Customer Reviews

VOL. 18-JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ VS MIGUEL ANGEL G

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To see Diego Corrales go to war against Jose Luis Castillo in their first fight is to fall in love with boxing. Their summit of brutality was the very best, most exciting live match I have ever seen. This fight is the one I put on whenever I try to make a case for the sweet science as a sport my friends need to start watching. There was so much ebb and flow in this one, and so many get-up-off-your-seat moments. May 7, 2005 was a very, very special night for fight fans.

I don't know that Diego "Chico" Corrales will ever make it into Canastota. I think he might have done enough to get voted in. What's undeniable is that his exhilarating manning up against Castillo immortalized him. Going into this one, Corrales was the one who'd moved up from featherweight to lightweight, was the one with the questionable beard, having already been knocked down seven times (five of them against Floyd Mayweather, Jr.). Jose Luis Castillo, on the other hand, had never been knocked down, had only been stopped on cuts. Corrales exhibited a lanky build, and to glance at him you wouldn't believe he had such devastating power. Meanwhile, Castillo's sturdy frame radiated strength and durability and, gazing at that scary iron jaw of his, my fists would automatically start aching. Clearly, Diego would have to stay on the outside and work off his jab and seek to counterpunch the relentless pressure fighter.

But Diego wanted to prove something that night, and from the opening bell he went at Castillo and did him and all of us a favor. For the rest of the evening, these two gents mercilessly battered each other, checking each other's chin, taking turns at putting the hurt and getting hurt. Most of the rounds could've been fought in a phone booth, these guys were just determinedly in each other's wheelhouse, punches furiously flying. Both cats hit so hard I had bruises on MY face and I pisssed blood for days. Then came the tenth round when Corrales seriously, seriously got shook with Castillo's left hooks. Controversy kicked in when Corrales (deliberately) spat out his mouthpiece, got a point taken away by referee Lee Weeks (who was terrific, by the way). In the corner Diego's trainer Joe Goossen, in that colorful shirt of his, would rinse and re-insert his mouthpiece and also, by the way, would pointedly exhort him: "You gotta fu---- get inside on him now."

Moments later Diego fu---- got inside on Castillo.

Me and my homies were going insane watching this fight, brother. And we weren't the only one. If you look at who was in the audience for this one, you can see boxers like James Toney and Jeff Lacy going bonkers as well. This was ten epic rounds of bliss; we saw the heart and fighting spirit and sheer ganas of both combatants. Lemme say that this era has treated us to Gatti-Ward I, the Barrera-Morales & Vasquez-Marquez trilogies, and Manny Pacquiao's knuckled debates with Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales. Corrales-Castillo, their first one, ranks as a cut above. His victory would dearly cost Diego Corrales as Chico would never be the same after that exacting night. Chico may have won the fight, but Castillo hurt him more than he hurt Castillo. It would impact the rest of Chico's career, and not in a good way.

The rematch (October 8, 2005) was painful to watch, me being such a big fan of Corrales. For this one Castillo couldn't make the contracted weight of 135 pounds, but Chico decided to go ahead with the fight anyway. His largesse got him knocked the eff out in four rounds. A third fight was cancelled when Castillo again failed to make weight and Corrales this time decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

Ironically, though, in his very next fight, Corrales himself would fail to make weight and he would go on to lose that one, too, against Joel Casamayor. Two years to the day when he first fought Castillo, Diego "Chico" Corrales, always having lived life in the fast lane, died in a motorcycle accident.

For the undercard, GRANDES PELEAS Vol. 18 also features Julio Cesar Chavez, the aging legend, versus Miguel Angel Gonzales, the younger fighter craving what Chavez has. But was he hungrier than Chavez? Gonzalez had accrued a terrific record of 42-1 when Chavez filled out his dance card on March 7, 1998. This was an interesting fight because Chavez, at this stage in his career, was showing some deterioration. But he still had something hurtful for Gonzalez, and this includes an investment in dirty infighting, something which Gonzalez wasn't exactly a stranger to, either. As commentator Bobby Czyz would note about Chavez: "He hit him with two solid elbows and a forearm." And, naturally, Chavez still had his calling card, that vicious left hook to the body. This fight would also be marked with flickering lights and items being hurled into the ring by a restless crowd. A fun, brawly, testy kind of fight.