Boxing Ringside Report: Jose Luis Castillo – Diego Corrales

Photos by Mark DeSisto and Edwin Gonzalez

With Honor and Humility it’s Fight Night Live in Las Vegas!

At last the date of October 8th finally arrived on our “boxing calendar.” My fight fans from all over the globe know what I am talking about. The rematch of arguably the greatest fight of all time was scheduled to pop off in the main event at the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two best thoroughbreds in the lightweight division, Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, had their own agenda the second time around.

Corrales was looking to repeat as the victor and show once and for all that he is the man at 135. Castillo on the other hand wasn’t looking for any championship belts; if he was he would have made weight. Castillo was fighting for pride. He had never been knocked out before, so it was imperative that he avenge his knockout loss. Everyone was asking whether or not Corrales and Castillo could not only duplicate, but surpass their fistic brilliance back on May 7th. At that time, I felt the question that should have been asked was which fight will be the fight of the year, the first one or the second one? Tune in for this exclusive ringside report from Las Vegas on the only place to be for all your breaking stories and inside scoops in the marvellous world of boxing, Saddoboxing.Com.

In the opening bout of the evening, undefeated featherweight Mario Santiago of Ponce, Puerto Rico was taking on Feliberto Young of Los Mochis, Mexico. Both fighters started the first very cautiously. It was your basic feeling out round. There were a few flurries in the bout as the fight progressed, but nothing too damaging. The highlight of the second round was a hard left, right combination from Young that backed Santiago back a bit. The return fire from Young stopped any further advance from Santiago.

Action picked up a bit in the third round as Santiago began to press the issue with a few good right hands, dictating the pace of the action. As Young tried to counter, he found himself in harm’s way and got caught again by a right hand. This was the beginning of the end for Young, as he hit the canvas and the ref called it off when he failed to beat the count. The fight was ruled a KO at the 2:39 mark of the third round. Mario Santiago improved to a solid 12-0 (6) as well as blemishing Feliberto Young’s spotless record. The Mexican now drops to 5-1-1 (4).

In the second bout of the night, the Olympic Jr. Middleweight Vanes Matirosyan came out with all guns blazing. His impressive amount of offense pushed Tony Morales around the ring. Morales fought back but seemed a bit overwhelmed by Matirosyan’s output, as a right hook slipped in and dropped him somewhat early in the first. It wasn’t much longer before another combination from Matirosyan garnered Morales a standing eight count. After getting up, Morales was yet again barraged by a charging Matirosyan, who clearly sensed blood and homed in for the kill. The result of the attack was a stoppage of the fight called by Referee Jay Nady. The official time was 2:37 of the first round and was ruled a TKO. Vanes Matirosyan improves to 5-0 (2); Tony Morales falls to 5-3 (4).

In the third bout of this action packed card the undefeated jr. welterweight Americo Santos of Garland, TX, looked to be hungry for yet another notch on his unmarred record and he succeeded in doing so by tattooing recent Paul Malignaggi victim Jeremy Yelton of Charleston, SC. Santos came out of his corner quickly and went on the offensive, attacking his foe from the start. He cleverly invested in body shots. He started low and wound up a few times, ending with a cross or two that landed well.

Yelton, to his credit, returned with some good fire. The action was heated to say the least, until Santos put together yet another good combination that ended everything with a heavy uppercut. The shot dazed and dropped Yelton at 2:40 of the first and the South Carolinian could not make it up for the count. The win improves Santos’s record to 23-0 (19) while Jeremy Yelton losses his second fight in a row and falls to 17-3 (8).

In a 10 round lightweight bout, Oxnard California’s Rolando Reyes, 26-3-2 (8), edged out a decision win over the lesser known Ivan Cabrera, 11-6-1 (3), of Mexico City, Mexico. Reyes, the NABO titist, has now won his last five fights and was making his first ring appearance since knocking out Courtney Burton on Shobox Cabrera loses his fourth fight in six outings. In this non title bout, Reyes almost had Cabrera out in the second round after landing a right hook, left uppercut combination to the head area. Cabrera proved to posses a “beard” and survived the round on his feet.

