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Las Vegas, NV: Inside the Top Rank Gym right off The Strip, a candid and relaxed Jose Luis Castillo lightly worked out in front of the few dozen scattered members of the boxing media. Castillo never taped up his hands, never sparred and did as little as he could during the workout. In fact, Castillo barely broke a sweat.
Castillo lightly shadow boxed for less than five minutes, then battered the speed bag for a minute or so and then swatted at the heavy bag for slightly longer. From an outsider’s perspective, it appeared as though the warrior from Mexico was taking it lightly and not asserting himself like he should.
But that’s not to say that “El Temible” isn’t prepared for his rival, Diego “Chico” Corrales, when they face off for the third time this Saturday inside the Thomas and Mack Center. It was obvious from that moment Castillo strolled into the sultry gym that he wasn’t here to get in a full workout.
“I am as prepared as I ever have been,” Castillo told *********.com in an exclusive interview separate from the media roundtable. “I have been working very hard and right now I’m just warming up. Trust me; I am ready for this fight. You should see me when I am really training.”
Leading up to what will be the most eagerly-awaited showdown inside a boxing ring in 2006, Castillo is fairly blunt when asked about people asking him the same questions over and over. BY now, everybody knows about Corrales’ mouthpiece episode in the first fight and Castillo’s weight problems in the rematch. Still, he can’t seem to escape those same, redundant questions.
“Yeah, it gets kind of boring answering the same questions,” he revealed. “The first fight was all about his power and if I could deal with his power. Obviously I dealt with his power for ten rounds. Now it’s always the weight questions. But it does get boring.
“For this fight, it’s been the weight question with me,” he continued. “Everybody keeps asking me, no matter where I go, they keep asking me about the weight. And that does bother me. It does get bothersome after that same question is asked every time.”
Regardless of the same questions being asked of Castillo, one thing is clear; that no matter how many times his weight issues of Fight Number Two are asked, he’s here to do a job and he promises nothing less than a knockout. Castillo is confident that Corrales will be making a big mistake when they square off Saturday night and expects virtually the same result as their encounter back in October.
“I feel like I did during the first two times we fought,” he stated. “I know I’m going to knock him out. I feel it, I know I’m going to do it. This fight won’t be too different than when I knocked him out the second time.”
Looking back at Castillo’s career, one thing that jumps out is the fact that he has had a tremendous amount of rematches on his resume. At least five fights in his career have been rematches and one would figure that he prefers to fight the same guy twice, sometimes three times. But according to Castillo, it doesn’t matter and that it’s all a part of being a professional fighter.
“It’s not a question of me liking the rematch or not; it’s a business decision,” he quipped. “All of the rematches have been business decisions and we have to do them again, so we do them. It makes no difference if it’s a new opponent or the same. I prepare very hard no matter if I have never fought the guy before or if I fought him ten times. It’s all business.”
Respect is another serious subject when speaking with Castillo and up until recently, he has always been in the shadows of other noteworthy Mexican fighters. Even after capturing multiple world titles and locking horns with the best of the best, Castillo has always felt that he wasn’t truly respected or appreciated until he took out Corrales in the fourth round in their rematch.
“Yes, I do feel that I am finally getting the respect I feel I deserve,” he professed. “There were a lot of doubts before the first fight with Chico and I answered the critics in that fight. In both fights, actually. I have proven that I am better than he is and I am sure after the third fight, I will prove it again. I will leave no doubt as to the better fighter out of us both is.
“The victory is the most important thing,” he added. “You gotta win. I want to leave 135 pounds as the champion and that is what a victory means to me. Once I do that, I feel that I will be respected and appreciated even more.”
Oftentimes in the fight game when two men fight each other multiple, times and form a rivalry, the two actually become good friends outside of the ring. Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley have become actual business partners and Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward have become virtually inseparable. One would speculate whether Castillo and Corrales have formed a similar bond and after their trilogy completes, will they, too, become bosom buddies?
“I have always respected all of my opponents and I think I have shown that,” he admitted. “But when I enter the ring to fight, it’s different. Inside the ring it is all business but I have always respected all of my opponents. Outside of the ring, I think Chico and I have developed some kind of friendship. I don’t know how close, but there is something there. We’ll see what happens. Diego is a good guy and I respect him greatly. I think he respects me, too.”
There are also rumors that once Castillo and Corrales leave the ring and all the dust settles from what will certainly be a memorable war, that Castillo will jump ship to 140 or 147 and square off against undefeated superstar Miguel Cotto. A win over Corrales would certainly add much more intrigue to a showdown with Cotto, but as Castillo points out, first things first. There are plenty of attractive matchups for Castillo, but he has to first deal with Corrales.
“There are a lot of possibilities out there,” he said. “Miguel Cotto definitely is one possibility and so is Ricky Hatton. But I think the key to everything is winning, showing everyone how good I am and then after that we’ll see. But first things first; we have to get rid of Corrales. Once I get rid of Corrales, we’ll talk about the other guys like Cotto and Hatton. I am as prepared as ever for Corrales and once I knock him out, we’ll see what happens.”
