A Boxing Memory: Diego ‘Chico’ Corrales

A Boxing Memory: Diego ‘Chico’ Corrales

‘He fought recklessly, and he lived recklessly. That was his style.’ Gary Shaw

In 2005, Diego Corrales was involved in one of the greatest fights of all time against Jose Luis Castillo. Corrales won that fight. He never won another one. And two years to the day after his sensational unforgettable win over Castillo, he was dead. The two-weight world champion was just 29 when he was killed in a tragic high-speed motorcycle accident on the Las Vegas strip. Corrales had only bought the motorcycle a week earlier.

Corrales who was born in Sacramento, had his flaws inside and outside of the ring. There were drink driving convictions, and he served a 14-month sentence for domestic violence after he violently attacked his then-pregnant first wife.

There were bullets dodged in his early days on the dangerous streets of Sacramento. He witnessed his best friend being killed in a drive-by shooting. By the age of four, he was already in a boxing gym, taken there by his stepfather.

Corrales had some semblance of discipline but still found trouble with the law. But Corrales still built up a more than respectable amateur record of 115-12. He moved to Las Vegas and turned professional in 1996 and was just 19 when he had his first paid fight.

He went thirty-three fights unbeaten, including stopping Robert Garcia to claim the IBF super-featherweight title, but besieged by personal and weight-making problems, the clock was ticking on his initial world title reign. In 2001, Floyd Mayweather was on another level to Corrales. Down five times, it was as one-sided as you can get. It may have been Mayweather in his absolute prime. Corrales was rescued in the 10th. It could and should have come sooner. Corrales, who had never previously been knockdown, complained about the stoppage. He thought it was premature. Many said it was anything but.

After pleading guilty to domestic battery, Corrales served his time and was subsequently out of the ring for two years after his bitter experience from the fists of Mayweather. After four wins, he was back in the mix, but Corrales was then stopped in six rounds by Joel Casamayor. But he got revenge and the vacant WBO super-featherweight title in 2004 and he claimed a world title at a second weight when he stopped the previously unbeaten Brazilian Acelino Freitas in ten brutal rounds to win the WBO lightweight title.

And then in 2005, we saw a unification for the ages.

The veteran broadcaster Al Bernstein described it this way. “Corrales-Castillo was the greatest fight ever, and to me, Corrales-Castillo I was Hagler-Hearns times three.”

Jose Luis Castillo defended his WBC lightweight bauble. Corrales put his WBO belt on the line. They traded as if their lives depended on the punches that they landed. It was a thing of savage unrelenting beauty. Corrales looked beat as their war hit the crescendo in that fateful 10th round. A big booming perfectly timed left hook dropped Corrales. He rose at eight, the gumshield away from its natural home bought a precious few seconds. But a series of potent left hooks had ‘Chico’ down again. The end looked near. But the gumshield came out once again. Spat out. It cost him a point. But it saved his night. It was right out of the most fanciful of film scripts. The narrative of the fight suddenly changed.

“If you’d seen it in a Rocky movie, you wouldn’t have believed it!” Jim Watt said Sky Sports commentary duties.

Corrales climbed wearily to his feet after his second trip to the canvas. The blatant spitting out of the gumshield had bought him time. And enough of it. Corrales came roaring back and within thirty seconds of being on the brink of defeat he was on the brink of a quite remarkable victory. They traded, but this time it was Castillo who started to show signs of fragility. Corrales sensed his unlikely moment was near. He unleashed a salvo of punches that convinced the referee Tony Weeks to end the fight in a manner that nobody could have foreseen just a few moments earlier.

But that was as good as it got for Diego Corrales. He never won another fight.

Corrales and Castillo fought again five months later. Castillo missed weight. Corrales rolled the dice and was knocked out in four rounds courtesy of a beautifully powerful fight-ending left hook. The Mexican again missed weight for the planned trilogy and this time the fight was scrapped.

“It was really hard to say no, but it’s a whole other weight class,” Corrales said after his rival missed the lightweight limit by five pounds.

Before the tragic end of his life, Corrales had two more fights and lost them both. Corrales lost a trilogy fight with Casamayor in 2006, this time he was the fighter coming in overweight. The WBC belt was lost on the scales and the next day, so was the fight. The following year Corrales moved up to welterweight but was dropped twice and lost a wide decision to Joshua Clottey. It was another fight where Corrales had trouble keeping his gumshield in his mouth. He never fought again.

His promoter Gary Shaw said Corrales fought and lived the same way. Shaw said Corrales liked to live life on the edge. In many ways, how his life sadly ended had an air of inevitability about it. But Corrales left us with many great memories from his all too brief life inside a boxing ring. None better than the unforgettable first encounter with Castillo.

“That fight with Jose Luis Castillo will be remembered by many forever.” Gary Shaw