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On Saturday May 7th, live from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Two-time world champion Jose Luis Castillo, 52-6-1, (45) and WBO champion Diego Corrales, 39-2, (33) will collide in a highly anticipated lightweight unification bout. Also on the card is IBF/WBA featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, 43-2-1, (33) who will defend his titles against Victor Polo, 34-4-2, (21)
Two of the featured combatants on that spectacular May 7th card, Jose Luis Castillo, and Diego "Chico" Corrales, took a brief break from training to speak about their upcoming showdown.
Corrales quickly pointed out how pleased he is that the time for talking about fighting is almost finished.
"There's not much to say now, the time for talking is almost done. I've trained hard, I'm ready to fight, I'm ready for war. Come hell or high water I am leaving with those two belts!"
Castillo proclaimed that he is just as pleased as Corrales to step in the ring on May 7th.
"I just came down from the mountains; I'm going to stay in Mexicali for the rest of the week before I go to Vegas. I had a real good training camp and look forward to what I consider a great fight. There is no doubt in my mind that I am coming out the winner in this fight!"
Corrales disputed the theory that he would only look to land his powerful left hook against Castillo.
"I'm not going to limit myself to just one punch; I'm going to use a barrage of punches. Power punches are with both hands, and I plan on punching sharp with both. Occupying him with my power punches is one of my main things; in order for this fight to go the way I want it to go, I have to make sure he feels my presence early and fast. That's what I want to do."
Castillo feels he is ready for whatever style Corrales brings to the dance.
"His strategy could be to come at me or to box me, if that's what he wants to do. All I know is whatever his strategy is against me it won't work. I have proven that I can fight the punchers and box with the boxers."
"Chico" intends on sticking to his game plan, but insists that if his plan doesn't work, he will do what ever is necessary to come out winner on May 7th.
"When all else fails…make it a fight! That's what I kind of expect. I expect Castillo to come forward and try to cut off the ring, use his power, his physical strength. He's a big strong guy and that's what he's going to use. I'm going to be a big strong guy as well, so we kind of off set each other's strengths and powers. If it doesn't work, if my plan to attack doesn't work, then fight!"
Castillo more then welcomes a toe-to-toe brawl against Corrales.
"I think a good solid punch can knock anybody out that can happen to anyone. Even an elephant can go down with a good solid punch. I'm looking to see if he really does have the power to knock me down, to knock me out, we'll find out! We have to go into the ring and find out. I think I'm strong enough to take his punch, we'll see who really is the strongest guy up there."
Corrales balks at the idea that many experts think his chin is to weak to stand up to the power of Castillo.
"I just let them [experts] believe whatever they feel. If they believe that then hey, I've been up against some of the best. It doesn't bother me at all."
Castillo feels that he has prepared for the best Corrales will have to offer.
"I expect a tough fight, but like I have been saying I expect to win the fight. When the bell rings and the fight is over I will have my hand raised!"
Castillo does not think the tough level of competition he has faced leading up to his bout against Corrales has physically worn him down at all.
"I know that I have faced tough opponents, fortunately I haven't really been hit that much. I haven't really gone through a tough time in those fights, I've done well in those fights, I think I will have more then I need for this fight on May 7th."
Castillo insists that he doesn't mind jumping from one super fight to another.
"As a boxer you know that those are the fights that are going to make the people respect you as a boxer. Those are the ones that you make more money with, so obviously, yes, I like to have those big profile fights."
Corrales also feels, that at this point in his career, he should be facing only the elite fighters in the sport.
"At this point I have achieved my goals, becoming a world champion, I repeated it on a few occasions, now it's just to see where I can place myself in history. When they bring up the Jr. lightweights, lightweights or Jr. welterweights, wherever I end up, Hearing my name brought up in comparison to the young guys that will be coming up, ten, twenty, thirty years down the line, Now I'm working for the history of the sport."
Although Corrales expects to be victorious on May 7th, he has the utmost respect for his opponent.
