Just KC
10-08-2006, 05:00 PM
probably shouldn’t have been as close as it was, but Joel Casamayor kept his career alive as an elite fighter by winning his rubber match with Diego Corrales by split decision Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay resort & casino.
Casamayor, who appeared to control the majority of rounds with an effective stick-and-move strategy, won the somewhat lackluster third bout by scores of 116-111 and 115-112. Veteran judge Jerry Roth scored the bout 114-113 for Corrales.
It wasn’t an action-packed affair like the first bout, which took place in October of 2003 and featured three knockdowns and a lot of blood. It wasn’t the intense chess match that the rematch was, either. It was a very tired-looking Corrales desperately and unsuccessfully stalking an aging veteran, who still has command of his skills, but didn’t take many chances in the bout.
This was clearly not the version of Corrales that lost to Casamayor in the first bout and then out-pointed the Cuban in the rematch two and half years ago. That version was quick, sharp and busy. Saturday night’s version, which has been through two wars with Jose Luis Castillo and a brutal battle with the scale in preparation for tonight’s bout, was slow, sluggish and only managed to throw one punch at a time, most of which missed his elusive target.
Casamayor, who improved to 34-3-1 (21), boxed from a safe distance throughout the fight, consistently getting off first from the outside and either dancing out of range of Corrales’ delayed reactions, or holding the 6-foot power puncher on the inside. Corrales’ only moment in the first half of the fight was when he scored a flash knockdown at the end of the fifth round which was really a push to the back of Casamayor’s head that forced the Cuban to one knee.
Casamayor was up immediately after the knockdown and proceeded to clown and showboat while alternately punching, moving and holding Corrales on the inside in rounds six, seven and eight.
Casamayor was a mocking and frustrating puzzle that the slow-off-the-trigger Corrales could not figure out although the former two-division champ had his moments late in the bout when Casamayor’s 35-year-old legs began to slow down enough for his head to be tagged on occasion.
Corrales came on strong in the final three rounds of the bout, landing some flush right hands and left hooks that momentarily stunned or knocked the tiring former 130-pound titlist off balance.
However, even in these final rounds, Casamayor was still the sharper and more accurate puncher. In-between the heated exchanges that awoke the subdued crowd inside the Mandalay Bay’s Event Center, Casamayor controlled the distance and tempo of these rounds.
Corrales, who dropped to 40-4 (33), didn’t see it that way. The 28-year-old veteran thought he finished the bout strong enough to deserve the decision.
“How can you win when you run away?” he rhetorically asked reporters after the bout.
If Casamayor had been present, he may have answered “by throwing and landing clean punches while moving away from yours.”
“I won clearly,” said a relieved Casamayor after hearing that he came out on the good-end of the split verdict. “I was concerned when the fight went to a decision, but thankfully the judges didn’t take this one away from me.”
After Friday’s weigh-in fiasco, where Corrales failed to make the 135-pound lightweight limit by four pounds, many among the press wondered if the critically drained string-bean of a fighter should go through with the fight, while some fans wondered if Corrales would benefit from the extra pounds.
Casamayor didn’t pay attention to all the pontification.
“I was disappointed by the weight issue, but I wasn’t going to let my fans down,” he said.
However, Casamayor is probably done fighting the giant likes of Corrales. His next target, he says, is 130-pound champ Marco Antonio Barrera.
A depleted and disgusted Corrales didn’t want to talk about what would be next for him.
“I’m going to go home and think about whether I want to continue fighting,” he said.
In the co-featured bout of the evening, IBF/IBO flyweight titlist Vic Darchinyan improved his undefeated record to 27-0 (21) with a one-sided technical decision over Glenn Donaire, who could not continue fighting past the sixth round due to a broken jaw.
Donaire, who dropped 16-3-1 (9), said that his jaw was broken in the fourth round by a Darchinyan elbow. Donaire’s corner claims the fighter’s jaw was broken or hurt in the second round by a headbutt. Referee Tony Weeks wasn’t sure if Donaire’s jaw was hurt by a headbutt or not, but he saw how the fighter reacted after their heads came together in the middle of the sixth round and when Donaire turned his back and tried to walk to his corner, Weeks called time and had the ringside doctor take a look at Donaire’s bloody mouth.
Donaire was deemed unfit to continue, the fight was called off at 1:27 of the sixth round and Darchinyan retained his world titles by lopsided scores of 60-53 (by all three judges).
“It was a punch, not a butt,” Darchinyan said of the cause of Donaire’s injured jaw. “I could feel his legs shake every time I hit him. He was not an easy opponent, he was a good opponent, but I wanted to knock him out.”
The freakishly strong and awkwardly aggressive southpaw seemed on his way to scoring a late knockout. The ever-stalking Darchinyan landed hard lefts and rights throughout the early rounds, with Donaire bouncing on his toes on the outside and occasionally lunging to land hard rights to the body and left hooks.
By the third round, Donaire’s face began to bust up, but the Filipino prospect dug his heels into the canvass and took the fight to the bigger, stronger champ in the fourth and was putting forth his best effort before Darchinyan dropped him with a chopping right hand near the end of the round.
After being stalked and battered by Darchinyan in the fifth, Donarie turned his back and basically called a “time out” in the sixth. Whether his jaw was injured by an elbow, headbutt or a punch, it was obvious that though he was game in spots, he was being outclassed and beat up by the Australia-based Armenian title holder.
When asked what was next for him, Darchinyan simply stated:
“I’ll knockout anybody. Just put someone in front of me
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IMO Corrales won the fight and the judges gave Casamayor a gift because they didnt want to hear his shit. Your thoughts?
