 'Chico' Recovers in Time for Rematch
By Steve Kim (October 5, 2005) Photo © Tom Casino/SHOWTIME HoganPhotos.com
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On the morning of May 8th, Diego Corrales, who the night before had engaged in an insta-classic slugfest the night before versus Jose Luis Castillo, could barely open his eyes to see the surroundings of his Mandalay Bay suite.
"Oh, boy, (I felt like) death warmed over," he said a few weeks ago at Joe Goossen's gym in Van Nuys before his afternoon workout. "Actually, I had to stay in the hotel; I stayed in the hotel that night because I knew it was pretty bad." Corrales makes his home in Las Vegas. "And actually, we had to ice my eyes in the morning when I got up because I couldn't see out of either one of them. They were closed, both of them. So I had to ice them and bring the swelling down before we left the hotel."
Not only were his eyes closed to mere slits, he had a golf ball sized welt underneath his left eye.
"The swelling left a couple of days later," he said. "The bruising took about a week."
As you saw Corrales the next week at the Winky Wright-Felix Trinidad bout, you could still see remnants of his battle from the week before. His battle scars were evident and onlookers who hovered around him seemed to marvel that he was so jovial - much less on his two feet - after such a grueling experience.
The fight started off quickly, with both men landing hard, crisp shots from in close. The pace would only quicken as the rounds mounted and the ferocity of the fight was breathtaking to witness.
But Corrales couldn't comprehend just how violent the action was as he was doing his work.
"Not while it's taking place; I mean, you're thinking about just keeping it going, getting this guy to quit, whatever you have to do to win the fight," he explained. "But when I was at the hospital that night, I was like, 'Wow, that was rough'. I don't even know how I made it to the hospital. When Joe put me down I was like, 'Why you put me down? I want to walk'.
"The exhaustion just kinda sank down on me."
Hey, you don't come from hell and back and take a light stroll in the park. After coming off the canvas twice to halt Castillo with a barrage of power punches, he would have to lean on his promoter, Gary Shaw, as he if was a human crutch inside the ring as the hysteria of his incredible comeback spread throughout the arena.
Corrales had always talked of being involved in a historic fight, one that would define his place in history. But even months after his initial foray with the rugged Mexican, he still hasn't grasped the historical significance of that night.
"No, probably not," he admits. "I just have fun, man. It was a great job. It was a lot of fun and where it places? When it's all said and done, I'm going to be happy on my worst day because that was an awesome fight for me. It was a great achievement for me. I'm sure Castillo feels the same way, it was an awesome fight for him and a great achievement for him because no one lost that fight. Nobody lost that fight. No matter what happened, had I lost it, I didn't lose. It's just one of those things where both benefited tremendously from a heckuva fight."
But he does admit that he knew early on this was the best fight he was ever going to be in.
"I knew it was from round three," he tells MaxBoxing. "Because I started kicking the pace up in round three. He kicked it up with me and I was like, 'Wow, this is going to be great.' And I've said to everybody, 'One day, I'm going to get my war.' Well, I got my war, it was great and that's one of the fun things about me. I really looked forward to that."
Perhaps that makes him a sadist, which is precisely what his trainer Joe Goossen called anyone that wanted to see those two scrap again. For as great as that first fight was, conventional wisdom says that both men left pieces of themselves in that ring.
"I'm extremely happy with Diego's progress," said Goossen a few weeks ago when asked about this training camp. But he did add, "Both are going to suffer a lil' bit because of that fight. I don't think anyone in their right mind that knows this game doesn't think that. That's one of he realities of this game."
"I felt good," Corrales said of his return to the gym. "I felt really good about coming back to camp. I'm happy, everything's been exciting, I'm just having fun."
Many observers felt that despite the early rhetoric against a rematch, that a return bout would happen - but not immediately. Even arch-rivals Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales needed a few years away from each other in between their three showdowns. But this being boxing, the bottom line ruled.
"Absolutely," agreed Corrales' promoter, Gary Shaw. "Diego really felt that Castillo was worthy of a rematch, he gave him the opportunity and he said, 'I want to do it.' But in the end, the money talked."
At the post-fight press conference in May, Shaw, himself, was insistent that no rematch would take place. But as time went on, his trepidations over his fighter's health subsided.
"The night of the fight I had a lot of questions about the health and safety of both fighters and how much was left in the ring," he said. "And when I saw him the next morning, I felt the same way. Diego was hurting all over, his eyes were pretty swollen, black and blue, everything. But I would say as time went on and I spent time with him, we went to Mexico together to the WBC, and then I was more confident that he was really in excellent health and shape."
Before becoming a promoter, Shaw had spent over 30 years in the game as an inspector and member of the New Jersey commission, and in all his years, he had never seen a fight that was so brutal.
"Well, let's put it this way, I've seen brutal rounds and maybe more brutal rounds, but I've never seen a fight of that magnitude that brutal for that many rounds," he clarified.
But Corrales didn't hesitate to face Castillo once again.
"I feel there's no reason to hesitate," he said, dismissing any talk of an interim bout. "It was a great fight, it's great for boxing. You get two great people, good personalities, very calm, very kosher with each other. That's the hardest part to find these days. There's no trash-talking, nothing. It's just good, happy, spirited people that are going to fight each other like we hate each other."
He says this while chuckling. Both he and Castillo have described themselves as 'friendly rivals', who harbor absolutely no ill-will towards each other. Just two gladiators who do what they have to. Their styles go together like peanut butter and jelly.
And get this, Corrales thinks the sequel at the Thomas and Mack Arena could match the original.
"There's no way it can't," he insists. "Our styles are like magnets - you pull them apart, you put them right near each other and they'll slide back together. That's us.
"We have two styles of fighting that are made for that. They create sparks. I'm aggressive, he's aggressive. I'm a big puncher, he's a big puncher. We have to come and get you, we like to stalk and wear you down. So we have all the elements; naturally, you put it together a hundred times, ninety-nine of them, we're going to do what we did the first time."
IS THIS THE WRIGHT OPPONENT?
So who will Winky Wright face on December 10th on HBO?
"Sam Soliman," stated his promoter Gary Shaw on Tuesday afternoon. "It's 90-percent done. I'm working with (Dan) Goossen, sending him a bout agreement. So
that's who it'll be."
Just my opinion, but this could be an all-time stinker.
SPEAKING OF WHICH
Reliable sources tell me that Chris Byrd and DaVarryl Williamson had dinner in Reno the night before their all-time stink-fest on Saturday night.
All I'll say is this - Simon Brown and Maurice Blocker, they ain't. They may have fought harder for the check at dinner than they did on Showtime.
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E-Mail Steve Kim at k9kim@maxboxing.com
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