Despite all of the “boxing is dead” talk swirling round the internets over the last decade, there’s been plenty of great fights.
When Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo met for the first time at the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay on May 7, 2005 for the WBC lightweight title, they put together the best this decade will see, barring something fucking awesome happening in the ring in the next 2 months.
The 10th and final round is everything you need in a great fight, and more than could be expected. Both guys got knocked on their ass, there were hijinks involved, and this was all after 9 brutal rounds of fast action. Castillo knocked down Corrales twice, and on each knockdown Corrales spit out his mouthpiece to gain the extra time. Then…boom. TKO 10 for Chico, and a world title strap.
This fight is the greatest gift either of these guys gave boxing, and from then onward neither career was the same. Castillo since has struggled with weight issues, tainting his 4th round TKO of Corrales in the October 2005 rematch by coming in 3 1/2 pounds over the 135 lb limit. The scheduled rubber match didn’t come off because Castillo came in at 41/2 lbs over. Since then, he was knocked out by Ricky Hatton in June of ’07, and in his last real shot at a belt against Timothy Bradley in March ’08 he came in over weight again.
Corrales had his own weight issues before an October ’06 fight against Joel Casamayor and would’ve been stripped of his linear lightweight title had he not lost a split decision.
His final fight was a unanimous decision loss to Nigerian welter contender Joshua Clottey in April ’07. On May 7, 2007, two years to the day after his hard-earned victory, Diego Corrales died in a motorcycle wreck in Las Vegas.
