|
The fight between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales is the best boxing
match I’ve ever seen, where the heart displayed in the ring by both men, sustained
for such a long time, made Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Erik Morales and Micky
Ward vs. Arturo Gatti I & III look like cat fights.
Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales will be linked together
forever
in fighting lore. The match-up truly was
an epic battle between an immovable object and an unstoppable force. I was happy
for boxing and for the diehard fans, up until about the last two minutes left in
the 10th round. With more fights like this, the sport of boxing may actually
make the cover of Sports Illustrated and be discussed with mainstream sports in
a positive light.
It's
a shame that after such a battle ESPN didn’t run the highlight feed, opting
instead to have Dallas Maverick Coach Avery Johnson talk about a 27 point
blow out. This fight was a great for the sport, damn near perfect up until the
end of the fight, which was handled very wrong and had the loser of the fight
win and the winner lose. Jose Luis Castillo was cheated by the rules and
gamesmanship. He got screwed over by the system, and I’m not saying it because
I picked him in a fight pool, as there will be others to choose from.
It's sad to think that
Jose Luis Castillo may never be the same after the punishment he took for 10
rounds. This fight may have given Castillo his "Meldrick Taylor moment,"
but it was all taken from
him. Castillo deserved his 15 minutes on the stage and because of “gamesmanship”
he didn’t get it, instead, he ended up taking a savage beating and
looking helpless at the moment the fight was stopped.
I was
also surprised by how many writers -and fans- have chosen to ignore the
mouthpiece incident, which changed the complexion, and thus the result, of the
fight. I have read about 18 post fight write-ups with no one really addressing
the issue that took place in the tenth round. Shame on you all, your job is
report the facts but it’s also good to be objective and call them as you see
them.
From the outset of this fight it became apparent it was going to be a test of will
and style: Diego Corrales' mythical punching power versus Jose Luis Castillo’s
chin and pressure. I don’t recall if in the first couple of rounds either
fighter took a step back, both traded left hooks and punches the entire rounds,
and it was clear this wasn’t the right fight for Corrales to fight, because on
the outside he was showcasing his superior hand speed, allowing room to get
leverage on his punches, and overall offensive boxing skills.
Jose Luis Castillo was landing some very
eye pleasing
short, crisp punches that had Diego’s head popping up, but I did feel
as the fight went on, that although Castillo was winning by a slim margin and
landing a lot of clean shots that Diego Corrales’ power was starting to get to
Castillo as the rounds went on. In the 7th round Corrales' power punching began
to really hurt Castillo, as Diego was landing thunderous hooks that were
buckling Castillo at the end of the round. Oddly enough, the whole week Corrales
had been saying he was going to walk through hell to win this fight but it was
Castillo who was walking through hell to get Corrales.
At the start of the 8th round Corrales thought he still had
Castillo hurt so he jumped on him only to get rocked by 2 right hands that
changed the momentum and really had Corrales reeling for most of the round. In
the 9th Castillo’s will made him walk down Corrales, who really
did have Jose Luis hurt at one point after his mouthpiece was knocked out and a
lull in the action helped both men. After they resumed the action, Castillo really
started to land to huge punches upstairs and down so much that he had Corrales
reeling at the end of the round and his corner asking him “are you hurt”?
***Side note - Dr. Margaret Goodman hasn’t worked a lot of
fights since the stoppage of Diego in his bout against Casamayor and it’s
painfully obvious that promoter Gary Shaw doesn’t want her to work his fights.
So when in the 9th round I hear ring Dr. Berliner ask... “Can you see out of
that eye?” and trainer Joe Goossen answers.... “He’s fine Doc, he can see,” and then Dr.
Berliner
walks away, I begin to understand why Dr. Goodman is losing work. The truth of
the matter is that she cares a lot about the fighters, and can’t be intimidated and/or controlled by the
promoters and/or the Nevada Athletic Commission. Same couldn't be said for this
Dr. Berliner. Whether you agree or disagree with Dr. Goodman, it’s a shame that Las Vegas won’t stand behind her.
Sadly enough, it is
because she cares so much about the fighters and doing her job thoroughly that she can’t
work many fights anymore.***
Early in the 10th round Jose Luis Castillo caught Corrales with a short
left hook that sent him to the canvas and Corrales spit his mouthpiece out.
From the time Corrales was sent to the mat and the mouthpiece was rinsed off
and put back in his mouth, he gets a 19 seconds breather. It was during this time frame
that Castillo should
have been allowed to jump on Corrales, which he did.
Still hurt and fuzzy,
Corrales gets caught with another left hook, that although not nearly as big
as the prior one, still drops
Corrales, who takes a 9 count. However, this time he removes the mouthpiece on his own.
