Since the fight between WBO/WBC lightweight champion Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo was fought, I have read what seem to be countless boxing reports of the fight by countless boxing writers. They all seem to be in unison in what have they have to say, that Diego Corrales got screwed because Jose Luis Castillo missed making the lightweight limit by two ˝ or three pounds depending on which report you read.
I would now like to throw my two cents in, my comments will be strictly my own; my overall observation of the oldest sport began to take fruit when I was a mere lad of nine, that’s when my oldest brother Phil took me to the old Main St.Gym.
I put on my first pair of gloves at that age, boxing totally consumed me, I lived to be a fighter…I ate, slept and dreamt of boxing. I learned my craft well under the watchful eye of the great, legendary old trainer Duke Hollaway; he trained my brother Phil who would later fight the greatest bantamweight champion ever, Manuel Ortiz, not once, but twice. Many, many years later with my fighting days well behind me and now as co-owner of the gym of my youth, I would become a trainer and a boxing manager.
With that said, I will begin.
First off, a champion defending his title has to make the required weight in order to defend his crown, if not, he can lose or be stripped of his belt or belts at the scale. Even if the champ blows it at the scales, they can still fight if both parties agree to it, in this case due to the fact that it was the challenger who could not make the required weight, the Corrales camp still chose to go ahead with the fight, which would now be billed as an "Extra Attraction Bout." In days gone by, these fights were billed as "over the weight fights." The way some writers have alluded to, you would have thought that Diego was David facing Goliath…it was only three pounds! [details]
I would now like to throw my two cents in, my comments will be strictly my own; my overall observation of the oldest sport began to take fruit when I was a mere lad of nine, that’s when my oldest brother Phil took me to the old Main St.Gym.
I put on my first pair of gloves at that age, boxing totally consumed me, I lived to be a fighter…I ate, slept and dreamt of boxing. I learned my craft well under the watchful eye of the great, legendary old trainer Duke Hollaway; he trained my brother Phil who would later fight the greatest bantamweight champion ever, Manuel Ortiz, not once, but twice. Many, many years later with my fighting days well behind me and now as co-owner of the gym of my youth, I would become a trainer and a boxing manager.
With that said, I will begin.
First off, a champion defending his title has to make the required weight in order to defend his crown, if not, he can lose or be stripped of his belt or belts at the scale. Even if the champ blows it at the scales, they can still fight if both parties agree to it, in this case due to the fact that it was the challenger who could not make the required weight, the Corrales camp still chose to go ahead with the fight, which would now be billed as an "Extra Attraction Bout." In days gone by, these fights were billed as "over the weight fights." The way some writers have alluded to, you would have thought that Diego was David facing Goliath…it was only three pounds! [details]
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