It appeared that as the fight progressed Reyes seemed to lose confidence, allowing Cabrera to unload on him with body shots while on the ropes. Cabrera was swinging away at Reyes with hard body shots until a big overhand right from Reyes backed Cabrera off and changed the tide of the fight. Several times the much more experienced Reyes put himself in harm’s way by backing into a corner. As Cabrera managed to stay in the fight, his defence and aggression earned him the “W” on one of the judges’ scorecards, but unfortunately that’s not enough; you need to win on two cards.

Reyes finally took control of the fight again in the last two rounds of this ten round bout when he landed numerous shots on Cabrera. Several of those shots were right hooks that made Cabrera clinch, due to the quickness of his opponent. When the ref separated them, Reyes would pick up where he left off. In the tenth and final round, the pace proved to be too much for Cabrera, who was simply fighting on just pure instinct and pure heart. A straight right to the mid section area managed to put Cabrera on one knee and left him very fatigued. He finished the fight throwing very weak punches. The judges’ scorecards read: 96-94 for Cabrera 96-93 and 97-92 for Reyes. The right person got the “W.”

In what was the only “official” welterweight bout (Jose Luis Castillo weighed in at 147), upcoming prospect Juan Buendia was hoping to keep his unbeaten record alive against the rough and rugged Bernardo Guereca. As soon as the fight started, it seemed apparent that “El Carnicero” (“butcher” in Spanish) was going to accomplish his goal of a winning impressively. Guereca did the best he could; however, it was to no avail. The Albuquerque, New Mexico native was way in over his head.

Buendia, from Durango, Mexico, took his time in picking apart his outgunned foe, systematically wearing him down with slick uppercuts on the inside and counter left hooks from the outside. Although Guereca was visibly shaken once in at least every round, the tough competitor survived. Buendia patiently waited for the openings in Guereca’s defense to occur. When they did he capitalised and made Guereca pay for it.

Buendia wound up staggering Guereca badly early in the fourth round. After a few clean, solid shots found a home on the chin of Guereca, referee Richard Steele made the right decision and jumped in to stop this lopsided assault. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:07 in round four, allowing the promising Buendia to improve to 11-0 by scoring the sixth knockout of his career. The hostile crowd booed Mr. Steele’s decision to wave off the action, but Steele’s decision was correct. It seems that the crowd may have forgotten what happened to Martin Sanchez and Leavander Johnson. There is never a need for a fighter to take unnecessary punishment. Guereca now drops to 14-6-1 (3).

Now as the Pay-Per-View broadcast portion of the fight card began, super featherweights Carlos “El Famoso” Hernandez, 41-6-1 (24), and Bobby Pacquiao, 26-11-3 (11), the brother of former featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao, opened up the show. Hernandez, a former world champion, was hoping to once again make a name for himself in the boxing world, and put himself in position to fight for another world title. With Manny Pacquiao, Erik Morales, and possibly Joan Guzman, the super featherweight division has arguably been the most competitive weight class in boxing.

Hernandez started out slowly, but it seemed that he was feeling Pacquiao out, timing his heavy punches. Unlike Pacquiao, Hernandez was very limited in throwing his jab throughout the first. Pacquiao had control of the fight moving around the ring and throwing jab after jab and behind it a straight left, all of which found a home on either Hernandez’s face or body. A wicked right uppercut landed clean, giving Pacquiao the advantage and raising his confidence level. Pacquiao continued to stick and move and altogether anded the more clean and effective punches to win the first round.

Hernandez was quick to answer the bell for the second round, not waiting for Pacquiao as much. It seemed as if he wanted to take the fight to Pacquiao, but he was met by more jab-straight left action that prevented him from doing so. Hernandez countered Pacquiao’s flurries with body punches in bunches. During the last seconds of the second Pacquiao landed a vicious left hook to the side of the head and sent Hernandez to the canvas. Hernandez got up and beat the count to beat end the second.

