Corrales Is A Spent Force
By Boxing News April 8th, 2007It was heartbreaking to see what happened to Diego Corrales last night. Witnessing a fighter of the caliber of Corrales fall to the level he has is just a shame. I think it’s abundantly clear that his best days are behind him at the age of 29. As far as I am concerned the fight lasted about four or five rounds longer than it should have. I normally agree with Al Bernstein most of the time, but yesterday was the exception to the rule. He stated that referee Mike England was doing a good job officiating the fight. To have allowed that carnage to continue was sadistic. The fight wasn’t close, in fact Corrales wasn’t even fighting well enough to be competitive. Corrales got hit with a ton of clean punches and was staggered several times, ultimately being dropped twice in the process. Corrales has always said that he wants to be taken out on his shield, apparently England wanted to see that materialize.
In the past two years Corrales is 0-3 in last three fights. He obviously hasn’t been the same since his first epic encounter with Jose Luis Castillo. Fights of that brute physicality always leaves a fighter drained. That was apparent when he stepped into the squared circle with Castillo five months later. So combine several extremely tough fights in a row, with a year of inactivity that saw him fail to make weight, with the pounding he took yesterday and you have a finished fighter.
Hopefully Corrlaes makes the choice of stepping away from the game while he still has his senses. He is still 29 and can still be involved in the sport of boxing in the capacity as a trainer or a commentator. The road doesn’t seem to bright if he continues as a boxer.
Some fighters just plummet after fighting that one “great” fight in their career. Last night reminded me of witnessing Riddick Bowe fighting Andrew Golota both times eleven years ago. A spent force.
—J-Gon
April 10th, 2007 at 11:42 am
I couldn’t agree more with your assesment of Chico. It was a disheartening to watch him take a beating like that. His trainer was telling Chico after the fight “You know I love you” and then asked him if he wants to go down to 140. Are you kidding me? Chico just go pummeled into submission and within minutes his trainer is asking him if he wants to move back down! It was sad to say the least.
Chico was ill prepared to fight the likes of Clottey. It was evident he may had gone up two divisions but he didn’t do it with added muscle tone. He looked flat. He was also dry when it walked into the ring. His punches had no pop. Chis is a spent fighter.
April 10th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
He would be an excellent commentator. I hope he gets out. He’s probably going to have problems later on in life due to the damsage he’s already taken. Any more would just be sadistic.
April 10th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Fighters like Corrales blaze brightly and burn out quickly. But what great fights they put out in their short careers. Fans will talk about them many years from now so although they do not achieve greatness in a sense because greatness is about longevity they do give great excitement in their careers. You cannot wait to see them again while they still have it. It doesn’t hurt us to watch but it takes a great toll on them. I agree it is time to lay the gloves down there is no more to prove and take at least one other heavyweight with you.
April 27th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
It’s true….Corrales is done. He’s the epitome of a shot fighter right now. He doesn’t possess the reflexes anymore to compete at the elite level. Strike two against him is the fact he is not now, nor will he ever be, a welterweight. He was always somewhat of an anomoly as a 6 foot 130 pounder, and granted we all get heavier with age, but Diego doesn’t have the physical strength to deal with natural 147 pounders.
So you add up all the wars he’s been in, the fact he’s fighting bigger guys, and his spent reflexes, and you have a very dangerous situation for him in his future fights. I, for one, DO NOT want to see a warrior like Chico carried out on his shield like Leavander Johnson, Jimmy Garcia, Gerald McClellan, Michael Watson, etc.