Football
Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer 18y

Corrales stunned by Castillo missing weight again

LAS VEGAS -- A half-hour after the surreal turn of events had played out, lightweight champion Diego Corrales slumped on the couch in the living room of his plush suite at Caesars Palace on Friday night.

He was almost in shock, and it was hard to blame him.

For the second time, rival Jose Luis Castillo had blown the weight for their championship fight, just as he had done for their rematch last October.

The difference, however, is that this time Saturday night's fight at the Thomas & Mack Center was canceled when Corrales decided it was not in his best interest to go through with the fight when he was at such a significant weight disadvantage.

Corrales made the 135-pound limit, while Castillo was 139½ pounds.

Last fall, Corrales went through with the fight when Castillo (54-7-1, 47 KOs) was 3½ pounds overweight and was knocked out in the fourth round of what became a non-title bout.

Corrales (40-3, 33 KOs) wasn't about to make the same mistake again, even though pulling the plug cost him a $1.2 million purse in addition to money he could have forced Castillo to pay him to go through with the bout.

"The most upsetting thing to me is didn't I earn the respect from [Castillo] to make lightweight? Last time we fought at lightweight I beat him in one of the greatest fights ever. Didn't I earn the right for him to make the weight one more time?"

Diego Corrales

"My decision is for my personal safety," Corrales said. "I have a wife and children I want to see grow up, and the decision is based on my well being."

Said a downtrodden Castillo, "I am not a lightweight. I gave myself a chance and I tried my best. I sweat and sweat and I couldn't lose another ounce."

The cancellation was a stunning finish to a depressing day that cast a pall over boxing and left everyone involved angry.

It was certainly a long way from their first fight, the May 2005 instant classic that was the unanimous fight of the year choice. In the non-stop slugfest, Corrales rallied from two 10th-round knockdowns to score a stunning TKO seconds later in one of the great fights in history.

That led to the October rematch and its weight controversy and ultimately to what was supposed to be Saturday night's "War to Settle the Score" rubber match.

"I did everything you could do," a depressed Corrales said in his suite, speaking to two reporters and a camera crew from Showtime. "I can't believe he did it again. It's ridiculous. I did my job and my duty, which is to make weight. My team suffered with me. A lot of hungry days and nights.

"The most upsetting thing to me is didn't I earn the respect from him to make lightweight? Last time we fought at lightweight I beat him in one of the greatest fights ever. Didn't I earn the right for him to make the weight one more time?"

He obviously didn't.

Castillo, a skin-and-bones skeleton, arrived at the weigh-in looking gaunt and glassy eyed. He was so weak, he laid down on the stage before going to the scale.

When he got on the scale, he was 139½ pounds, causing the packed ballroom to gasp. That is 4½ pounds over the 135-pound division limit.

Corrales was next up and weighed 135.

As Castillo left the stage, he told Corrales he was sorry, but he was still in the same predicament as he was last fall, when, for their rematch, he scaled 138½ pounds.

Under Nevada rules, a fighter has two hours to shed the excess weight. However, for medical reasons, the commission said Castillo could lose no more than two pounds. So whatever he was going to finally weigh, Corrales' lightweight title would not be at stake.

However, when Castillo came back two hours later after spending time in the sauna and working out, he stepped on the scale again but was still 139½ pounds.

That left Corrales and his team sitting in circle in the corner of the ballroom along with Castillo promoter Bob Arum and Showtime executive Ken Hershman to discuss the matter.

When they finally emerged from the animated session, Corrales promoter Gary Shaw announced the fight was canceled.

"Diego is extremely disappointed because he worked so hard to please you and to get a big payday," Shaw said. "Ken Hershman has given Diego the opportunity to fight in July or September, but this fight is off. Don't penalize Diego Corrales, who for eight weeks was in a battle every day to make 135 pounds."

It was a rough start for Keith Kizer, the new executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission. He was overseeing his first weigh-in since taking the reins from Marc Ratner, who left the commission after more than a decade for another job.

Kizer said Castillo was looking at disciplinary action from the commission.

"It's up to me to file a complaint against Mr. Castillo," Kizer said. "It is something I will be pondering over the weekend."

Whatever punishment the commission levies against Castillo, it won't be enough to console Corrales.

"He backed me into a corner and made me make a call I didn't want to make," Corrales said of his decision to call off the fight. "I don't care about him saying he's sorry. I trained 9½ weeks to fight and I have to walk around tomorrow and watch other people fight and I can't. I trained to make weight and fight and now I can't because of something someone else did.

"Last time my actions were to take one for the team, to take one for everyone who loves this sport, to take one for the fans, the writers, the promoters, the casinos, one for everyone who wanted to see the fight. I sacrificed for everyone. Why couldn't he sacrifice this time? The only difference between me and him is that I am professional."

Corrales entire team -- Shaw, manager James Prince and trainer Joe Goossen -- all supported Corrales' decision not to fight, even though it cost them all substantial paydays.

"If he got hurt, I could never live with myself again," Shaw said.

Said Goossen, "Both guys should have to hit 135. We already found out the disadvantages of fighting a bigger guy. Castillo is not a lightweight. He's a 140-pounder at best. I really believe the guy should have known better than to accept the fight at lightweight. That's the bottom line. We never thought he would make weight. I don't hold it against Castillo. He works hard and he is a skeleton. It's hell for him. But he should have known better than to take the fight and promise to make 135 pounds."

Added Prince, "Diego is pissed off. He busted his butt to make this weight all the way up to the weigh in. But you have to think of his safety first. It's bigger than the money."

Even Arum encouraged Corrales to walk away from the fight.

"I'm mortified and embarrassed by what happened here," Arum said. "It's a disgrace.

I'm disgusted. I'm totally fed up. I don't even want to promote him anymore."

Arum, a promoter for 40 years, said he couldn't remember anything like this every happening in two consecutive fights.

He had been receiving daily reports from Castillo's training camp telling him he was on target to make weight. The WBC, which was to sanction the fight, had sent representatives to his training camp to check his weight.

"If he couldn't make weight he should have told people," Arum said. "This is not acceptable behavior. This is [crap]. He disgraced me and disgraced boxing."

Even if the fight had gone on, Castillo was facing a substantial reduction of his $900,000-plus purse. By missing weight on the first try, he was going to forfeit 25 percent of his purse via a fine by the Nevada commission, the maximum allowed; last October, Castillo was fined 10 percent of his purse for missing weight.

In addition, Castillo was facing a $175,000 fine written into the Showtime contract. Plus, had Corrales agreed to go through with the bout, Castillo would undoubtedly have had to pay him extra money for his trouble.

Shaw wasn't surprised that Castillo missed the weight.

"All along I didn't think he would make weight, but we were trying to stay positive," he said. "It's close to perpetrating a fraud on the public. This can't happen."

Although ticket holders can receive a full refund if they want one, the show will go on, even though Arum estimated that he will lose $1 million or more, not to mention potential lawsuits from Showtime and host casinos Caesars Palace and the Wynn Resort.

Corrales said he was considering a lawsuit against Castillo.

Showtime will still televise the originally scheduled co-feature at 9 p.m. ET/PT when flyweight titlist Vic Darchinyan (25-0, 20 KOs) of Australia defends against Luis Maldonado (33-0-1, 25 KOs) of Mexico.

Corrales will be ringside to commentate on the Showtime broadcast.

He would rather be in the ring.

"I don't want to harm the sport I love," he said. "I sacrificed a lot. I did the work. For him to say he is sorry doesn't mean anything to me. Sorry is an empty word. He missed it twice."

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