– Diego Corrales was fined $240,000 by the Nevada Athletic Commission for failing to make weight for his lightweight fight against Joel Casamayor on Oct. 7th. Corrales also had to give a portion of his $1.2 million payday to Casamayor in exchange for Casamayor electing to go on with the fight. Casamayor had the option to call off the fight.
– Diego Corrales will be suspended for an undisclosed amount of time but upon his return, Corrales wants to fight as a welterweight. The lightweight limit is 135 and Corrales could not get any lower than 139 one day prior to the fight. The welterweight limit is 147 and he can find a lot of marquee opponents at that weight class.
– Acelino Freitas has announced his retirement from boxing. The 31-year-old Brazilian held the WBO Super Featherweight title for four years before moving up to lightweight. During his world title reign, he defeated opponents such as Joel Casamayor, Daniel Attah, and Jorge Barrios. Freitas recently captured the WBO Lightweight title in what would turn out to be his last fight, a split decision over Zahir Raheem in April. Freitas finished with a record of 38-1 (32 KOs) but unfortunately may be best remembered for quitting in his only loss, a lightweight title bout against Diego Corrales. Freitas wants to concentrate on training young fighters in Brazil as well as promoting. Keep in mind this is boxing. Don’t be surprised if Freitas returns to the ring.
– Buddy McGirt has signed on to train Paul Malignaggi, according to fightnews.com. While Malignaggi is still recovering from his loss to Miguel Cotto in June, he plans on returning to the ring in the early part of 2007.
– Contender 2 runner-up Stephen Forbes is rumored to be in negotiations to fight Demetrius Hopkins, Bernard Hopkins’ undefeated nephew.
– After reports that Bernard Hopkins was considering ending his retirement to face WBC Heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev were released, reports are now surfacing that Antonio Tarver is interested in facing Maskaev. I’m sure Tarver is interested in the fight but I see no reason why Maskaev would do it as long as Hopkins is out there. Maskaev would stand to make a lot more money from a fight with Hopkins than he would with Tarver.
