Body Blows: Corrales/Casamayor III and more

Results

Diego Corrales came in five pounds heavy for his rubber match with Joel Casamayor this Saturday night. Corrales was stripped of his WBC Lightweight title because they don’t exactly like when their lightweight champions weigh in at the light welterweight limit.

“It’s terribly ironic,” promoter Gary Shaw said. “I’m shocked. I don’t know what to say.”

The irony Shaw is alluding to is when Corrales faced an overweight Jose Luis Castillo in their second bout and decided not to fight Castillo a third time when Castillo failed to make weight again.

“I definitely deserve to be punished,” Corrales said. “I should make weight and I didn’t. My body just wouldn’t let anything go.”

Casamayor agreed to go on with the fight but a substantial amount of the fight purse is being transfered to Joel Casamayor. Additionally, Casamayor can win the WBC Lightweight title should he defeat Corrales. If Corrales wins, the title will be vacant.

Diego Corrales vs. Joel Casamayor III

Diego Corrales has a huge fan base. After coming up heavy on the scales, it was interesting to see how the fans would react to him. After all, fans will easily forgive your mistakes if you pour your heart out in the ring. If Diego Corrales is anything, he’s all heart. Yet the ovation for Corrales’ entrance to the ring was more subdued than usual. Corrales even tried to hype the crowd up when he got into the ring but the reaction was quite underwhelming. Regardless, Corrales had 12 rounds to win the crowd back. An action-packed start would put them right back in his corner. Unfortunately for Chico, it didn’t turn out that way.

Corrales and Casamayor couldn’t have had a more boring start to a fight. For the third fight of an exciting trilogy, the crowd shouldn’t be booing by the second round. And boo they did. The action started to pick up in the fourth round and Corrales scored a knockdown on Casamayor in the fifth. Casamayor slipped but Corrales caught enough of Casamayo’s head to call it a knockdown. Calm down folks, the right call was made by referee Kenny Bayless. Although it was clear the crowd was with Casamayor at this point.

It wouldn’t be a Casamayor fight without some dirty tactics. Casamayor cut Corrales above his eye with a headbutt that seemed intentional. No deduction was given; not even a warning. It did, however, get the crowd into the fight and served to ignite Casamayor as he taunted his opponent.

Corrales landed some big shots on Casamayor, but the Cuban native stood strong and countered with a higher volume than the listless Corrales. With all the heart Corrales has shown in the past, it was odd seeing him fight with what seemed to be a lack of desire. In the end, Joel Casamayor just seemed to want it more. Casamayor was rewarded with a split decision victory and the WBC Lightweight belt.

Vic Darchinyan vs. Glenn Donaire

Darchinyan dominated this fight from the opening bell. The IBF and IBO Flyweight champion proved why he is nicknamed The Raging Bull as he relentlessly attacked Donaire for six rounds. Donaire was knocked down at the end of the fourth round and should have just stayed there. Knockout losses can be embarrassing for fighters, but it wouldn’t have looked as bad as what Donaire ended up doing in this fight.

In the sixth round, Donaire walked away from an exchange with Darchinyan, claiming his jaw was broken. No más isn’t the best way to go out but Donaire was a beaten fighter. For some reason referee Tony Weeks calls the ring doctor over to see if he can continue. The man just quit! He said his jaw is broken and doesn’t want to fight anymore. By the way, to see how real men fight with broken jaws, click here. Weeks decides Donaire cannot continue due to a medical recommendation from the doctor who is concerned that an accidental headbutt broke Donaire’s jaw. A headbutt?! Are we forgetting that Donaire quit already? I don’t know if Donaire’s jaw was or wasn’t broken, but I know that I never saw a headbutt anywhere leading up to Donaire quitting.

The fight went to the scorecards because of the stoppage due to accidental headbutt. Darchinyan won by techinical decision but he is already appealing it. Good for him. The Darchinyan camp will send a tape along with a protest to Nevada State Athletic Commission in an effort to get the result changed to a KO. Hopefully it is changed because the wrong call was made. Donaire quit and the official decision should reflect that.

Darchinyan called out Jorge Arce afterwards in what would be the most appealing fight under 120 pounds. Arce moved up to super flyweight recently and Darchinyan says he will continue to chase Arce until he finally agrees to fight him.

Other Results From The Week

– Somsak Sithchatchawal (that’s how it’s spelled) lost his first fight since 1998, dropping the WBA Super Bantamweight title to Celestino Caballero. The ref stopped the fight after Caballero’s third knockdown in the third round. The fight was held at a Buddhist temple in a remote part of Thailand.

– Oscar Larios wasted no time in rebounding from his loss to Manny Pacquaio as he earned a 4th round TKO over Roberto Bonilla in a featherweight bout.

– 2004 U.S. Olympian Rock Allen remained unbeaten with a TKO of Omar Ballard in the fourth round.

– Lightweight prospect Nick Casal improved to 15-0-1 (12 KOs) with an eight-round unanimous decision over Aaron Drake.

– Showtime and the IBO have been working together to crown a new IBO Super Middleweight champion. The semi-finals were broadcast last Friday and Jean Paul Mendy advanced to the finals where we will face Anthony Hanshaw. The fight will be shown on Showtime on January 5th.

– Christy Martin, a pioneer for women’s boxing, lost a unanimous decision to Angelica Martinez.

– Nonito Donaire did much better than his quitter brother, winning his super flyweight bout against Oscar Andrade by unanimous decision.

– Contender alumni Anthony “#1 Daddy” Bonsante and Jimmy Lange were victorious in Fairfax, Virginia. Bonsante knocked out Larry Brothers in the fourth round while Lange earned a TKO in the 10th of Thomas Wilt.