Jacqui Snow's "K.O.'s"

Tuesday Report By "K.O." Jacqui Snow

Diego "Chico" Corrales has had a successful career and won titles in both the Super Featherweight and Lightweight divisions, but it wasn't until last year that his ongoing struggle to make the weight limit in those classes was brought to light.

In October 2005, his opponent, Jose Luis Castillo, weighed in at nearly four pounds over the 135-pound limit for the rematch of their thrilling title bout, which had taken place five months earlier. Corrales agreed to fight him anyway, with disastrous results: he was knocked out in the fourth round. When Castillo again failed to make weight for their 2006 rubber-match, Corrales refused to fight him this time and it was then that he revealed the extent of his battle with the scale, exclaiming at a press conference that he'd been "sucking on ice chips for two days" to make weight. His promoter, Gary Shaw, confirmed that in the days leading up to his fights, Corrales routinely ate nothing at all and dehydrated himself by severely restricting his water intake.

Eight months later, in a hugely ironic twist, Corrales himself weighed in at a full five pounds over the lightweight limit for his title bout with Joel Casamayor. With the title on the line for Casamayor only, he won the belt by a close split decision. Following that loss, Corrales announced that he was no longer willing—or able—to boil himself down to 135 pounds and planned to move up two full weight classes to 147 pounds. Then he stunned the fans and critics by selecting the dangerous and widely avoided Joshua Clottey as his first foe at welterweight. Clottey is one of the toughest guys in the division and was most recently seen giving Antonio Margarito all he could handle in a losing effort that was a lot closer than the scorecards would indicate. It's quite likely that Clottey would have won the fight if he hadn't injured his hand in the third round.

Corrales seemed to be the only one who didn't realize what he was getting himself into and his loyal fans groaned, shook our heads, then predicted an easy and decisive win for Clottey. Our fears came true on Saturday as Clottey dominated the action from the opening bell. Corrales was aggressive and did throw punches, but he was out-gunned by Clottey, who kept coming forward, throwing uppercuts and combinations, rocking Corrales, jerking his head back and, by the looks of it, breaking his jaw. Clottey also dropped the exhausted Corrales twice in the later rounds. The scorecards correctly reflected the one-sided nature of the bout, with all three judges awarding the victory to Clottey by a wide margin.

Immediately following the fight--before the scores were even anounced--Corrales' trainer, Dickie Woods, could be heard asking his fighter whether he wanted to move back down to 140 pounds. On the surface it appeared to be a valid question, but it was a misguided one. The problem wasn't that Corrales was fighting at welterweight--on the contrary, he looked quite comfortable at 147 pounds. The reason Corrales lost the fight was that he was, quite simply, outclassed. If anything, we need to fault Corrales for agreeing to fight Clottey in the first place and the fact that it was his first fight at the new, higher weight class made the decision all the more foolhardy.

Corrales stands nearly six feet tall, so 135 pounds has never been a natural weight for him. He's already proven that he's no longer capable of making that limit and even 140 pounds would probably be a struggle. Unfortunately, though, he isn't competitive in the talent-rich welterweight division either and his championship days would appear to pretty much be over. However,Corrales can still sell lots of tickets and attract television coverage, even when there's no title on the line. His amicable manner and ready smile, coupled with his warrior-like mentality and eagerness to challenge himself in the ring, have earned him the love and respect of boxing fans. There are some good ten-round fights to be made for him at welterweight and that's the path he should be following at this stage. If he's unwilling to relegate himself to those ranks, then, quite frankly, he needs to retire.

http://www.myspace.com/jacquis