Jose Luis Castillo Vs Diego Corrales fight called off.

[Stephist]

LAS VEGAS -- Diego Corrales wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. He and Jose Luis Castillo had been down this road before.

Their WBC lightweight title fight was called off Friday after Castillo didn't come close to making the 135-pound limit for the second time in a row, and Corrales decided it was too dangerous for him to go ahead with the fight.

Corrales gave up a $1.3 million payday rather than fight a much heavier fighter. He did it with the memory of his knockout loss to Castillo last October when Castillo was also heavier fresh in his mind.

"I have a wife and children and I want to see them grow up," Corrales said...


http://cbs.sportsline.com/boxing/story/9476126

After what happened in the second fight you would have thought they could have gotten Castillo to make weight. he was 5 pounds over.:eyes:

[H2O Man]

1. Good.

Castillo had said he would make weight. He should have done so. It is another cheap attempt to get an unfair advantage on his part. As much as I wanted to see Corrales fight him again, I think it is important that Diego make the decision he did. I support him 100%.

[Ekirh]

2. Help me and my uneducated boxing mind understand

So if challlenger doens't make weight.. the fight can still go on but non-title?

and also with that being said. . . sheesh you would think with a title possibility he would've done all he could to shed those five pounds. Of course I've never tried to cut weight so I shouldn't speak to much on the subject (On the Ultimate Fighter I've watched the UFC hopefuls do things to cut weight. . . and damn they can get rid of some weight in a hurry if they have to. . granted UFC and boxing are two different sports).

[Stephist]

3. H20 Man knows far more then I do...

But yes the fight can still go on if The belt holder agrees to it but the belt won't change hands. these two have already fought Once with Castillo coming in over the weight limit and he won in a 4th round knockout. this time Corrales said no which was absolutely the right decision for him to make.

[Ekirh]

4. Oh

I Have no doubt it's the right decision from what I hearing. If the guy doesn't make weight no point in getting in the fight at all. . .

Just seems like a waste to earn a title shot and then not be able to make weight for it.

[H2O Man]

5. In their first fight

Corrales knocked Castillo out in one of the best fights in the past decade. Both had made the weight limit, and it was a fair match-up.

In the second fight, Castillo came in overweight. Keep in mind the weigh-in is the day before the fight, so if a guy is supposed to be at 135 lbs, but can't get below 140, by the time he gets in the ring the next night, he is going to have gained significant weight. The advantage isn't going to be in the 4 to 5 pound range.

Castillo was more interested in knocking out Corrales in fight #2 than in winning the version of the title Corrales had. It's in part because he has no plan to continue at that lower weight. The paying of a fraction of his pay check to Corrales is nothing compared to the benefits of winning the next two matches over Corrales.

If Castillo made weight, he would be far less likely to have the strength to catch up to Diego, who is in my opinion somewhat underrated as a boxer, because of his hard-punching style. His chin has not held up well, though, as he gets decked about as often as Floyd Patterson used to. If he had boxed Castillo, he would likely win a relatively unexciting match.

Castillo was counting on Corrales giving in again, and fighting a guy who by Saturday would have been at least two full weight classes higher. The extra $125,000 or so isn't worth it. 5 pounds makes a huge difference over 6 rounds, much more over the full 12. From everything I've read, I think that Castillo had no plan to make the weight. There is a significant increased risk for injuries in fighting bigger men -- hence weight classes. As Teddy Atlas so often says, the sport needs to apply the rules. Castillo was disrespectful of the sport, once again.

I think things were much better when fighters weighed in the morning of a fight. With heavyweights, it obviously isn't as important.

[MessiahRp]

6. I think Castillo should be suspended for a year myself...

His actions not only screwed Corrales out of a payday, it hurt Showtime, the venue involved and the other fighters on the card whose purse was tied to now refunded ticket sales and PPV buys.

I think it's sort of silly to take fights at a weight you have to guarantee yourself a crash diet to make it to... there's only so much salvation and dehydration one can do to themself. But Corrales knew as much and still stiffed everyone involved with his fuck up.

I get HBO and watch pretty much every HBO, ESPN and Fox Sportsnet fight that I can see and it's sad to see Showtime getting whacked in the Boxing game when this was pretty much the best marquee fight they had to offer at this point.

I want boxing as a whole to grow and for there to be another golden era in the sport. But between shady judges, ridiculous governing bodies and idiot fighters they look like they are going to end up becoming a seconday contact sport behind UFC which is emerging quickly as the best run legitimate fight company in the US.

Rp

[H2O Man]

7. I agree

that there really should be a consequence for Castillo.

This reminds me of when we were young, and my brothers and I had an amateur boxing team. We were from "the sticks," and competed against teams from the various cities north of NYC. Almost all of the promoters were weasals, and would attempt to match our fighters up with guys with way more experience. The promoters from Syracuse were by far the worse: they would also lie about weight. So they would say a fight was for 132 lbs, for example, and our guy would weigh-in at 132, and the opponent would tip the scale at 140. We used to still fight.

A young heavyweight, Paul Simmonetti, lived with us one year. He was a interesting character. He had won a football scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh, and was -- like many fighters -- well-educated and very bright. He loved boxing, and had fought on the undercard of the first Frazier-Ali ("Fight of the Century") at MSG. Paul was a sparring partner for guys like Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena.

Paul asked us why we continued to fall for their silly lies? Then it clicked -- tell the promoter our guy would be fighting at 132, and have him come in at 140! My last amateur fight in Syracuse, scheduled for 132 lbs, I came in at 142. The promoter was insulted. But his fighter was the same weight.

I love boxing. Actually, I love boxers, because in my life's experiences, I have found them as a group to be the most sensitive, thoughtful, decent, and generous group of people. There are a few bad apples, but overall, boxers are my favorite people. Promoters and managers tend to be snakes. There are some good managers. Lots of decent corner men, too. But I think that the sport is at a good level competition-wise, and that unfortunately means the snakes will attempt to exploit the fighters and the fans -- as that is where the money is.

If we had a national boxing commission, run by someone with the integrity of Teddy Atlas, boxing would quickly become a cleaner, more competitive, more popular sport.