Casamayor, who appeared to control the majority of rounds with an effective stick-and-move strategy, won the somewhat lackluster third bout by scores of 116-111 and 115-112. Veteran judge Jerry Roth scored the bout 114-113 for Corrales.
It wasn’t an action-packed affair like the first bout, which took place in October of 2003 and featured three knockdowns and a lot of blood. It wasn’t the intense chess match that the rematch was, either. It was a very tired-looking Corrales desperately and unsuccessfully stalking an aging veteran, who still has command of his skills, but didn’t take many chances in the bout.
This was clearly not the version of Corrales that lost to Casamayor in the first bout and then out-pointed the Cuban in the rematch two and half years ago. That version was quick, sharp and busy. Saturday night’s version, which has been through two wars with Jose Luis Castillo and a brutal battle with the scale in preparation for tonight’s bout, was slow, sluggish and only managed to throw one punch at a time, most of which missed his elusive target.
Casamayor, who improved to 34-3-1 (21), boxed from a safe distance throughout the fight, consistently getting off first from the outside and either dancing out of range of Corrales’ delayed reactions, or holding the 6-foot power puncher on the inside. Corrales’ only moment in the first half of the fight was when he scored a flash knockdown at the end of the fifth round which was really a push to the back of Casamayor’s head that forced the Cuban to one knee.
Casamayor was up immediately after the knockdown and proceeded to clown and showboat while alternately punching, moving and holding Corrales on the inside in rounds six, seven and eight.
Casamayor was a mocking and frustrating puzzle that the slow-off-the-trigger Corrales could not figure out although the former two-division champ had his moments late in the bout when Casamayor’s 35-year-old legs began to slow down enough for his head to be tagged on occasion.
Corrales came on strong in the final three rounds of the bout, landing some flush right hands and left hooks that momentarily stunned or knocked the tiring former 130-pound titlist off balance.
However, even in these final rounds, Casamayor was still the sharper and more accurate puncher. In-between the heated exchanges that awoke the subdued crowd inside the Mandalay Bay’s Event Center, Casamayor controlled the distance and tempo of these rounds.
Corrales, who dropped to 40-4 (33), didn’t see it that way. The 28-year-old veteran thought he finished the bout strong enough to deserve the decision.
“How can you win when you run away?” he rhetorically asked reporters after the bout.
If Casamayor had been present, he may have answered “by throwing and landing clean punches while moving away from yours.”
“I won clearly,” said a relieved Casamayor after hearing that he came out on the good-end of the split verdict. “I was concerned when the fight went to a decision, but thankfully the judges didn’t take this one away from me.”
After Friday’s weigh-in fiasco, where Corrales failed to make the 135-pound lightweight limit by four pounds, many among the press wondered if the critically drained string-bean of a fighter should go through with the fight, while some fans wondered if Corrales would benefit from the extra pounds.
Casamayor didn’t pay attention to all the pontification.
“I was disappointed by the weight issue, but I wasn’t going to let my fans down,” he said.
However, Casamayor is probably done fighting the giant likes of Corrales. His next target, he says, is 130-pound champ Marco Antonio Barrera.
A depleted and disgusted Corrales didn’t want to talk about what would be next for him.
“I’m going to go home and think about whether I want to continue fighting,” he said.
In the co-featured bout of the evening, IBF/IBO flyweight titlist Vic Darchinyan improved his undefeated record to 27-0 (21) with a one-sided technical decision over Glenn Donaire, who could not continue fighting past the sixth round due to a broken jaw.
Donaire, who dropped 16-3-1 (9), said that his jaw was broken in the fourth round by a Darchinyan elbow. Donaire’s corner claims the fighter’s jaw was broken or hurt in the second round by a headbutt. Referee Tony Weeks wasn’t sure if Donaire’s jaw was hurt by a headbutt or not, but he saw how the fighter reacted after their heads came together in the middle of the sixth round and when Donaire turned his back and tried to walk to his corner, Weeks called time and had the ringside doctor take a look at Donaire’s bloody mouth.
Donaire was deemed unfit to continue, the fight was called off at 1:27 of the sixth round and Darchinyan retained his world titles by lopsided scores of 60-53 (by all three judges).
“It was a punch, not a butt,” Darchinyan said of the cause of Donaire’s injured jaw. “I could feel his legs shake every time I hit him. He was not an easy opponent, he was a good opponent, but I wanted to knock him out.”
The freakishly strong and awkwardly aggressive southpaw seemed on his way to scoring a late knockout. The ever-stalking Darchinyan landed hard lefts and rights throughout the early rounds, with Donaire bouncing on his toes on the outside and occasionally lunging to land hard rights to the body and left hooks.
By the third round, Donaire’s face began to bust up, but the Filipino prospect dug his heels into the canvass and took the fight to the bigger, stronger champ in the fourth and was putting forth his best effort before Darchinyan dropped him with a chopping right hand near the end of the round.
After being stalked and battered by Darchinyan in the fifth, Donarie turned his back and basically called a “time out” in the sixth. Whether his jaw was injured by an elbow, headbutt or a punch, it was obvious that though he was game in spots, he was being outclassed and beat up by the Australia-based Armenian title holder.
When asked what was next for him, Darchinyan simply stated:
“I’ll knockout anybody. Just put someone in front of me
_________________________ _________________________ _______________
IMO Corrales won the fight and the judges gave Casamayor a gift because they didnt want to hear his shit. Your thoughts?