A somewhat frail and wobbly looking Hernandez came out for the third and was met by non stop action from Pacquiao, who was looking to finish him off. As the round continued, Pacquiao started to show signs of tiring due to throwing so many punches. It seemed that Pacquiao hit Hernandez with everything he had but was losing his accuracy as the fight continued.

With his face starting to swell and his nose clearly bleeding, Hernandez managed to storm back into the fight, landing multiple right hands to finish a very difficult to score third round. Pacquiao began to eat nearly ten over hand rights over the next two rounds. Although he was strong enough to stay on his feet and absorb the onslaught, Pacquiao clearly ran out of gas for the next three rounds. Pacquiao was throwing fewer punches and those he did throw carried less steam, allowing Hernandez to gain precious points and get back into the fight.

Midway through the fight, it seemed that Hernandez may have won every round after the second. Hernandez again continued to land his overhand right at will as he complained about Pacquiao head-butting. Towards the end Pacquiao landed a huge straight left that may have evened up the round. With Pacquiao out of gas, Hernandez abandoned his plan to end the fight, and his sense of urgency was thrown out as he seemingly was content with mimicking the inactive pace of Pacquiao. Hernandez threw more punches through the end of the fight, but very few of them seemed to pack pop.

Pacquiao found his second wind and battled through most of the last two rounds, landing a whaling right hand, the biggest punch of the whole fight. The only difference was that Hernandez countered every time Pacquiao threw a punch.

Hernandez, tired of Pacquiao’s clinching, continued to push Pacquiao on the back of the head, until at one point in the tenth round he pushed Pacquiao halfway through the ropes. With only seconds left in the fight, Hernandez finished throwing punches, as Pacquiao clinched him hoping that his domination in the early rounds and late surge were enough to win the fight.

As the final bell rang, Pacquiao looked discouraged, while Hernandez was raised victoriously by his team as they waited for the decision. The Team Hernandez celebration was a tad premature as it was announced that Pacquiao was the winner via a split decision. The scorecards read 97-92 for Hernandez, 95-94 and 95-93 for Pacquiao. The decision sent the mostly Hispanic crowd into frenzy, as they were unwilling to accept the judges’ decision. Saddoboxing.com scored the fight 97-92 in favor of Hernandez. On our scorecard we had it a shutout for Hernandez after the second round.

Although very few ringside observers would tell you that Hernandez was impressive, most in attendance and press row made it clear that he had won. In a somewhat controversial split decision, Hernandez failed to earn enough points on at least two scorecards to get the “W.” Hernandez believes he won the fight outright, “I won the fight, the people know it,” he said after the decision was announced.

Junior welterweights Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Jeremey Steirs were up next. Stiers proved to be a much tougher test for Chavez then expected. However, Chavez still passed the test with flying colors. The Chavez family pedigree, a vicious body assault, systematically evaporated Stier’s stamina. Chavez showed poise and patience when the relentless Stiers just kept pecking away. Stiers was on the ropes when he took a scorching left hook from Chavez, followed by a deadly body attack, causing Referee Richard Steele to quickly leap in and rescued Stiers from further abuse. The official time of the stoppage came at :47 into the round, awarding Chavez with another victory.

Young Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., took his sweet time in picking apart the rugged
Jeremy Stiers and showed poise beyond his years.

Chavez improved to 23-0 after scoring his 18th knockout and it seems that the lanky nineteen year old appears destined for success. Only time will tell, but hopefully his competition will start to improve soon. We all agree that Chavez Jr., shouldn’t be fighting the Miguel Cottos or the Ricky Hattons of the world but in retrospect, he shouldn’t be fighting these guys from the Midwest that no one has heard of. Stiers put up a valiant effort, however he still falls to 9-5 (6).

