By Matt Hurley

“I just hope his new nutritionist isn’t named Dunkin Hines.”  So says Diego Corrales about his nemesis Jose Luis Castillo, as both fighters prepare for their rubber match this weekend.  He was alluding to their notorious rematch in which Castillo came in well above the lightweight limit and proceeded to pummel a weight drained Corrales into a final, crushing left hook that knocked the champion out in the fourth round.  Because of the weight issue Corrales’ belt was not on the line but the knockout evened their rivalry at one victory apiece.  The fact that both fights had a certain level of controversy demanded a third bout which will take place this Saturday night at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. 

Corrales’ trainer Joe Goosen sighs wearily whenever Castillo’s name is brought up.  The exhaustion of that first epic battle, one of the great fights of all time, still registers in his body language.  “A fight like that is almost criminal.  And then to do it again only months later is ridiculous.  But that’s the mentality of both of these guys.  However, I lost a lot of respect for Castillo after the rematch because he made no effort to make the weight.  And then you had the foot wedge under the scale.  That just proved his camp had no intention of making weight.”

Goosen is referring to Castillo’s former physician, Dr. Armando Barak.  During the weigh in for the rematch, then Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Marc Ratner caught Barak placing his foot under the scale to tilt the reading.  Such an egregious act of duplicity left the fight in doubt.  Ratner initially allowed Castillo an additional two hours to make weight after he had failed the first time.  It was during the second weigh in that the incident occurred.

“It was so blatant,” Ratner said.  “It became obvious that Castillo and his camp never had any intention of making the weight.”

Ratner pronounced Castillo’s weight at 138 ½ pounds.  He also acknowledged that the initial reading of 137 pounds may have been false.  The entire mess left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth, including Corrales who now wonders if Castillo had weighed in properly during their first match.

“I don’t know,” he said this past weekend from his training camp.  “I mean, a person does something once can mean they did it before or will do it again.  But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.”

What was in doubt during the October 2005 rematch was the fight itself.  But, fortunately, or unfortunately at least for Corrales, Diego decided to go through with the fight as a non-title bout.  A few pounds may not seem like much to the layperson but to a fighter struggling to make weight, particularly lighter weight fighters, a few pounds can mean nearly everything.  And that’s just what happened.  Corrales, so lanky to begin with, struggled mightily to make the 135 pound limit and his drained body couldn’t compete with a fighter who didn’t dry out as he had.  Forget the fact that both fighters were probably coming back too soon after such a brutal first bout in May of that year, Castillo had a distinct advantage.

“It takes something out of you to get down to a certain, mandated weight,” Corrales’ promoter Gary Shaw maintains.  “Diego said before the second fight that if he had to, he would die trying to make the weight.  Castillo didn’t make that effort and what happened wasn’t fair.”

But Castillo backers will point to the first bout’s controversy and say simply, “well, payback is a bitch.”  In the first bout, a close, violent struggle, Castillo was pulling ahead as the fight wore on.  Then, in the epic tenth round, Corrales hit the deck twice and looked to be a spent force.  He spit his mouthpiece out after both knockdowns, buying himself precious seconds of recuperative time.  With time running out and his eye swelling shut Corrales went for broke and somehow caught an off guard Castillo with swinging hooks and ended, perhaps, the most dramatic title bout since Marvin Hagler defended his middleweight title against Thomas Hearns in 1985 with an improbable tenth round TKO.  It was that good, but the mouthpiece controversy lingered right up until the weigh in for the rematch.

So, here we go again.

And Joe Goosen sighs just thinking about it.  “If you had told me that these two guys would be fighting each other three times in a thirteen month span after that first bout I wouldn’t have believed it.  In fact I didn’t want to put either of them through that again.  Sometimes it’s just asking too much of a fighter.  I’ve worked with fighters who never experienced that much punishment in their entire careers.  But this is what Diego is about and the same goes for Castillo.  It’ll be another struggle.”

“We can’t be in a bad fight when we square off,” Diego says.  “We just can’t.  We’re right in front of each other.  He knows where I’m going to be – right in front of him.  I just hope he comes in at the weight.  It is a concern for me, but regardless I’ll be there.  I’ll be there because that’s what I’m about.  The fact that this fight had to be postponed (because of an injury to Corrales’ rib) really bothered me.  I’ve never been in that situation before.  But I got the proper rest and camp has been great.  I’m ready to go.”

Boxing fans have been gearing up for this third go-round between these two little giants for months now.  Hopefully the third time will be the charm and the bout will be free from any controversy, but in boxing you never know.  Still, to ensure that Castillo is making the proper adjustments to make the stipulated weight the WBC has been sending representatives to monitor his weight-loss during training camp.

Castillo brushes off questions about the weight issue with slight annoyance.  “I know I’m going to make the weight the day before the fight.  It’s been difficult every week having people coming in to check on my weight.  The last time, I got hurt about ten days before the fight and I wasn’t able to do what I wanted (to drop the few remaining pounds).  But this time, I’m perfect.  There will be no problem.”

These two fighters were made for each other and with both probably moving up in weight after Saturday’s match up, it isn’t inconceivable that they could meet for a fourth time somewhere down the line.  Joe Goosen is probably already shaking his head in resignation at the thought.