One Year Ago Today

[amat]

Diego Corrales died. Thought that was worth noting and an excuse to post my favorite moment in sports history to be honest. 2 years before he died he had this fight.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=imZaiGJgbsw

RIP Chico.

[HattonTheHammer]

true ring warrior who put everything on the line and gave 150% every time.

the sport is a lot poorer without him!

RIP

[:::PSL:::]

[CFH]

One of my all time favorites. Win or lose, he always left everything in the ring.

[chip]

Diego Corrales died. Thought that was worth noting and an excuse to post my favorite moment in sports history to be honest. 2 years before he died he had this fight.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=imZaiGJgbsw

RIP Chico.

Man i bowto atrue warrier best fight ever will stay with me always have it on disc play to my 6 year old (girl)

[Violent Demise]

I remember when Corrales fought Casamayor in there first fight. I was pulling for Casamayor to knock him out. To win. But it was so hard to go against Corrales. I remember him screaming "Give me one more round. Just one more round". I was like damn. The guy was a fukking warrior.

[DaxxKahn]

Wow it seems like he has been gone forever....Diego is still missed by many of his fans still to this day...

I liked Corrales quite a bit....Not just as a fighter but a person as well..He was a class act...I spoke with Diego numerous times over the years and each time he was the most humble and respectful guy you could possibly talk to....Everytime we spoke he would always ask how I was and remember something from the last conversation we had...You could tell it was genuine when he asked as if it really mattered to him....It was always small talk of course stuff about the site...or an article we had both read and discussed...He would comment on my myspace page if I had changed the way it looked...Diego was big on talking with fans and such on there...I respected him for that because I really did not know the man other then from myspace and times we spoke about fights for articles or interviews....

When you interview enough fighters promoters etc you learn little tricks on how to get them comfortable talking with you so the interview goes better and you don't get a bunch of yes and no answers out of them....Often these guys will start saying stuff they really did not mean to and was really not meant for the public to hear....After a while you learn what to keep in an interview and what to discard..Because if you make a fighter look bad you will never get an interview with him and more then likely his promoter or anyone else for that matter will make sure you never speak to one of their guys again so I make it a point not to discuss anything these guys say to me with the general public except what I include in articles or interviews...

The last correspondence I had with Corrales was nothing more then a ...."Good Luck Champ" through an e-mail before the Clottey fight...it was the last time I actually spoke with him in depth that I will always remember......And I don;'t know if it the fact Adam has gotten me thinking about Corrales with his post and turned me a bit sentimental but I am going to share a story with you guys....Maybe you will understand why Corrales is such a favorite of mine regardless of what he did in the ring....


I had interviewed Cassamayor two weeks before they met for the last time and like always was never short on things to say especially about Diego...I always like to get both sides to make a better read so I was determined to get an interview with Corrales before the fight as well....We had played phone tag for about 4 or 5 days and I was just about to give up because the fight was a week away and fighters tend to break themselves away from the media accept for press conferences....

I was at Tracy Pattersons gym down by Kingston NY with my amateur fighter Marcus Williams...Raymond Joval was returning in the spring after a long layoff and wanted to shake off some rust and build cardio before going home for a visit so when he came back in a month to enter training camp he was not completely drained out...

I was working Marcus corner when my cell phone rang...I answered it and the party on the other line did not answer...So while half talking to my fighter and saying hello over and over I was just about to hang up when I hear "Its Diego Corrales, did I catch you at a bad time"...Here I have a three time world champion about to have one of the years biggest fights and he is worried about interrupting me?...

I told my partner Vince Kittle I had to take the call and went outside to speak with Diego and catch a smoke....

For the next hour we had talked about this and that...half the time doing the interview the other half about article we had both read or up and coming fighters we had seen lately debating on the fact if they will sizzle or fade in their careers....

I was trying to wrap things up and get in my last few questions so I could let him get back to more important things when I asked him....

"Diego you are one of the few fighter in the sport with the exception of Arturo Gatti that gives it his all and leave everything he has in the ring each time out, even when you were losing against Floyd you kept on coming. You are starting to get near the 30 years old and at an age when these wars can really take a toll on a fighter, Do you have many of these wars left in you?"...or something close to that effect.....

