Regardless of how high your expectations were for Jose Louis Castillo vs Diego "Chico" Corrales, the fight itself easily exceeded them. What was highly touted as a potential "Fight of The Year" candidate turned out to be a legitimate fight of a lifetime candidate.

This fight turned out to be a 10 round epic war. Corrales (40-2, 33 KO's) decided to defy common logic and instead of boxing Castillo (52-7-1, 46KO's) from a distance deciding to take the fight inside. From the very beginning it was apparent, as many expected, that Corrales had the superior hand speed. Corrales spent a good portion of the fight countering Castillo with quick hooks and tough body shots. With the trading, slug fest nature of the fight the first several rounds were incredibly hard to score, with both fighters landing solid, hard punches in every round and taking a good amount in return. While most people believed, myself included, this type of close proximity fight would benefit Castillo, Corrales proved he could fight in a phone booth with one of the best at it and seemed to be wearing Castillo down midway.

While the first nine rounds of the fight were incredible, the 10th round is what would ultimately make this fight an instant classic. When the fight entered the 10th I had Corrales leading the fight on my scorecard by a narrow margin, with almost all of the previous nine rounds debatable, but what was about to ensue was truly historic. As the round opened up, the in-fighting resumes but within the first :30 Castillo lands a big left hook that drops Corrales to the canvas, in the process Corrales looses his mouthpiece, when he returns to his feet time is called and Corrales is allowed to go to his corner to have the mouthpiece reinserted by trainer Joe Goossen, buying Corrales precious time. Just seconds after the fight resumed Corrales is down again by another left hand, this time while still on the canvas Corrales takes his mouth piece out by hand and drops it on the canvas as he rises. Once again, Corrales is allowed to return to his corner to reinsert his mouthpiece; however, this time referee Tony Weeks deducts a point from Corrales for spitting out the mouthpiece. During the second timeout, Goossen has a few choice, motivating words for Corrales.

Now is when things would get very interesting. Castillo, feeling that Corrales is still extremely hurt decides to go in for the kill. Castillo applies immediate pressure as soon as time resumes, Corrales, seemingly with his bearings again, quickly turns the tables. As Castillo attacks, Corrales started landing merciless counter punches and quickly puts Castillo on the defense. As Castillo backs against the ropes Corrales continues to land devastating, unanswered punches with both hands in combination and after Corrales lands a final hard right hand, with Castillo's hands dropping to his sides, seemingly out on his feet, referee Tony Weeks jumps in to stop the fight at the time of 2:06 of round 10.

While the stoppage was shocking, mainly due the incredible quick turnaround by Corrales, Tony Weeks made the correct call, If Weeks fails to stop the fight, it is only a matter of seconds before Castillo hits the canvas, incurring more damage in the process.

Throughout the fight, both fighters showed courage, heart and unbelievable chins. With the biggest perceived weaknesses of Corrales being his chin, he took more than enough punishment throughout the fight to quell his doubters. In addition, while Castillo did loose via TKO it should be pointed out that his uncanny string of 60 professional fights without suffering a knockdown continues despite his loss. While I had been looking forward to this fight for sometime, it eclipsed any expectations I had. This is truly a fight for the ages and should be remember for years to come with some of the greatest bouts that have ever occurred. Now, as boxing fans, we just have to sit back and hope for a rematch.