Under the old rules, Corrales would have had to finish the round without
it, because they didn’t want a lull in the action.
Trainer Joe Goossen took
full advantage of the mouthpiece situation, and while he was already on the apron,
he decided to go back down to his seat, to buy his fighter more time. Diego got the benefit of 28 seconds to rest
and recover,
and by the time the action resumed Corrales was ready to come back and inflict his own power which he did, landing
a huge right hook and then a solid left hook moments later from which Castillo never recovered.
The punches had Castillo looking like Yuri Boy Campas at the end of his fight vs. Felix
Trinidad.
My problem with this scenario is that if more fighters are going to start doing this, then the old rule
should be implemented and
they should be made to finish the round without it . I understand why Joe Goossen did what he
did; he cared for his guy and tried to buy him some time, which he did. On
the flip side, Castillo's corner must have been going crazy because the two mouthpiece incidents let Corrales off the hook.
I called Teddy Atlas to see if I was crazy for thinking that
Castillo was wronged and Atlas said this... “It was a great fight and will go
down in the books as a classic but they stole the fight from Jose Luis Castillo.
He may never be the same after this fight and he deserved this moment.
In the old days if a fighter took his mouthpiece out like Corrales did, he had
to finish the round. It was clear that Corrales was not only
very hurt but he was stalling and buying time by removing his mouth piece. When
he got almost 50 seconds which is almost a 3rd of a round to recover
from the first knockdown which was the one that really hurt him and was able to
recover and have that great stoppage but it should have never been allowed. I
feel really bad for Castillo, he deserved better from boxing.”
Veteran referee Elmo Adolph had this to say about
the situation:
- “Point 1, if a boxer loses his mouthpiece
during the action but doesn’t go down, then, the mechanics for the ref is to wait
until there is a “lull” in the action before replacing it.
- Point 2, when the
mouthpiece is out during a knockdown and after the referee gives an eight count
and ascertains that the fallen fighter can continue, he is to call “time” and take
the boxer to the corner to have the mouthpiece replaced. In point 2 we are told and instructed
that the mouthpiece is to be replaced, if lost or spit, after a knockdown
because of the “safety” element and danger of fighting without that protection.
But what about point 1? If that which is to be done is true for replacement
after a knockdown, then the same element of safety should exist for a boxer, no
matter when the mouthpiece comes out. However, contrary to the mechanics in
“point 2” we should wait for a lull. That lull can last for a long time
depending on the perceptiveness of the ref. The Castillo vs. Corrales bout
proves my point, depending on how you feel
about that particular situation. I feel that if we are allowed to wait for
a lull when the protector is dislodged during the action, then the same mindset should
prevail during either circumstance. Instead, after a knockdown and a count
we are compelled to stop the bout and take the boxer to the corner giving the
time for recovery. To be redundant, the problem with that is not allowing
a boxer to continue his attack on the fallen boxer. I certainly don't
think the end of an eight count and a referee ascertaining that the boxer can
continue represents a "lull" in the action. I thought that Weeks did an excellent
job. His refereeing mechanics were flawless. He did his job!
The corner did what it could to take advantage of the time and their
boxer recovered. Even though I favored Corrales I don't believe he could have
recovered from the initial knockdown and would have lost the fight probably by
TKO. Having worked for a long time as a referee and although I have a
philosophical opinion regarding this mouthpiece thing it is only because I have
always operated in the ring as fair.”
The thing that bugs me the most is that this fight was so good it hurts
that I’m writing about the very end. The mouthpiece incident shouldn’t overshadow the whole fight
-and it kind of does- but an ironic thing is that in the 9th round Castillo knocked out Corrales' mouthpiece and then all of a sudden
Corrales rocked Castillo, which ended up being the lull in the action and time
was called, that time off actually helped Castillo because he was hurt pretty
bad.
As far as the stoppage, let me say this, Diego Corrales was very hurt in the
fight but Jose Luis Castillo -at the time of the stoppage- was helpless. Nevertheless,
and in spite of whatever controversy took place in the last round, this match should stand the test of time.
Let's give credit to both fighters. Diego Corrales showed so much heart,
opting to stand and
toe to toe with a grinder like Castillo, then get up off the deck twice to go
on and stop him. Jose Luis Castillo deserves credit for walking through hell
and actually taking many of Corrales' best shots to land his punches.
I hope there
is a rematch in the future but I think both guys should take off eight months
before they consider stepping back in the ring. If you missed the fight be sure to catch the re-air on SHOWTIME this
Friday, May 13th at 11:00 PM Eastern time.
Questions?
Comments. E-mail Aladdin.b.Freeman@espn.com
| 