For the next 10 seconds there was just silence on the phone when finally he answers " No...I don't have anymore wars left in me, I have a family and this is is what I do".......

I remember he took pauses between each sentence and he sounded sad when he talked, it was obvious Diego had enough of fighting, making weight and going to war...It was the only way though he knew he could provide for his family and he wanted to make sure there was going to be enough money to last when he couldn't fight...Even though I did not know him that well you could tell in his voice....I still have the email I sent Curtis telling him about it.....

Then just like that he perked up and told me he knows one thing and that was he had at least one more left in him but after that there were no promises....A couple of days later he failed to make weight then stripped of his title and I knew Corrales was not going to be a mainstay in the sport for much longer....

A few minutes later we ended our conversation and I told him I would catch up with him for his next fight...I actually felt bad for a minute after we got off the phone...

To this day I always consider myself a luck guy to catch a warrior like that in a moment where he was not being a fighter or was he talking for the press but just being an ordinary guy......Something we as fans when bashing these fellow for a bad performance or coming into a fight ill prepared often forget that these are just ordinary guys....Just like us and they have an off night just like everyone else....It was actually that conversation with diego that had me thinking one night about that same thing that inspired me to write and article for this site with the same name "Ordinary Men"....

I was driving when a text message came to me Diego died in an accident...I remember getting that little lump in my throat and glassy eyed while cars behind me honked so I would go through the green light...

Diego was one of a kind and his fans meant the world to him...Too bad more fighters out there do not have the heart and determination he did...There would never be such thing as a dull fight....

While I have interviewed guys like Angelo Dundee, Floyd Patterson and met such greats as Ali, Leonard, Lewis...That interview with Corrales will always be my personal favorite no matter how many more guys in this business I interview or meet

[Hulk]

I'll never forget Diego Corrales. He was the definition of the word "Warrior".

[Violent Demise]

Wow it seems like he has been gone forever....Diego is still missed by many of his fans still to this day...

I liked Corrales quite a bit....Not just as a fighter but a person as well..He was a class act...I spoke with Diego numerous times over the years and each time he was the most humble and respectful guy you could possibly talk to....Everytime we spoke he would always ask how I was and remember something from the last conversation we had...You could tell it was genuine when he asked as if it really mattered to him....It was always small talk of course stuff about the site...or an article we had both read and discussed...He would comment on my myspace page if I had changed the way it looked...Diego was big on talking with fans and such on there...I respected him for that because I really did not know the man other then from myspace and times we spoke about fights for articles or interviews....

When you interview enough fighters promoters etc you learn little tricks on how to get them comfortable talking with you so the interview goes better and you dont get a bunch of yes and no answers out of them....Often these guys will start saying stuff they really did not mean to and was really not meant for the public to hear....After a while you learn what to keep in an interview and what to discard..Because if you make a fighter look bad you will never get an interview with him and more then likely his promoter ro anyone else for that matter will make sure you never speak to one of their guys again so I make it a point not to discuss anything these guys say to me with the general public except what I include in articles or interviews...

The last correspondance I had wit Corrales was nothing more then a ...."Good Luck Champ" through an e-mail before the Clottey fight...it was the last time I actually spoke with him in depth that I will always remember......And I don;'t know if it the fact Adam has gotten me thinking about Corrales with his post and turned me a bit sentimental but I am going to share a story with you guys....Maybe you will understand why Corrales is such a favorite of mine reguardless of what he did in the ring....


I had interviewed Cassamayor two weeks before they met for the last time and like always was never short on things to say especially about Diego...I always like to get both sides to make a better read so I was determined to get an interview with Corrales before the fight as well....We had palyed phone tag for about 4 or 5 days and I was just about to give up because the fight was a week awa and fighters tend to break themselves away from the media accept for press conferences....

I was at Tracy Pattersons gym down by Kingston NY with my amatuer fighter Marcus Williams...Raymond Joval was returning in the spring after a long layoff and wanted to shake off some rust and build cardio before going home for a visit so when he came back in a month to enter training camp he was not completely drained out...