"I rank Castillo right at the top of the list. He is as tough as they come; he has proven himself over and over again that he belongs. He has a world title and defends titles very well, the guys an awesome world champion. He ranks extremely high on my list of people I have ever fought. He has all of my respect. A win over him would be awesome. I have been working very, very hard for this and I am just determined to win it. He is a great, great champion."
With that being said, Corrales knows that Castillo will try to make it a rough and tough fight.
"He's going to be rough, there's no way around that, that's his style, that's what he does. I've got enough firepower to keep him honest, or at least semi-honest. We'll let the referee do his job and I'll do mine. I'm not worried about his rough tactics, what can happen in the ring, cuts, bruises, butts, or any of those things."
Even though Corrales expects things to get rough inside the ring, he is pleased to be facing an opponent that will be coming right at him.
"It's much nicer having someone come at me for a change. It's going to be a little bit of an adjustment early on, but it's going to be very, very nice."
Castillo sees a victory over Corrales as a chance for him to finally be recognized by boxing fans as a great fighter, like fellow Mexicans, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales.
"Once I defeat Diego I think everyone is going to look at me as the real champion, a durable champion, for what I have done. This is a big fight."
"Chico" does not put much stock into the comparisons between his fights with Joel Casamayor and Floyd Mayweather, and Castillo's performance against the same two fighters.
"I'm Diego Corrales and he's Jose Luis Castillo. The two styles have to match up together and see exactly what happens."
Although Corrales has been out of the ring for some time, he is adamant that he used the same basic approach to his training camp for the Castillo bout as he has for his other "mega" fights.
"The only thing is, I have been in camp a little bit longer. I spent a little extra time in training camp, I worked a bit harder because I know his late round pressure, even though were both late round starters and just get going in the later half of the fight, I kind of wanted to have a little extra going in there, we worked a little harder on that."
Although he is a dominant champion at 135 pounds, Castillo feels that a move up in weight is on the horizon.
"It looks like right now I might have to do one more fight at 135. They [Top Rank] promised me that I could have another fight on September 10th at 135, so I might stay one more fight before changing and moving up to 140."
Boxing fans can catch both the Castillo vs. Corrales and Marquez vs. Polo bouts May 7th on Showtime Championship Boxing at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Two of the featured combatants on that spectacular May 7th card, Jose Luis Castillo, and Diego "Chico" Corrales, took a brief break from training to speak about their upcoming showdown.
Corrales quickly pointed out how pleased he is that the time for talking about fighting is almost finished.
"There's not much to say now, the time for talking is almost done. I've trained hard, I'm ready to fight, I'm ready for war. Come hell or high water I am leaving with those two belts!"
Castillo proclaimed that he is just as pleased as Corrales to step in the ring on May 7th.
"I just came down from the mountains; I'm going to stay in Mexicali for the rest of the week before I go to Vegas. I had a real good training camp and look forward to what I consider a great fight. There is no doubt in my mind that I am coming out the winner in this fight!"
Corrales disputed the theory that he would only look to land his powerful left hook against Castillo.
"I'm not going to limit myself to just one punch; I'm going to use a barrage of punches. Power punches are with both hands, and I plan on punching sharp with both. Occupying him with my power punches is one of my main things; in order for this fight to go the way I want it to go, I have to make sure he feels my presence early and fast. That's what I want to do."
Castillo feels he is ready for whatever style Corrales brings to the dance.
"His strategy could be to come at me or to box me, if that's what he wants to do. All I know is whatever his strategy is against me it won't work. I have proven that I can fight the punchers and box with the boxers."
"Chico" intends on sticking to his game plan, but insists that if his plan doesn't work, he will do what ever is necessary to come out winner on May 7th.
"When all else fails…make it a fight! That's what I kind of expect. I expect Castillo to come forward and try to cut off the ring, use his power, his physical strength. He's a big strong guy and that's what he's going to use. I'm going to be a big strong guy as well, so we kind of off set each other's strengths and powers. If it doesn't work, if my plan to attack doesn't work, then fight!"
Castillo more then welcomes a toe-to-toe brawl against Corrales.
