What Next For Boxing Warriors Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales?

After two fights full of crushing left hooks, stinging right crosses and conscious jarring uppercuts brought to viewers across the world on Showtime, both Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales find themselves at a crossroads.

What’s next for these two leather merchants? Are the linked by fate to a third bout, much like their precursors Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward? If so, at what weight would that war be waged and would there have to be titles involved or have the pair transcended sanctioning body assignations? There’s an abundance of possibilities and it’s clearly a situation that bears a bit of looking into.

If we set aside the whole weigh-in controversy and just accept that Castillo knocked out Corrales in a non title fight, things get a bit clearer. Corrales still has his WBC and WBO titles and Castillo is probably the hottest commodity in boxing right now aside from a rather rough light welter from Manchester, England and a lightning handed glove artist from Grand Rapids, Michigan but we’ll get to that a bit later.

If the pair are going to face each other in the future, it obviously won’t be at lightweight as Castillo proved he can no longer get down to 135 pounds. Considering Corrales’ evident decline in punch resistance capabilities in the rematch, the Californian’s time as a lightweight may be dwindling fast.

If Corrales does stay at 135lbs the obvious targeted matchup would be a unification bout with either WBA Champion Juan Diaz or newly minted IBF kingpin Jesus Chavez. Either scenario would be a winner for the fans with both Diaz and Chavez are tenacious inside volume punchers that would war with the much taller Corrales.

As a reigning double champion, Corrales also has to consider mandatory challengers. In regard to his WBO title, that would be ex-champion Acelino Freitas whom Corrales already forced to quit during a thrilling contest. Sirimongkol Singwangcha of Thailand is the WBC mandatory. The man from Sacramento, California may choose still another route however as there may be more financial gain in facing the likes of recent combatants Zahir Raheem, Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao or even super featherweight champions Marco Antonio Barrera or Scott Harrison should they chose to step up to 135lbs.

Going back to Castillo, his future appears to lie as a light welter, a division generally considered to be the most competitive in the sport, although recent developments have shaken the power structure of the weight class. Gone are world title holders Kostya Tszyu, Arturo Gatti and Vivian Harris, replaced by their conquerors Ricky Hatton, Floyd Mayweather and Carlos Maussa. Castillo and Mayweather have already faced each other twice as lightweights and the sharp skilled “Little Floyd” may not be eager to face once again the man who many feel beat him in their first bout.

WBA Champion Maussa and IBF terror Hatton will possibly meet at the end of November in Sheffield, England but “The Hitman” must first sort out a pending legal matter with promoter Frank Warren for that bout to take place. Assuming some sort agreement can be made between the two Englishmen and the Maussa fight takes place, it’s a fairly safe bet that Hatton would walk away a double champion.

At that point a terrific pay per view contest between Hatton and Castillo would be a distinct possibility but in the meantime the Mexican brawler would almost certainly have fought at least once as a light welter. A bout with Vivian Harris would be a good starting point as the victor would get themselves into a great position for a title opportunity.

Regardless of the weight class, Corrales and Castillo may be facing each other again before any other scenarios can unfold as reportedly there was a rematch clause in the contract signed by both fighters for their second fight.

Now who wouldn’t want to see that again?