During the publicity build up to the highly anticipated rematch between the very colorful Jorge “El Travieso” Arce and Hussein Hussein, Arce spoke very little about his rematch with the Australian. From the very beginning of the fight, Arce was the aggressor and let his fists do the talking. His consistent jab commanded the ring and at times he followed it with a straight right. His basic one-two was on point, and it seemed it would
have landed all night. Hussein had nothing in his arsenal to nullify the carnage that was set to take place.

Halfway through the first, Arce’s jab and quick feet opened up the door for a huge overhand right that sent Hussein tumbling like a ton of bricks. Hussein, who lost to Arce back in March of this year, rose from the canvas and was ready to keep fighting. But his lack of offense may have been a sign that he was discouraged and maybe even scared to engage in a slugfest with Arce since being knocked out by him.

Hussein used holding techniques early on before he was dropped by Arce who moved around him and hit the Australian at will. Halfway through the second round, he backed Hussein into the ropes and unleashed what seemed to be an endless array of body shots.

Hussein made it off the ropes and managed to stay on his feet, crossing the ring and escaping the barrage of punches thrown by Arce. After getting off the ropes, Hussein was met by a loaded left hook, that Arce may have pulled out of Jeff Lacy’s book. Hussein’s feet were up in the air and was sent down for the last time. Shortly there after, as he beat the beat the 10 count, Hussein’s trainer, Jeff Fenech, ended the fight
in the same manner as the first battle, throwing the towel in at 2:50 of the
second round, preventing Hussein from receiving further punishment.

Fenech was heckled by some fans at ringside for stopping the fight so early, but if there is someone who would know Hussein’s abilities better than anyone else it would be Jeff Fenech. Who would know his fighter better than his own trainer? Although we shouldn’t live in the past, take into consideration if Leavander Johnson’s corner had just thrown in the towel a lot sooner he still might be with us today. Two fatalities in the same year are two too many for me. It shouldn’t happen at all, Jeff Fenech should get credit for stepping up to the plate like a man. It’s good to see that there are still some people in our great sport that have compassion. It was not likely that Hussein Hussein was going to win.

“I’m the best 112lb fighter out there,” said Arce after making quick work of Hussein via a second round TKO. “I don’t know what happened. My fist just touched him and he went down, am I ready for the best, bring on the best,” said the proud Mexican. Jorge Arce might just be the second coming of Jorge Paez. He is very entertaining and had many at press row and ringside smiling.

Jorge Arce stated that he will wait for the result of WBC flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam’s defense against Daisuke Naito on October 10. If Wonjongkam prevails, Arce would be his next mandatory contender. The winner will become the recognized WBC super flyweight champion.

Click for larger image © Tom Casino/Showtime

Ladies and gentlemen the moment you all have been waiting for was finally set to take precedence right in front of our very eyes. We should all consider ourselves to be very lucky and fortunate to have witness such an epic battle of mythic proportion the first time around. What you saw that night was historical. It’s history because you may never see what you saw that night ever again.

But there is a common cliche that we all should keep in mind, and that is that history repeats itself. But can it repeat itself in the short time frame of only five months? Corrales and Castillo were set square off and the controversy surrounding the weight loss was quickly forgotten as soon as both fighters entered the ring.

When Corrales faced us at press row and ringside and looked at us with total disdain and pumped his fist in the air and screaming, “What?” and “Lets go!”, all I can remember was getting goose pimples and a chill going down my spine. In the process of my heart skipping about 2 beats, I can remember saying to myself, “Oh this is serious!”. Words could not express the electricity that we all felt in the arena that night as those two
gladiators stared each other down in the middle of the ring.

Their initial encounter has been dubbed the fight of the new millennium and many aficionados of the sweet science have a hard time disputing that claim. The lightweight division has had it’s share legendary bouts throughout the years, but even boxing historians have a difficult time in mustering a fight from the good ol’ days that compares, let alone surpasses the first showdown between Corrales and Castillo. Constant re-airings of their first brutal war loop continuously on Showtime and the eagerly awaited rematch has enjoyed much pre-fight hype on ESPN’s SportsCenter.

