 The Greatest Fight I've ever seen
15 Rounds with Steve Kim (May 9, 2005)
Photo © HoganPhotos.com
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In the immediate aftermath and euphoria of Diego Corrales' miraculous, Hollywood-like finish to his lightweight title bout with Jose Luis Castillo - where he would stop the durable Mexico native after being floored twice himself in the tenth round - the question started circulating among veteran writers, long-time publicists, astute matchmakers and assorted managers and fighters that were lucky enough to have been at the Mandalay Bay on Saturday night.
Was this the greatest fight they had ever seen?
Many said yes. Others believed it was on a very short list of all-timers they had attended.
Now I'm not exactly Bert Randolph Sugar when it comes to longevity, but I am lucky enough to have covered the first and third battles between Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, Felix Trinidad's struggle versus Fernando Vargas and Morales' most recent conquest over Manny Pacquiao.
But Corrales-Castillo tops them all.
"This wasn't the Fight of the Year, it's Fight of the Decade," said Jay Larkin, whose network, Showtime, televised this instant classic. "I've never seen a fight like this."
"You can vote now," said Gary Shaw, Corrales' promoter. "This is Fight of the Year, Fight of Next Year, and Fight of the Decade. I don't believe you'll ever see anything like this again."
James Toney would tell me, "That was Hearns-Hagler." But really it wasn't. This, in certain respects was much more brutal and wrenching. Hearns-Hagler was a short, explosive sprint; what we saw on Saturday night was a grinding marathon that had a spectacular finishing kick.
There are a lot of great fights that have lulls in the action. This was a bout that didn't have a single bad moment. From the opening seconds of round one, Corrales and Castillo would stand toe-to-toe and bang away at each other with heavy punches.
The conventional wisdom, which was echoed throughout the pre-fight hype, was that 'Chico' would at least try and utilize his advantages in reach and height by boxing more from the outside early on and stepping around the methodical Mexican. But from the onset, he locked horns in tight with Castillo, oftentimes getting the worst of it as he was hit with numerous body shots and uppercuts during the course of the night.
"I told everybody this is a fight of pride," he explained to the media at the post-fight press conference. "This is the fight of honor. This was Cinco de Mayo weekend, it was mano y mano, it was Mexican pride and this was what it was about."
The rounds had a beautiful ebb and flow to them, as both fighters worked seamlessly on the inside - rarely did they clinch, forcing referee Tony Weeks to break them apart - and the momentum shifts were plentiful. In various rounds one fighter would seem to have grabbed the momentum of the bout, only to have it wrested away by a late surge of power punches.
In round seven, Corrales would buzz Castillo for the first time with a left hook at the end of the round. Round eight is a strong candidate for 'Round of the Year' honors, followed closely by round nine. During all this frenzied action, Castillo would suffer a gash on his left eye and Corrales would - as he put it - "have two golf balls" on his eyes, that swelled up as the middle rounds came and went.
Then came the crescendo in round ten, when Corrales - with vision that was obviously impaired - was floored twice by punches he didn't seem to recognize. As he crumpled to the canvas, his tall angular frame falling in sections, it looked as though Castillo had finally taken complete control of the bout.
But that is when Corrales is the most dangerous.
Many athletes speak of their opponents having to kill them to defeat them. But really, only Corrales means it. Even in defeats against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Joel Casamayor, it was not he that halted his efforts. As long as he has a heartbeat - and lightning bolts in both hands - he is always in a fight.
And most dangerous while he is hurt.
Also, he seems to have picked up a few lessons from a man he beat last August, Acelino Freitas, whose biggest gift to the sport is revealing the art of deftly taking out his mouthpiece after he is sent to the canvas, dazed and confused. This subterfuge saved him versus Jorge Barrios in 2003 and he tried to pull the same maneuver against Corrales last year in the ninth round.
What do they say about imitation being the greatest form of flattery?
After the second knockdown, it seemed that the end was near. But because Corrales took his mouthpiece out, what should have been a mandatory eight count from Weeks suddenly became a 30-second timeout in a sport that does not have timeouts - at least ones that can be called by the fighters themselves.
It seemed that during this delay that Corrales regained his senses about him - and he must've been pretty clear to begin with if he had the wherewithal to do what he did after his second trip to the canvas - and unfortunately, Castillo may have lost his chance to close the show.
And the question has to be asked, why should the fighter who knocked down his opponent be penalized in that situation? Yeah, you can take away a point - which
they did - but what was more important to a fighter in Corrales' case was the time to recover. And in some fights, a fighter may be so far ahead that taking a point or three away would be irrelevant.
Shouldn't a fighter who purposely takes out his own gumshield be forced to deal with that adversity he caused by fighting on without it?
"Absolutely," groused Bob Arum, Castillo's promoter, who complained bitterly afterwards about the circumstances of his fighter's loss. "It's not like the mouthpiece got knocked out in the course of the combat. He purposely got rid of it in order to buy more time. 28 seconds the second time, and he pulled it from his mouth. So obviously the penalty is you gotta fight without the mouthpiece."
Arum was dumbfounded by what he had seen, adding that, "Making up rules as you go really hurts the memory of this classic, great fight."
But while Weeks is taking a lot of heat for his actions, he followed the rules and regulations of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
"He did exactly as he's supposed to do," said Marc Ratner, their executive director. "The one thing I can not have is a fighter, after he's knocked down, to not have his mouthpiece put back in. It would be completely wrong."
Even if it's his own doing?
"He took it out of his own volition and was penalized for it," Ratner explained. "The problem I had - and I ran over to the corner - was because they were taking their time and I said, 'C'mon, get him in there.'"
But regardless, what Corrales was able to pull off was nothing short of amazing. As you saw him turn the fight around, you couldn't quite believe what you were witnessing. There was surreal quality to it.
