Castillo - Corrales ; World War 3

Diego Corrales didn’t want to hear it. How could anyone suggest
that he, owner of one of the most courageous comebacks in boxing
history, would fake an injury to postpone a fight?
But that’s what some are saying about the rib injury he said he
sustained that postponed his third fight with Jose Luis Castillo. It
was originally scheduled for Feb. 4, but it had to wait four months
and will be contested Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center in Las
Vegas.

“Anyone who would say something like that is just a jerk,”
Corrales said during a conference call last week.
I’ve been called worse.

Anyway, we all know that Corrales spit out, then took out, his
mouthpiece after being knocked down twice by Castillo in the 10th
round of their first fight in May 2005.

I don’t care what he says, he did that on purpose to gain more
recovery time. Smart move. It worked, and Corrales came back to stop
Castillo in that same 10th round - thus, the aforementioned memorable
comeback.

Regardless of who won, both fighters took a lot of punishment, but
there is no question that, even in victory, Corrales took much
more.

Only five months later, last October, a weary-looking Corrales
took on Castillo in a rematch and got knocked out in the fourth round
with a sensational left hook.

The controversy regarding Castillo not making weight and therefore
probably being the much stronger man on fight night is immaterial, at
least for this argument. Bottom line is, that one punch Castillo put
on Corrales was the type that reduces any man to jelly.

If they had fought again a third time on Feb. 4 like they were
supposed to, only four months after that second fight, Corrales might
have been committing something close to suicide.

Now, we know what Corrales did with the mouthpiece to make sure
he was OK enough to continue in the first fight with Castillo. It is
then not so hard to believe that he would fake an injury to make sure
he was right for the trilogy.

I don’t have a problem with this if that’s what Corrales did. No
one wants to see anyone seriously injured or worse.
Of course, a fighter can’t just go to a promoter and say, ‘Gee,
can I have a few more months to prepare for this fight to make sure
I’m OK?’ No, he claims to be injured.

Corrales doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. His comeback
victory against Castillo cemented his place in boxing history. Never
has there been a shortage of fire in his belly, or courage in his
heart.

But he is human. Is he good to go? Or has he, even at 28, taken a
few too many hard shots to the head?

“I feel fine,” Corrales said. “If I felt like I was losing a step
or two, I’d be gone. … Let me make one thing very, very clear: Did
Diego try to buy time with a rib injury? No. So anybody thinking that
is just wrong.

“Also, is Diego getting a little old for the game? I do not know.
I have taken a lot of punches over the years. I think time tells.
Right now, I am still young and I have been out there with the best
of them and I have shown that time and again.
“On June 3, I will show you one last time.”
Corrales’ World Boxing Council lightweight belt will be on the
line.

(Castillo moving on up) Both Castillo and his promoter, Bob Arum,
said that this is Castillo’s last fight at lightweight. He will move
up to 140 pounds, where a fight with Miguel Cotto, the World Boxing
Organization junior welterweight champion, is a strong possibility.
Cotto is scheduled to defend his belt against Paul Malignaggi on June
10 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Cotto and Castillo would
presumably fight in November.

“I think he is a great champion and boxer,” Castillo said of
Cotto, of Puerto Rico. “I think he has a lot to offer and I think
when we do fight, it’s going to be a great fight.”
Ricky Hatton is also a possibility for Castillo at 140, though
Arum said he wasn’t too high on Hatton after Hatton had such a rough
time with Luis Collazo at 147 pounds. Hatton took the World Boxing
Association welterweight belt from Collazo on May 13 via a fairly
close decision, but he got beat up in the process by a fighter who
isn’t known to hit very hard; Collazo only has 12 knockouts in 28
fights.

In other words, Hatton should move back down to 140. Even if he
does, a loss of appeal from the Collazo fight could disqualify him
from a fight with Castillo, at least in Arum’s eyes.
The fight most fans would love to see would be a third fight with
Floyd Mayweather Jr., who got decisions over Castillo twice in 2002.
Both were lightweight world championship fights. Mayweather is now a
welterweight champion, and Castillo said he would have no misgivings
about moving all the way up to 147 for a third go-round with today’s
current pound-for-pound king.

“I have always said that I would love a third fight with
Mayweather,” Castillo said. “I think at 147 he is not going to be
moving as much, my power will be better, and I think it would be a
really great fight with him.”

Castillo can’t look ahead, however. And he’s not. He knows only
too well what Corrales is capable of doing, and that Corrales will
take himself to the brink of death to do it.

“I know that Corrales is the key to everything,” Castillo said. “I
know I have to beat Corrales. I am concentrating on Corrales because
that will open my doors to fights with Cotto and Hatton in the
future.”

Castillo, of Mexicali, Mexico, is 54-7-1 with 47 knockouts. He is
32.
Corrales, of Las Vegas via Sacramento, is 40-3 with 33
knockouts.
Showtime will televise.