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Castillo lightly shadow boxed for less than five minutes, then battered the speed bag for a minute or so and then swatted at the heavy bag for slightly longer. From an outsider’s perspective, it appeared as though the warrior from Mexico was taking it lightly and not asserting himself like he should.
But that’s not to say that “El Temible” isn’t prepared for his rival, Diego “Chico” Corrales, when they face off for the third time this Saturday inside the Thomas and Mack Center. It was obvious from that moment Castillo strolled into the sultry gym that he wasn’t here to get in a full workout.
“I am as prepared as I ever have been,” Castillo told *********.com in an exclusive interview separate from the media roundtable. “I have been working very hard and right now I’m just warming up. Trust me; I am ready for this fight. You should see me when I am really training.”
Leading up to what will be the most eagerly-awaited showdown inside a boxing ring in 2006, Castillo is fairly blunt when asked about people asking him the same questions over and over. BY now, everybody knows about Corrales’ mouthpiece episode in the first fight and Castillo’s weight problems in the rematch. Still, he can’t seem to escape those same, redundant questions.
“Yeah, it gets kind of boring answering the same questions,” he revealed. “The first fight was all about his power and if I could deal with his power. Obviously I dealt with his power for ten rounds. Now it’s always the weight questions. But it does get boring.
“For this fight, it’s been the weight question with me,” he continued. “Everybody keeps asking me, no matter where I go, they keep asking me about the weight. And that does bother me. It does get bothersome after that same question is asked every time.”
Regardless of the same questions being asked of Castillo, one thing is clear; that no matter how many times his weight issues of Fight Number Two are asked, he’s here to do a job and he promises nothing less than a knockout. Castillo is confident that Corrales will be making a big mistake when they square off Saturday night and expects virtually the same result as their encounter back in October.
“I feel like I did during the first two times we fought,” he stated. “I know I’m going to knock him out. I feel it, I know I’m going to do it. This fight won’t be too different than when I knocked him out the second time.”
Looking back at Castillo’s career, one thing that jumps out is the fact that he has had a tremendous amount of rematches on his resume. At least five fights in his career have been rematches and one would figure that he prefers to fight the same guy twice, sometimes three times. But according to Castillo, it doesn’t matter and that it’s all a part of being a professional fighter.
“It’s not a question of me liking the rematch or not; it’s a business decision,” he quipped. “All of the rematches have been business decisions and we have to do them again, so we do them. It makes no difference if it’s a new opponent or the same. I prepare very hard no matter if I have never fought the guy before or if I fought him ten times. It’s all business.”
Respect is another serious subject when speaking with Castillo and up until recently, he has always been in the shadows of other noteworthy Mexican fighters. Even after capturing multiple world titles and locking horns with the best of the best, Castillo has always felt that he wasn’t truly respected or appreciated until he took out Corrales in the fourth round in their rematch.
“Yes, I do feel that I am finally getting the respect I feel I deserve,” he professed. “There were a lot of doubts before the first fight with Chico and I answered the critics in that fight. In both fights, actually. I have proven that I am better than he is and I am sure after the third fight, I will prove it again. I will leave no doubt as to the better fighter out of us both is.
“The victory is the most important thing,” he added. “You gotta win. I want to leave 135 pounds as the champion and that is what a victory means to me. Once I do that, I feel that I will be respected and appreciated even more.”
Oftentimes in the fight game when two men fight each other multiple, times and form a rivalry, the two actually become good friends outside of the ring. Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley have become actual business partners and Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward have become virtually inseparable. One would speculate whether Castillo and Corrales have formed a similar bond and after their trilogy completes, will they, too, become bosom buddies?
“I have always respected all of my opponents and I think I have shown that,” he admitted. “But when I enter the ring to fight, it’s different. Inside the ring it is all business but I have always respected all of my opponents. Outside of the ring, I think Chico and I have developed some kind of friendship. I don’t know how close, but there is something there. We’ll see what happens. Diego is a good guy and I respect him greatly. I think he respects me, too.”
There are also rumors that once Castillo and Corrales leave the ring and all the dust settles from what will certainly be a memorable war, that Castillo will jump ship to 140 or 147 and square off against undefeated superstar Miguel Cotto. A win over Corrales would certainly add much more intrigue to a showdown with Cotto, but as Castillo points out, first things first. There are plenty of attractive matchups for Castillo, but he has to first deal with Corrales.
“There are a lot of possibilities out there,” he said. “Miguel Cotto definitely is one possibility and so is Ricky Hatton. But I think the key to everything is winning, showing everyone how good I am and then after that we’ll see. But first things first; we have to get rid of Corrales. Once I get rid of Corrales, we’ll talk about the other guys like Cotto and Hatton. I am as prepared as ever for Corrales and once I knock him out, we’ll see what happens.”
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