a new face as opposed to someone he has already beaten.