Couple of good matches tonight

**dpenix76** · 10-07-2006, 04:43 PM

My prediction?Castillo by knockout over Casamayor.....Monte Barrett dispatches Valuev by decision.Anyone else got a pick?

bigpoppapuff · 10-07-2006, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by dpenix76

My prediction?Castillo by knockout over Casamayor.....Monte Barrett dispatches Valuev by decision.Anyone else got a pick?

castillo???.....i thought corrales was fighting casamayor...and i'd say corrales...

i know nothing about the russian...monte barrett hits like a featherweight...i think barrett is a journeyman,at best...

bigpoppapuff · 10-07-2006, 04:56 PM

By Kieran Mulvaney in Las Vegas

There are times when Joel Casamayor must reflect on the injustice of it all, the thin line that exists in sports in general and boxing in particular. The line between success and failure, between the limelight and the twilight.

And when he does, the consideration of it all must be hard to bear.

In the two-and-a-half years since Casamayor last met Diego Corrales in a boxing ring, the two men’s careers haven’t quite gone in opposite directions. But while Corrales has definitely been on an upward arc, Casamayor’s has, it is safe to say, somewhat stagnated.

Corrales, always a popular fighter, has seen his profile soar with an impressive stoppage of Acelino Freitas to win the WBO lightweight title, and then his sensational, epic, comeback-from-the-brink-of-defeat knockout win over Jose Luis Castillo in May last year to add the WBC belt.

Even his knockout loss to Castillo in the rematch a year ago did little to diminish Corrales’ reputation or opportunities. After all, Castillo had come in above weight, so it wasn’t as if it was exactly a fair fight. That perception was accentuated by the fact that a member of the Castillo camp physically manipulated the scale during the weigh-in, and by the fact that Castillo apparently made even less attempt to make weight for their third and decisive match, causing that bout to be canceled amid much acrimony at the last minute.

Casamayor, meanwhile, has been on the outside looking in, despite the fact that he was this close to being on the inside looking out. Defeat to Corrales in the second of their two fights was by split decision, and the close loss he suffered to Castillo in a title challenge two fights later looks even better in the light of Castillo’s subsequent performances.

Since then, however, the now 35-year-old Cuban has shown the signs of being on a slight downward slope. He drew with Almazbek “Kid Diamond” Raiymkulov in his first bout after the Castillo defeat, and his two subsequent victories against lesser opposition have not exactly set the world alight.

But, through it all, Casamayor has quietly fumed, resentful that a man who has never clearly lost a fight (his other blemish, against Freitas, was also highly disputed) should be all but forgotten, and angry that he had been forced to wait almost three years to meet Corrales again.

“Respect?” he said. “I have respect for nobody, especially when they disrespect me and disrespect my family.”

He doesn’t seek to hide the source of his displeasure.

“We gave him a rematch after five months. It’s taken us three years to get this third fight. For three years, he’s been running. On Saturday, I’m going to retire him.”

The normally calm Corrales has clearly been needled by some of Casamayor’s taunting, and the dislike he appears to now feel for his opponent is seemingly as genuine as it is atypical. But, while Casamayor was animated and agitated at the final pre-fight press conference at the Mandalay Bay on Thursday, Corrales was calm and composed.

Casamayor’s behavior, Corrales said, was, if anything, the sign of a lack of confidence on the part of the Cuban. At the same time, neither Corrales nor trainer Joe Goossen, who was in Casamayor’s corner the first time he fought Corrales, is underestimating the task ahead of them. Corrales is the favorite, but despite rumors of Casamayor’s decline, the man from California knows from experience just how difficult and dangerous a foe the Cuban exile can be.

Corrales hit the deck twice during their first encounter, almost exactly three years ago. That was Corrales’ first big fight since a drubbing by Floyd Mayweather Jr. more than two years previous, following by a 14-month jail stint for domestic assault. He had been floored five times during the Mayweather beating, and his two visits to the canvas against Casamayor highlighted a growing reputation for a shaky chin.

But that first Casamayor fight also marked the beginning of an awareness that, no matter how many times an opponent knocked Corrales down, it was going to be another matter entirely to keep him down. Casamayor put Corrales down in the third and again in the fourth, but the moment he moved in for the kill, Corrales pounced, sending Casamayor to the seat of his pants and hauling himself back into the fight.

He might even have won it — at the end of the sixth, he had Casamayor hurt and seemingly one or two solid punches from defeat — but for the bizarre injury suffered when his mouthpiece split and sliced through his lower lip, causing a huge amount of bleeding. And although he did, in fact, win the rematch, it was a close affair, and one in which he again had to spend a few seconds on the floor.

Casamayor looks solid and ready to go; but so too does Corrales, whom Goossen believes has benefited from not having fought since his rematch with Castillo a year ago. Both men are probably past their prime, but the bigger question mark perhaps hovers over Corrales. There is, as yet, no way of knowing how much has been taken out of him by that vicious first fight with Castillo.

The answer may be a lot clearer after Saturday evening.

**dpenix76** · 10-08-2006, 12:55 AM

Its a good thing I dont call fights for a living.

Barrett took a beating and CORRALES looked like he was trying not to lose instead of trying to win.On another note,I cant believe he came in overweight after what he went through with Castillo.You know they have to have scales at training camp.

bigpoppapuff · 10-08-2006, 09:15 AM

i thought corrales should have won...valuev is a slug...i don't care how big and ugly he is...it's going to be fun watching a heavyweight with skills and a punch drop that bum...