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The great summer of boxing continues this coming Saturday evening at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas when Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales renew hostilities for the WBC lightweight title. Their first bout last year was certainly for me the fight of 2005 with one of the most dramatic turnarounds in boxing history. After being floored twice in the tenth and seemingly in desperate trouble, Corrales rallied to stop Castillo with a barrage of blows.
The rematch five month later last October saw the bigger Castillo KO Corrales in the fourth in a non title match when Castillo failed to make weight. The size advantage certainly was apparent that night!
Castillo, 32 from Mexicali, Mexico first won the lightweight title back in 2000 when in a major upset he defeated dominant champion Stevie Johnston on a closely fought majority decision. After 3 defences, one of which included a drawn verdict against former champion Johnston, he faced the dazzling skills of Floyd Mayweather Jnr. They fought twice in 2002 with Castillo pushing the Pretty Boy all the way in what was arguably Mayweather’s most difficult bout.
Even though Castillo had lost two title fights on the spin, his stock undoubtedly had risen and after three comeback wins he regained his old title with a unanimous decision win over Juan Lazcano in June 2004. After two more defences he was matched against Diego Corrales and we all know what happened in their two battles!
Corrales, born in California, is four years the challenger’s junior and has been a professional for 10 years. Originally a super featherweight, he won the IBF title in 1999 with a seventh round stoppage of Roberto Garcia. After four defences he was matched with rival WBC Champion Floyd Mayweather Jnr and was dismantled in 10 by his talented opponent in January 2001.
Things seemed to be over for Chico and it would be two years before he would step back into a boxing ring and after two comeback wins, he was derailed by Joel Casamayor in six in an eliminator for his old title. Revenge was gained five months later in March 2004 with a closely fought 12 round split decision win for the WBO title.
The lightweights beckoned for Corrales and the big bouts once again kept on coming. In a brave move, he was matched against big punching Brazilian Acelino Freitas for the WBO Lightweight title. Corrales, in one of his career best performances, dismantled the Brazilian en route to a tenth round stoppage win after scoring knockdowns in rounds 8, 9 and 10.
So this brings us to this Saturday and Chapter three of the Corrales v Castillo rivalry.
I think we can expect another closely fought grueling matchup. Fight one was a contest that will be talked of by boxing historians for years to come, Fight number two for me was a bit of a letdown. Not for the action but for the fact that Castillo didn’t make the weight. The weight difference was heavily in the Mexican’s favour that night and Corrales had no answer.
However I do think the fact that Castillo is naturally the bigger man will again work in his favour. He has been a lightweight for all of his career and to me Corrales does have that fragile look about him at times.
I am looking forward to another classic fight between these two warriors but at the end I feel that the naturally bigger size of Castillo will be the deciding factor and he will win by stoppage after another epic struggle in the late rounds of the bout.