"I think a good solid punch can knock anybody out that can happen to anyone. Even an elephant can go down with a good solid punch. I'm looking to see if he really does have the power to knock me down, to knock me out, we'll find out! We have to go into the ring and find out. I think I'm strong enough to take his punch, we'll see who really is the strongest guy up there."
Corrales balks at the idea that many experts think his chin is to weak to stand up to the power of Castillo.
"I just let them [experts] believe whatever they feel. If they believe that then hey, I've been up against some of the best. It doesn't bother me at all."
Castillo feels that he has prepared for the best Corrales will have to offer.
"I expect a tough fight, but like I have been saying I expect to win the fight. When the bell rings and the fight is over I will have my hand raised!"
Castillo does not think the tough level of competition he has faced leading up to his bout against Corrales has physically worn him down at all.
"I know that I have faced tough opponents, fortunately I haven't really been hit that much. I haven't really gone through a tough time in those fights, I've done well in those fights, I think I will have more then I need for this fight on May 7th."
Castillo insists that he doesn't mind jumping from one super fight to another.
"As a boxer you know that those are the fights that are going to make the people respect you as a boxer. Those are the ones that you make more money with, so obviously, yes, I like to have those big profile fights."
Corrales also feels, that at this point in his career, he should be facing only the elite fighters in the sport.
"At this point I have achieved my goals, becoming a world champion, I repeated it on a few occasions, now it's just to see where I can place myself in history. When they bring up the Jr. lightweights, lightweights or Jr. welterweights, wherever I end up, Hearing my name brought up in comparison to the young guys that will be coming up, ten, twenty, thirty years down the line, Now I'm working for the history of the sport."
Although Corrales expects to be victorious on May 7th, he has the utmost respect for his opponent.
"I rank Castillo right at the top of the list. He is as tough as they come; he has proven himself over and over again that he belongs. He has a world title and defends titles very well, the guys an awesome world champion. He ranks extremely high on my list of people I have ever fought. He has all of my respect. A win over him would be awesome. I have been working very, very hard for this and I am just determined to win it. He is a great, great champion."
With that being said, Corrales knows that Castillo will try to make it a rough and tough fight.
"He's going to be rough, there's no way around that, that's his style, that's what he does. I've got enough firepower to keep him honest, or at least semi-honest. We'll let the referee do his job and I'll do mine. I'm not worried about his rough tactics, what can happen in the ring, cuts, bruises, butts, or any of those things."
Even though Corrales expects things to get rough inside the ring, he is pleased to be facing an opponent that will be coming right at him.
"It's much nicer having someone come at me for a change. It's going to be a little bit of an adjustment early on, but it's going to be very, very nice."
Castillo sees a victory over Corrales as a chance for him to finally be recognized by boxing fans as a great fighter, like fellow Mexicans, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales.
"Once I defeat Diego I think everyone is going to look at me as the real champion, a durable champion, for what I have done. This is a big fight."
"Chico" does not put much stock into the comparisons between his fights with Joel Casamayor and Floyd Mayweather, and Castillo's performance against the same two fighters.
"I'm Diego Corrales and he's Jose Luis Castillo. The two styles have to match up together and see exactly what happens."
Although Corrales has been out of the ring for some time, he is adamant that he used the same basic approach to his training camp for the Castillo bout as he has for his other "mega" fights.
"The only thing is, I have been in camp a little bit longer. I spent a little extra time in training camp, I worked a bit harder because I know his late round pressure, even though were both late round starters and just get going in the later half of the fight, I kind of wanted to have a little extra going in there, we worked a little harder on that."
Although he is a dominant champion at 135 pounds, Castillo feels that a move up in weight is on the horizon.
"It looks like right now I might have to do one more fight at 135. They [Top Rank] promised me that I could have another fight on September 10th at 135, so I might stay one more fight before changing and moving up to 140."
Boxing fans can catch both the Castillo vs. Corrales and Marquez vs. Polo bouts May 7th on Showtime Championship Boxing at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
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