Diego Corrales’ Lightweight War
Diego “Chico” Corrales’ defining victory came after the fight seemed to be slipping away. In the tenth round against José Luis Castillo, Corrales went down twice, spit out his mouthpiece after each knockdown, and was penalized a point. Then he hurt Castillo with a left hook and poured on the punches until referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight. The astonishing finish became one of boxing’s most replayed rounds. It also capped a career built through setbacks long before that night.
A hard climb through two divisions
Raised in Sacramento, Corrales turned professional in 1996 after compiling a 105–12 amateur record. At junior lightweight, he won the IBF title by stopping Roberto Garcia in 1999 and made three defenses. His rise brought a major test against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2001. Mayweather dominated and stopped him in the tenth round, handing Corrales his first professional loss.
Corrales returned to the title picture through two fights with Joel Casamayor. He lost the first by sixth-round stoppage in 2003, then won their rematch by split decision for the vacant WBO super featherweight title in March 2004. Later that year, he moved up and stopped Acelino “Popó” Freitas in the tenth to win the WBO lightweight belt.
The Castillo round
On May 7, 2005, Corrales and Castillo met to unify their lightweight titles. After nine rounds of close, punishing exchanges, Corrales was behind on one judge’s card and ahead on two. Castillo dropped him twice early in the tenth. Corrales’s corner rinsed his mouthpiece and sent him back out; after the second knockdown, he was docked a point for spitting it out. Moments later, a short left hook changed the fight. Corrales drove Castillo to the ropes, and Weeks stepped in at 2:06.
Corrales’ mouthpiece episodes gave him time to recover, and referee Tony Weeks deducted a point. That sequence remained controversial after the fight. The official result remained a tenth-round technical knockout. Their rematch five months later ended differently, with Castillo stopping Corrales in the fourth. A third fight was planned for 2006 but fell apart after Castillo failed to make weight.
A career beyond one round
Corrales lost a close decision to Casamayor in their 2006 rubber match and finished his career with a 2007 loss to Joshua Clottey. He died in a motorcycle crash in Las Vegas on May 7, 2007, at age 29. The International Boxing Hall of Fame records his 40–5 professional record and his induction in 2024. The symmetry of that date has often drawn attention, but his legacy was not made by one dramatic ending. It came from two-division championships, high-level fights with Mayweather and Casamayor, and a defining victory whose disputed details remain inseparable from its drama.
Supporting sources: International Boxing Hall of Fame: Corrales career and title history; ESPN: Corrales stops Castillo in the tenth; BBC Sport: Corrales–Castillo retrospective; ESPN: the 2005 fight of the year; BoxRec: Corrales’s professional record.
Sources
Article Tags
Diego Corrales, Boxing, Boxing History, Championship Boxing
