Diego Corrales vs Jose Luis Castillo 2

A doctor’s foot beneath the scales nearly ended the rematch before either fighter had thrown a punch. At the official weigh-in in Las Vegas, José Luis Castillo’s personal physician, Armando Barak, was spotted attempting to prevent his man’s true weight from registering. Nevada commission executive director Marc Ratner intervened; Barak was fined and suspended, and Castillo eventually weighed 138½lb, three and a half pounds above the lightweight limit. He was fined $120,000, ten per cent of his purse, and the WBC and WBO titles held by Diego Corrales were removed from the contest.

That left Corrales with an unattractive choice. He could withdraw and preserve his championships without fighting, or proceed against a man who had failed badly at the weight. After prolonged negotiations between promoters Gary Shaw and Bob Arum, the champion agreed to go ahead on condition that both men remained below 147lb at a second weighing on the day of the fight. Castillo complied. The Thomas & Mack Center was sold out, and anticipation had been heightened by Castillo’s private wager of $100,000 with Shaw that he would knock Corrales out. The Mexican had given himself a considerable undertaking, although considerably less difficult than making 135lb.

The first meeting five months earlier had provided ample reason for the interest. Corrales and Castillo had stood at close quarters for ten punishing rounds at Mandalay Bay, seldom troubling themselves with defensive considerations. Castillo dropped Corrales twice in the tenth, but each time the Californian’s mouthpiece came out, allowing him additional seconds to recover. Corrales then turned the fight with a right hand and a fierce attack along the ropes, forcing the stoppage at 2 min 6 sec. The sequel carried a special rule under which deliberately losing the mouthpiece could cost two points, but it was never required.

Although Corrales possessed clear advantages in height and reach, he again declined to use them for any sustained period. Rather than establish his jab and force Castillo to cross open ground, he met the Mexican at short and middle range. The opening round was consequently familiar. Castillo drove compact hooks into the body and sent uppercuts between Corrales’s gloves, while Corrales answered with the quicker hands and caught him with a sharp uppercut midway through the session. The champion had his successes, particularly when Castillo was moving backwards, but Castillo’s heavier, more economical work gave him the round.

The pattern remained in the second. Corrales attempted to introduce his jab, but too many of those punches fell short or were taken on Castillo’s gloves. Castillo stayed close, bending at the waist and finding room for short uppercuts that required little leverage. Late in the round, he landed a hard left hook which interrupted Corrales’s attack and obliged him to reset. The exchanges were competitive, but Castillo was imposing the range he wanted and making the taller man fight a smaller man’s contest.

Corrales tried to increase the pressure in the third and drove Castillo towards the ropes, only for the challenger to alter his approach. Castillo gave ground by a step, allowed Corrales to follow and countered as he came forward. Both continued to work downstairs, but Castillo’s blows carried the greater authority. A left hook followed by a right hand shook Corrales badly and almost put him down. Corrales recovered quickly enough to answer, whereupon Castillo clinched and allowed the danger to pass. By the end of the round, Corrales had a cut on his right eyelid, swelling around the same eye and a swollen nose. The three judges agreed on Castillo’s superiority: Jerry Roth and Clark Sammartino had him ahead 30–27, while Nobuaki Uratani scored it 29–27.

Only 47 seconds of the fourth round were required to finish the matter. Corrales threw a left hook and allowed the hand to fall as he prepared another attack. Castillo, balanced and watching closely, beat him to the opening with a short left delivered between hook and uppercut. The punch landed flush on the chin. Corrales fell heavily and remained down while referee Joe Cortez counted. He struggled upright as the count reached ten, but his legs were unsteady, and the contest was over. There was no need for a second knockdown and no complaint about the count.

Castillo had landed 98 of 166 punches, a rate of 59 per cent, while Corrales connected with 69 of 147, or 47 per cent. Those figures reflected the difference between the men more accurately than the relatively brief duration. Corrales had fought with his customary courage and had landed freely, but Castillo was stronger at close quarters, more compact in his punching and better prepared to exploit the openings created by their exchanges. The official result was a fourth-round knockout for Castillo, though the championships remained with Corrales because of the challenger’s failure at the scales.

The result levelled their rivalry at one victory apiece and appeared to make a third contest inevitable. It was first postponed when Corrales suffered a rib injury in training, then abandoned in June 2006 when Castillo again failed to make the lightweight limit, this time weighing 139½lb. Thus the series ended without its intended deciding fight. The first meeting remained the longer and more extraordinary contest; the second supplied the cleaner conclusion, but one permanently qualified by the events of the weigh-in.

I never regarded the second fight as a clean settling of the argument. Their first meeting had everything boxing supporters wanted: two outstanding lightweights, neither willing to surrender ground, and Corrales climbing off the floor twice before stopping Castillo in that extraordinary tenth round. A rematch was inevitable because the public wanted to know whether Corrales’s recovery was heroic, fortunate or helped by the time gained when his mouthpiece came out.

Then Castillo arrived three and a half pounds over the lightweight limit, with a member of his team caught trying to interfere with the scales. That matters. Corrales agreed to continue because pride would not let him withdraw, but he was facing a naturally strong lightweight who had failed to do the hardest part of the job. Castillo deserves credit for the performance, but the weight removes some of its authority.

Technically, Corrales made life harder for himself. He had the height and reach to jab, move and make Castillo reset, yet he again stood within hooking range. Castillo was compact, balanced and excellent at shortening his punches. He worked underneath Corrales’s long arms, attacked the body and drew the taller man into exchanges where leverage favoured him. By the third, Corrales was marked and being pushed backwards.

The finish was decisive. Corrales dropped his left after throwing, and Castillo drove a beautifully timed left hook through the opening. Corrales rose, but his legs had gone. Castillo won fairly once the bell sounded, though he had not behaved fairly before it.