I was working Marcus corner when my cell phone rang...I answered it and the party on the other line did not answer...So while half talking to my fighter and saying hello over and over I was just about to hang up when I hear "Its Diego Corrales, did I catch you at a bad time"...Here I have a three time world champion about to have one of the years biggest fights and he is worried about interupting me?...

I told my partner Vince Kittle I had to take the call and went outside to speak with Diego and catch a smoke....

For the next hour we had talked about this and that...half the time doing the interview the other half about article we had both read or up and coming fighters we had seen lately debating on the fact if they will sizzle or fade in their careers....

I was trying to wrap things up and get in my last few questions so I could let him get back to more important things when I asked him....

"Diego you are one of the few fighter in the sport with the exception of Arturo Gatti that gives it his all and leave everything he has in the ring each time out, even when you were losing against Floyd you kept on coming. You are starting to get near the 30 years old and at an age when these wars can really take a toll on a fighter, Do you have many of these wars left in you?"...or something close to that effect.....

For the next 10 seconds there was just silence on the phone when finally he answers " No...I dont have anymore wars left in me, I have a family and this is is what I do".......

I remember he took pauses between each sentence and he sounded sad when he talked, it was obvious Diego had enough of fighting, making weight and going to war...It was the only way though he knew he could provide for his family and he wanted to make sure there was going to be enough money to last when he couldn't fight...Even though I did not know him that well you could tell in his voice....I still have the email I sent Curtis telling him about it.....

The just like that he perked up and told me he knows one thing and that was he had at least one more left in him but after that there were no promises....A couple of days later he failed to make weight then stripped of his title and I knew Corrales was not going to be a mainstay in the sport for much longer....

A few minutes later we ended our conversation and I told him I would catch up with him for his next fight...I actually felt bad for a minute after we got off the phone...

To this day I always consider myself a luck guy to catch a warrior like that in a moment where he was not being a fighter or was he talking for the press but just being an ordinary guy......Something we as fans when bashing these fellow for a bad performance or coming into a fight ill prepared often forget that these are just ordinary guys....Just like us and they have an off night just like everyone else....It was actually that conversation with diego that had me thinking one night about that same thing that inspired me to write and article for this site with the same name "Ordinary Men"....

I was driving when a text message came to me Diego died in an accident...I remember getting that little lump in my throat and glassy eyed while cars behind me honked so I would go through the green light...

Diego was one of a kind and his fans meant the world to him...Too bad more fighters out there do not have the heart and determination he did...There would never be such thing as a dull fight....

While I have interviewed guys like Angelo Dundee, Floyd Patterson and met such greats as Ali, Leonard, Lewis...That interview with Corrales will always be my personal favorite no matter how many more guys in this business I interview or meet

I hear you. I met Corrales once. After he destroyed Damien Fuller. He was real cool. He took pictures with 2 of my sons. And talked for about 15 minutes. Great guy

[Spicoli]

Now there was A Man who wore It on his sleeve...Power,Heart,Pride,Emotion.Everything!!He never stopped believing in his power and ability to be a Champion in the ring & in life...As a fan I will never stop believing he was right in that Assessment

He may be down,But he will never be forgotten...R.I.P Champ,Thank you

[TitoFan]

In my list of favorite fights of all time, "Corrales-Castillo I" is right near the top. If I wasn't a Corrales fan already, I became one after that fight.

[Galaxy]

Seems like a whole lot longer than a year.

Corrales will always be missed, he gave his all in there for us!

[BoomBoom]

Chico was a special kind of fighter that could turn non-boxing fans into fans. He was everything that you want to see in a fighter, not afraid of a challenge and always came to fight and came to win. Even when he came up short he never lost anything with his fans.

[CutMeMick]

Diego Corrales died. Thought that was worth noting and an excuse to post my favorite moment in sports history to be honest. 2 years before he died he had this fight.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=imZaiGJgbsw

RIP Chico.

I was there that night for JLC-Corrales I....

I'll never forget it.


May he R.I.P.

[Mintymen]

True Warrior, would never forget those classic brawls