As the bell rang, they picked up from where they last left off. I guess you could call it “round 11.” Castillo willingly welcomed Corrales into a virtual phone booth war and while Corrales managed to have his moments, when landing his fair share of hooks and uppercuts, the shorter more compact Castillo pecked away with sneaky left hooks and dazzling right uppercuts.

Castillo was momentarily rocked in the second round, but that was first and last time “El Terrible” was stunned or in any in any danger during the duel. Castillo staggered Corrales towards the end of the third with a straight right hand to the head area.

In the fourth Castillo closed the show with a picture perfect left hook/left uppercut that crashed heavily onto Corrales’ jaw, sending the world recognized lightweight champion tumbling down to the canvas and leaving him splattered out on the ground.

Corrales took several seconds on the mat before eventually crawling onto his gloves and knees, but by the time “Chico” got up off the floor, Referee Joe Cortez had already reached the count of ten. Corrales stumbled into the ropes in his own corner and his trainer Joe Goosen held him up in a manner in which you would only see a father hold his kid. This image was very profound, “Chico” had just been knocked out by his archival; a rival that he dramatically stopped when he staged his miraculous comeback in May.

The official time of the knockout came at just :47 into the fourth round and it was the only time in Corrales’ career where he was convincingly knocked out. His previous losses to former champion Joel Casamayor was the result of a stoppage because of a bad cut on his upper lip. And although he was clearly dominated by the pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, he wasn’t knocked out cold. He may have been able to finish that fight.

There was no way around it, Diego was knocked fully out, thus making it sweet revenge for the native of Mexico, a former champion who had sought vengence after he succumbed to Corrales’ onslaught the first time around.

In this fight there was no counter punching from the outside and the contest didn’t last as long as nearly most had hoped. Although Corrales-Castillo II failed to live up to part one, the fight wasn’t without drama, excitement and a spectacular finish. All of the ingredients that would constitute a breath taking bout between two elite fighters were baked in the oven. It just so happened that tonight’s fight ended too soon and
it was decidedly a bit one-sided as opposed to their first encounter.

“He’s a great champion, a true champion,” Castillo said afterward. “He was very strong tonight but I knew I could beat him. He got me the first time and now I got him this time. There is no questioning this one.”
The outcome of the fight automatically sets the stage for a rubber match, a third fight that Corrales’ promoter Gary Shaw claims will happen sometime in early 2006. The rematch clause in the contract provided “Chico” Corrales with the option, that if he lost, he was guaranteed a rematch, if the clause was
exercised. According to the very outspoken Shaw, “the option will be exercised to the fullest.” “The third fight, will be held at a contracted weight of 135 pounds, a weight that Castillo couldn’t make on the day of the weigh-in on three separate attempts to the scales”.
“I am not going to muck up his win whatsoever,” a very disappointed and devastated Corrales said moments following his heartbreaking loss. “I am not going to try and make an excuse about a supposed weight advantage he may or may not have had. I won’t do that to him because he earned the win. I made a dumb mistake by dropping my right hand and he took advantage with a great punch.”
There were rumors floating around in the days and weeks leading up to the successor of 2005’s Fight of the Year, that if “Chico” Corrales could duplicate his magnificent feat, he would have been facing with his former conqueror the pound for pound king, Floyd Mayweather sometime next year. As a result of the loss, such a super fight like that is now put on the back burner indefinitely as Corrales now has to play the role of Castillo the next time around. If he wants to reinstate himself as the world’s best lightweight must fully avenge his knockout loss the next time around. From Vegas with love, it was an honor and a pleasure, thanks for tuning in…

---

Contact Edwin Gonzalez: prpapa427@aol.com
Contact Mark DeSisto: bostonsmarkd@yahoo.com