Robert Garcia vs Diego Corrales

Three knockdowns in a little more than a round overturned a closely contested championship fight and gave Diego Corrales his first world title. At the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on October 23, 1999, the unbeaten challenger stopped Robert Garcia 48 seconds into the seventh round to win the IBF junior lightweight championship. Garcia had begun confidently, landing combinations and making Corrales work at a pace he initially seemed reluctant to accept. By the finish, however, the champion could no longer withstand the challenger’s hooks and right hands.

Both men entered unbeaten, with substantial records of victories inside the distance. Garcia had won 32 contests, 24 by knockout, while Corrales had 28 wins, including 23 knockouts. Garcia weighed 129 pounds and Corrales 129½. The champion was making his third defence, having taken the vacant title by outpointing Harold Warren in March 1998. He had subsequently beaten Ramon Ledon inside five rounds and former champion John John Molina over twelve. Corrales, the IBF’s leading contender, faced an opponent whose championship experience included recovering from knockdowns to win. Their contest formed part of the Showtime bill headed by Mike Tyson against Orlin Norris.

Garcia made the more effective start. Despite conceding height and reach, he found Corrales with left hooks and straight rights, sometimes springing forward to deliver the latter. The challenger did little to establish his jab, allowing Garcia to bridge the distance without first negotiating the long left, which might have checked his advance. Garcia’s success encouraged him to press harder in the second. He put punches together to head and body, with the left hook particularly useful at both levels. Corrales absorbed the attacks and began answering more frequently, but the champion’s greater activity continued to give him the initiative.

The third brought the first serious injury. A clash of heads opened a cut above Garcia’s right eye, which referee Joe Cortez ruled accidental. Garcia continued attacking, and both men landed cleanly during exchanges at close quarters. The champion’s work was most effective when he kept his hands moving; when he paused within punching range, Corrales had opportunities to answer. The official scoring reflected the distinction between Garcia’s brisk beginning and the challenger’s developing resistance. All three judges gave Garcia the first two rounds, but Mike Glienna and Bill Graham awarded the third to Corrales, while Steve Weisfeld continued to favour the champion.

Garcia won the fourth on all three cards, but the physical effects of the exchanges were evident on both fighters. In addition to the champion’s bleeding cut, Corrales had swelling around his right eye and cheek from Garcia’s hooks. The challenger nevertheless became more effective with his counters as Garcia’s attacks grew less controlled. The fifth went to Corrales on every official card. Garcia remained dangerous, but he was no longer meeting an opponent content merely to absorb his combinations. Corrales was finding openings between the champion’s punches and beginning to make his own strength tell.

The decisive change came in the sixth. Corrales used his jab more purposefully and followed with hooks which hurt Garcia and disturbed his balance. The champion tried to fight back, but his legs did not recover as the challenger continued pressing. A further series of punches sent him down for the first time. Garcia rose and resumed, only to face more punishment as Corrales pursued him across the ring. Late in the round, right hands brought the second knockdown, Garcia taking a knee rather than remaining upright under the attack. He beat the count and reached his corner, but the interval offered insufficient recovery.

Before the seventh, Cortez warned Garcia that he would intervene rather than permit unnecessary punishment. Corrales resumed his attack against a champion still visibly unsteady. A powerful right hand snapped Garcia’s head back and dropped him beside the ropes. Cortez stopped the contest immediately, without beginning another count. The two knockdowns in the sixth had already changed the official position: Glienna and Graham each had Corrales ahead 57 to 55, while Weisfeld’s card stood at 56 to 56. All three had scored the sixth 10 to 7 for the challenger. The finishing right made further judging unnecessary.

Corrales finished with 29 victories, 24 by knockout, while Garcia suffered his first defeat in 33 contests. The new champion was lifted by his cornermen and wept after the stoppage. In the subsequent television interview, he explained that nerves had inhibited his early work: “I feel like I was stuck in the mud.” His eventual recovery had been substantial. Garcia’s combinations had exposed the challenger’s slow beginning, but Corrales survived them, improved his counterpunching and then finished decisively when the champion’s resistance weakened. On a bill whose heavyweight main event ended inconclusively, the junior lightweight championship changed hands beyond dispute.

I reckon Garcia mistook early success for permission to force the finish. He’d already beaten Ledon and Molina, so this was an established champion, not some learning-on-the-job titleholder. His hooks to head and body were doing real damage, but Corrales kept taking them and gradually found room to answer. Garcia’s mistake was staying available after his own attacks.

Corrales was far too passive initially. Having that reach means little if you leave the jab at home. Once he started using it and countering between Garcia’s punches, the fight changed. The sixth exposed Garcia’s failing balance, and the right hand in the seventh settled it. Cortez was right to stop it. Courage wasn’t going to repair those legs.

For me, this was the attraction of Corrales: you could hit him clean and still have a serious problem coming back. On a Tyson bill, these two gave the audience a proper championship contest.