DIEGO CORRALES TAKES THE REMATCH By Danny Serratelli-Ringside

The time had come for Diego Corrales (38-2. 31 KO's) and Joel Casamayor (31-2, 19 KO's) to do it again. Their first fight was a shootout that ended controversially when the ringside physician advised the referee to stop it after Corrales began bleeding badly from a cut in his mouth.  In that fight Corrales was down twice, while Casamayor tasted the canvas once, but Joel was leading on all three cards at the time of the stoppage.  This time the fight went the distance and when the scores were announced it was Diego Corrales who was declared the winner, and new WBO Junior Lightweight (130 pound) champion, by a split decision, the scores were 115-112 and 115-112, for Corrales and 114-113 for Casamayor.

After an admitted rush job in training Corrales for only 5 weeks, the strategy laid out by former Casamayor trainer Joe Goossen was to remind Diego to stay behind the jab all night. Goossen said, Diego did a good of following instructions except for a  lapse of less than a second when he was caught and dropped by the slick and experienced Casamayor in the 10th round.  

Corrales was the aggressor early on, following instructions and constantly coming forward behind the jab; however, it appeared Casamayor made some adjustments and came on later in the fight.  Casamayor's problem may have been falling behind on points early, just like it was in his only other loss, another razor close decision against Acelino Freitas. After the fight Casamayor said the judges did it again, first they did it with Acelino Freitas and now in this fight. His new trainer Buddy McGirt said he is not a sore loser but, but basic mathematics were messed up again, and that he knows damn well that Diego will not fight Joel again.

Diego's promoter Gary Shaw, who just a few days ago promised that him and Diego would definitely give Joel a rematch after they beat him didn't bring up the promise and didn't sound like setting a rubber match was high on his priority list.  Diego said that he does not negotiate, he just comes to fight, but he thinks that nobody in the division will want to fight either of them at this point, and that they may have to keep fighting each other forever. 

Casamayor's "Team Freedom" manager Luis DeCubas seemed bothered saying that he wanted to remind Joe Goossen that despite his claims to the contrary, they did not fire him.  Both sides thanked each other and the fighters embraced at the post fight press conference.  There seemed to be a lot of respect between both sides despite the drama they have been through.

In the co-feature Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson 43-3, 28 KO's stopped number 1 contender Luis Bolaňo 38-1, 28 KO's at 2:40 of the 4th round.  Johnson lived up to his nickname and looked "Too Sharp" for Bolaňo who was only fighting for the 5th time outside of his native Columbia.  Johnson's promoter Lou DiBella said he is definitely the best 115 pounder in the division, and he definitely looked like it against Bolaňo.