Here's a little tribute to Diego Corrales I knocked up

**ClydeB** · 05-08-2007 08:44 PM

Submitted this to Curtis for the main site, but thought I'd share it with you guys since I haven't logged on since I lost my moderator status

Tribute to Diego Corrales

I remember the first time I witnessed Diego Corrales in action. He came belatedly to my attention in his infamously one-sided affair with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Not his finest hour, I’ll grant you; nonetheless, I was understandably unimpressed with what I had seen. First impressions can be horribly misleading, wouldn’t you say?

Everything, from the look, the performance and, as I saw it at the time, the woefully contrived “Chico” moniker left me fraught with skepticism. I saw him as a gimmick. I regret to say that this ridiculously warped notion was not dispelled until his legendary war of attrition with Jose Luis Castillo. I could scarcely retrieve my jaw from the floor for the duration of the fight. How wrong can one man be?

All the attributes Diego had preached, all his supposed virtues that I had scoffed at, there they were, encapsulated in a single fight: power, heart, chin, endurance, and sportsmanship. It was as if Corrales had been privy to all my grievances and decided to answer each in a show of defiance to make King Leonidas proud.

He may never have again reached those heights, but his character had a profound effect on me. The word “character” can be interpreted in so many ways, and “Chico” exhibited them all. His reluctance to discredit Jose Luis Castillo in the aftermath of their rematch, despite having ample cause for doing so, made the man all the more impressive to me.

If there’s any consolation, Diego has achieved what he sought: a lasting legacy. No one can take that from him and no one with a mind for boxing can ever question his contribution to the sport. He will be missed, in and out of the ring.

R.I.P Diego Corrales.

James MacDonald