As Weeks rescued a badly concussed Castillo from taking any more punches from Corrales, you found your heart racing and your throat dry as you experienced a shortness of breath.
It was exhilarating.
And no matter what Arum says, nothing should put a damper on this masterpiece. This was Mona Lisa, with no blemishes.
And hey, they could do it again, right? And perhaps this time more people will actually give it the attention it deserves. The announced crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center was around 5,100, but it seemed more like 4,000 in the arena. It's a shame that a fight this good seemed to be overshadowed by everything from the Kentucky Derby, Mothers Day weekend and even a fight that will take place next week in town between Felix Trinidad and Winky Wright.
"I'm already actively pursuing it," said Larkin of a possible rematch between the two, although a nice, long rest is in order for both. "How soon could we do it? Certainly, not before four months. These guys have been through hell and back. So I think you're looking at at least four months before it could be a reality.
"And who knows, it might be a bigger show; maybe it's a big pay-per-view show. The show is so big now I'd love to keep it on Showtime, but I don't know if we could afford to. This was a fight for the ages and there was no loser tonight."
When asked about a return match, Castillo, who seemed to be in good spirits, joked, "I can do it tomorrow," adding, "There's still a doubt as to who the best lightweight in the world is. Because there's a lot of controversy in this fight."
But Corrales and his side were much more hesitant on doing this again.
When asked if he would grant Castillo a rematch, Corrales would state, "It's on Gary (Shaw) and Joe (Goossen); I just fight."
Shaw believes this fight simply took too much of a toll on both men to do it a second time. Goossen would add, "You'd have to be sadistic to want to see that
over again. I don't think anyone wants to see that again; I know I don't."
As he spoke at the post-fight presser, a drained Goossen looked as though he had seen a ghost, and perhaps they have a point, because while it's thoroughly enjoyable for everyone outside the ring, what took place between Corrales and Castillo was at the same time the best, and unfortunately the most violent, boxing had to offer. Saturday night was great for boxing but the toll that it took on both participants is incalculable. Neither man will most likely ever be the same again. They didn't leave just pieces of themselves in that ring that are irretrievable, but left whole chunks.
The action was almost too savage to be acceptable in modern civilized society. Maybe it would be too much to ask them to do it over again.
Hey, they never did a sequel to Casablanca right?
There was no need to.
"You saw not one great champion, but two great champions," said Shaw in wrapping up the festivities. "There was no loser in this fight."
SOLUTIONS
There's no doubt in my mind that referee Tony Weeks enforced a rule - that was a bit faulty - in the correct manner.
Sorry, but as I said before, there are no timeouts in boxing, or at least ones that are called by the boxers themselves. And to take away the advantage of a fighter who scored a knockdown by giving their foe up to 20 seconds or more after the mandatory eight count to wash off a mouthpiece goes against the very essence of the sport. Spitting out the gumshield is just a quicker and more convenient way of splitting open gloves - ala Angelo Dundee - to buy a hurt fighter more time.
OK, so what am I proposing? It's clear that making a boxer fight on without his mouthguard will never be allowed; fine. But I do think that instead of having the offending party have his corner wash off the apparatus while taking their sweet time, there should be a designated water bottle near the ring, where the referee himself can soak off the equipment and put it back in the boxer's mouth. This would at least save a few seconds.
Also, if a referee has conclusive evidence that a fighter purposely spits out his mouthpiece, he should just call the fight.
To me, if you have to resort to that tactic, it's akin to waving the white flag of surrender.
But back to making boxers fight on without their gumshield, if a fighter has a bad habit of dropping his hands and getting hit, doesn't he have to suffer those consequences? So why should it be any different when a guy knowingly does what Freitas, and now Corrales, have perfected?
FRAUDLEY?
Hats off to Kevin Iole and Bernard Fernandez for their work in putting together this year's BWAA dinner. It was a gala event that was well organized and moved
quickly. It also had a great gift bag for everyone that showed up.
But what raised my ire was that when they were introducing past and former champions, guys like Sugar Ray Leonard, James Toney, Vitali Klitschko, Winky Wright, Jeff Lacy, Chris Byrd, Bernard Hopkins, Oscar De La Hoya and many more, that somehow Audley Harrison was brought up.
Huh?
What has he done except get run out of Britain for facing such soft (I mean, Charmin-like or Butterbean-esque) opposition throughout his career?
This was like having a group of actors walking the red carpet like Tom Cruise, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn.
And then calling up Pauly Shore.
SWEET MUSIC
Under Joe Goossen's tutelage, Corrales has downed Joel Casamayor, Freitas and now Castillo.
This is the hottest duo since Hall and Oates, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and RUN-DMC.
They're making some sweet music.
FINAL FLURRIES
Believe it or not, but Jose Luis Lopez looks like he might still have something left in his gas tank. Coming in at 159 on Saturday night, he stopped Alberto Mercedes in seven rounds. Get him down to 154, and he could be serviceable. 'Maestrito' is one of the all-time great wastes of natural talent.... Junior welterweight prospect Nick Casal, who improved to 9-0 with 9 stoppages with a first round KO of Rodney Freeman, has natural power in both hands. He might be one to keep an eye on.... Marcos Primera upset Carlos De Leon Jr. with a fourth round KO..... Marc Ratner assures me that the NSAC will not hire Paula Abdul as one of their judges. By the way, is that whole episode a 'black eye' for American Idol?.... It was ironic to see Artie Pellulo celebrating in the ring with Corrales. I mean, didn't this guy do more to almost ruin this bout than anyone else?.....One last thing about Corrales and Castillo, I guess everyone (including myself) is assuming that neither guy will ever be the same. And chances are they won't. But how many times have these same thoughts been echoed about Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales? Sometimes, you just don't know......
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