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The epic battle between Diego “Chico” Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo has been called the greatest lightweight bout in history. These two warriors put forth an unbelievable effort for their May 7 title unification bout in Vegas, in which Corrales was knocked to the canvas twice, but came back to beat Castillo in the tenth round. On a conference call today, September 27, 2005, Corrales and his trainer, Joe Goossen, discussed plans for what they hope will be a second win over Castillo on October 8 in Las Vegas.
Corrales opened the call talking about training camp and how he is mentally preparing for the second time around. “Camp has been smooth,” the 28 year old boxer explained. “I’m happy it’s almost over with. I’m very confident. I have to say in my mind, screw it. Bite down and go. Knowing what I went through before, I honestly have to be prepared for what I went through. So I say let’s do it. I’m ready for every second, every round, every inch. I know I am physically ready. I’m physically able and ready to do it. I should be better this time around. You got to look at the nine-month layoff I had before. I sharpened up much faster. My body doesn’t have to remember anything. It’s much easier to do a fight quicker than [after] a much longer layoff. And I don’t know about Castillo, but if he’s physically not ready, that’s the edge for me.”
When asked about the first fight, he responded, “It was a great fight. It was one of those fights that will tie us together forever. It was fair for me to do it again and give him that rematch. It wouldn’t be right for me to go on to someone else.”
Next, Goossen was questioned about past statements saying he didn’t want a rematch between the two fighters. “I pretty much had forgotten the statement that I made. It wasn’t something written in stone for me. That was that. Once the fight was set, it was like Diego said. You know you’re given a job and you’ve got to go do it. How do you prepare Diego prepare mentally and physically? Mentally he has to prepare for that himself. Diego is the one that does the fighting and he’s the one that has to prepare for it. I’ll leave that chore for him. You talk about the damage done during the fight. They both absorbed punishment. The last guy standing was Diego. We cracked the pot pretty good right there. I’m taking that with us into this training camp. That’s part of our knowledge here. We were the last guy standing. That’s enough for us. I’m much more satisfied with his technical advancement in this camp compared to last camp. This camp I expect him to be a better fighter and a lot more at ease in the ring because he’s had two back to back camps now and it’s made all the difference in the world.”
The next reporter compares Corrales’ popularity to that of Michael Jordan’s. “Yeah,” Corrales responded. “It’s been really cool. It’s been awesome. To make an impact on a game is great, but to make a real impact like I’ve made is unbelievable. You know, I’m still young so it’s really neat to watch my own career blossom like it has.”
When asked if there is any way to avoid a war, Corrales answered no. “There’s a good chance I’ll come out and land a great shot, because I can hurt him again. It sometimes comes quicker in the rematches. To tell you the truth, I don’t think there’s any way to avoid an all-out brawl. He wants to win. He had the win snatched from him in the last second. So I think it’s going to be a hard fight.”
Goossen added, “number one, both boys took punishment. I’ve looked at that fight more than any other one I’ve been involved in. The other guy took a lot of punishment early, which allowed Corrales to win late. They’re both aggressive guys, with their styles. Their instincts put them head to head in the ring, ninety-nine percent of the time. I’m not going to divulge my strategies but the fans will not be disappointed, because instinctually they’re both tough guys. I think it would be beneath them to give any less than an effort than they gave the first time. That usually spells more action, not less. Both of them need and have to win. I don’t think you’re going to see much dancing around. I think they’re going to break the mold with this one.”
Then Gary Shaw, Corrales’s promoter, piped in. “The styles of these two guys is evident. One guy is a hunter. And Castillo is like a rubber band, the way you push him, he snaps right back. This second fight will be as exciting as the first fight. I don’t think you will see a lesser fight.”
Corrales opened the call talking about training camp and how he is mentally preparing for the second time around. “Camp has been smooth,” the 28 year old boxer explained. “I’m happy it’s almost over with. I’m very confident. I have to say in my mind, screw it. Bite down and go. Knowing what I went through before, I honestly have to be prepared for what I went through. So I say let’s do it. I’m ready for every second, every round, every inch. I know I am physically ready. I’m physically able and ready to do it. I should be better this time around. You got to look at the nine-month layoff I had before. I sharpened up much faster. My body doesn’t have to remember anything. It’s much easier to do a fight quicker than [after] a much longer layoff. And I don’t know about Castillo, but if he’s physically not ready, that’s the edge for me.”
When asked about the first fight, he responded, “It was a great fight. It was one of those fights that will tie us together forever. It was fair for me to do it again and give him that rematch. It wouldn’t be right for me to go on to someone else.”
Next, Goossen was questioned about past statements saying he didn’t want a rematch between the two fighters. “I pretty much had forgotten the statement that I made. It wasn’t something written in stone for me. That was that. Once the fight was set, it was like Diego said. You know you’re given a job and you’ve got to go do it. How do you prepare Diego prepare mentally and physically? Mentally he has to prepare for that himself. Diego is the one that does the fighting and he’s the one that has to prepare for it. I’ll leave that chore for him. You talk about the damage done during the fight. They both absorbed punishment. The last guy standing was Diego. We cracked the pot pretty good right there. I’m taking that with us into this training camp. That’s part of our knowledge here. We were the last guy standing. That’s enough for us. I’m much more satisfied with his technical advancement in this camp compared to last camp. This camp I expect him to be a better fighter and a lot more at ease in the ring because he’s had two back to back camps now and it’s made all the difference in the world.”
The next reporter compares Corrales’ popularity to that of Michael Jordan’s. “Yeah,” Corrales responded. “It’s been really cool. It’s been awesome. To make an impact on a game is great, but to make a real impact like I’ve made is unbelievable. You know, I’m still young so it’s really neat to watch my own career blossom like it has.”
When asked if there is any way to avoid a war, Corrales answered no. “There’s a good chance I’ll come out and land a great shot, because I can hurt him again. It sometimes comes quicker in the rematches. To tell you the truth, I don’t think there’s any way to avoid an all-out brawl. He wants to win. He had the win snatched from him in the last second. So I think it’s going to be a hard fight.”
Goossen added, “number one, both boys took punishment. I’ve looked at that fight more than any other one I’ve been involved in. The other guy took a lot of punishment early, which allowed Corrales to win late. They’re both aggressive guys, with their styles. Their instincts put them head to head in the ring, ninety-nine percent of the time. I’m not going to divulge my strategies but the fans will not be disappointed, because instinctually they’re both tough guys. I think it would be beneath them to give any less than an effort than they gave the first time. That usually spells more action, not less. Both of them need and have to win. I don’t think you’re going to see much dancing around. I think they’re going to break the mold with this one.”
Then Gary Shaw, Corrales’s promoter, piped in. “The styles of these two guys is evident. One guy is a hunter. And Castillo is like a rubber band, the way you push him, he snaps right back. This second fight will be as exciting as the first fight. I don’t think you will see a lesser fight.”
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