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Yesterday, the Beverly Hills Hotel in California was the site for the official press conference announcing the third fight between two great warriors, Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo. The fight is being promoted by Bob Arum and Top Rank and will be held at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on June 3 of this year. The contest will be broadcast on Showtime and will be for Corrales’ WBC 135 pound title.
Castillo is the early favorite to win the rubber match, with the sportsbook at the Wynn Hotel having him an 11-5 favorite. WBC President Jose Sulaiman was quick to praise both men, describing Castillo as “Thunder” and one of the greatest fighters to come out of Mexico in at least the last twenty years. He also claimed that Castillo is the only man to have “clearly defeated Floyd Mayweather in their first contest” (a fight that Mayweather won by decision). Bob Arum also echoed this claim about Castillo later in the program.
Both fighters seem to have tremendous respect for each other. Castillo, who was accompanied by his young son, took the podium first and speaking through an interpreter, congratulated Corrales and his wife on the birth of their young daughter. He left the podium to hug Corrales. Castillo mentioned that he had heard of Diego possibly changing his style for this fight and asked him Joe Goosen (Diego’s trainer) not to change his style. He pointed out that both previous fights were great for the fans. Castillo promised to make the 135 pound limit as last time he failed to do so and many feel that the extra weight he carried into the ring gave him an unfair advantage in his knockout victory. It did however cost him a fine and the world title.
Co-promoter Gary Shaw followed Castillo to the podium and advised him that “Chico” Corrales would be right in front of him. Jay Prince, Corrales’ manager, urged Castillo to “start dieting early and show up on weight, that (the extra weight) made the difference last time”.
Joe Goosen stated the obvious fact that the first contest was one of the most “brutal fights that he had ever seen”. He felt certain that Castillo will make weight and that he fight will be on “an even playing field”. Goosen said that he would not blame the extra weight for Diego’s loss last time. He stated that the big difference is that Diego is “rested for this fight” and that the third matchup will not “be an early fight, it will have rounds”. Later, away from the podium, he indicated to me that Diego would fight a different fight this time and that the last time Corrales and Castillo fought, it was “too close to the last fight”. In essence, their bodies hadn’t recovered from the beating they both took in the first fight.
When Corrales took the podium, he was very brief. He mentionied that this will be the last fight between the two men. He stated that Castillo may be “Thunder” but thunder is just “noise”. Lightning, on the other hand, destroys trees and brings down buildings. He will be “Lightning” in this fight. Away from the podium, he indicated that he will fight Corrales much differently this time. One thing is certain and that is, it will be a great fight.
Jeff Lacy was in attendance and spoke with me for a few moments. He would definitely like a rematch with Joe Calzaghe, although at the moment he is not training and needs the time off. He didn’t feel like himself in the ring with Calzaghe, attributing some of the loss to the fact that he had fought five times in thirteen months and had a lot of pressure on him (as a young champion and being undefeated). He feels that he will be learn from the loss and will be better for it in the long run.
