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Corrales rises from the canvas to stop Castillo - 5/8/2005
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LAS VEGAS -- It was a fight that exceeded all expectations.

Jose Luis Castillo versus Diego Corrales was dubbed a potential Fight of the Year candidate heading into the fight. Just under ten rounds later, it is now the clear frontrunner for the award after Corrales found a way to survive two knockdowns early in the tenth round and a point deduction for twice spitting out his mouthpiece to stop Castillo with a barrage of punches against the ropes at the 2:06 mark of the round.

From the opening bell, Corrales-Castillo was pure action. Both men said they would stand their ground and they did just that, fighting all ten rounds in a phone booth.

Castillo seemed to take control early with uppercuts, left hooks and sharp right hands over Castillo’s low left hand. But it was an extremely tough fight to score as the momentum ebbed and flowed in every round.

Castillo drew first blood with a left hook that opened a slight cut above Corrales’ right eye in the third round. One round later, an accidental headbutt returned the favor, opening a large cut over Castillo’s left eye.

Castillo seemed to be inspired by the cut, fighting with a greater sense of urgency in the fifth. By the end of the sixth, Corrales’ left eye was grotesquely swollen.

But the fighters saved their best moments for the tenth round.

Twenty-four seconds into the tenth, Castillo connected with perfect left hook on the chin that sent Corrales to the canvas. The wily veteran spit his mouthpiece out to buy himself a few precious extra seconds.

After referee Tony Weeks allowed Joe Goosen, Corrales’ trainer, to quickly rinse and replace the mouthpiece, Castillo jumped all over his injured foe. Thirty seconds later, Corrales found himself on the canvas once again.

This time, however, Corrales clearly had his wits about him as the WBO champion reached into mouth and removed his mouthpiece. “Yes, I took my mouthpiece out, but I didn’t mean to drop it,” he said after the fight.

Weeks deducted a point for Corrales’ intentional delay tactics, which put the former two-division champion in a precarious position – he needed two knockdowns or a knockout to win.

The second interruption gave Corrales almost 20 extra seconds to regain his composure after the knockdown, much of that resulting from Goosen’s delay in climbing the ring steps to rinse and replace the mouthpiece.

As he put the mouthpiece back in his fighter’s mouth, Goosen got very honest saying, “You need to knock him out now.”

Corrales obliged.

Upon the restart, Corrales clearly had recovered from the two knockdowns as he attacked with a lead right hand. Castillo returned the favor with two head-snapping punches. But Corrales reached deep down inside and summoned the strength and courage to throw a perfect left hook – bull’s eye.

When Corrales saw that he hurt his opponent, the adrenalin surged and he pressed with desperation in search of the knockout. He rocked Castillo again with another left hook that drove the WBC champion into the ropes. Six unanswered punches later, Weeks stepped in and called a halt to the action with Castillo still standing, albeit leaning against the ropes.

Castillo was badly hurt, but the stoppage will forever remain a question mark.

“I’m not saying I wasn’t hurt, but the referee should have stopped the fight before that point,” a frustrated Castillo said through an interpreter after the fight. “I should have won the fight. He should have stopped it. He gave Corrales two chances to recover but didn’t give me any.”

Two of the three judges had Corrales ahead entering the final round - Daniel Van de Wiele had the fight 86-85 for Corrales, Lou Moret had it 87-84 Corrales, and Paul Smith had it 87-84 for Castillo.

It truly was a war of attrition in the purest sense of the phrase as both men left a little bit of themselves in the ring tonight. The brutality and savagery of the conflict was only surpassed by the beautiful display of the human spirit – heart, courage, resolve and determination.

The only thing left now is for the fighters, Main Events, Top Rank Boxing and Showtime to do the right thing and bring the fans what truly deserve after such a timeless fistic classic – schedule an immediate rematch!
:D