Corrales: I am Ready for Whatever he Brings

June 1, 2006

By: Mike Sloan

Photos by: Tom Casino/SHOWTIME

FightNews recently caught up with Diego “Chico” Corrales at the IBA gym prior to his open workout in front of the boxing media. The typically insouciant Corrales hung out within the gym for quite some, embracing his friends and candidly speaking to literally anyone who approached him. All in all, it was Chico being Chico.

But underneath that charismatic smile and friendly demeanor lurks a killer anxiously waiting for the moment to avenge the disheartening knockout loss to rival Jose Luis Castillo. Corrales and Castillo will finally meet in their enormously awaited rubber match this Saturday inside the Thomas and Mack Center, in a fight that will be aired on Showtime Championship Boxing.

“I am feeling really good right now and I am ready for everything and anything,” Corrales said. “I am ready for whatever he brings to the table. I have a ton of respect for Castillo as he’s a great fighter, but this time will be different. He caught me with a good shot in our last fight, but I promise it won’t happen again.”

Oftentimes in rivalries that lead to trilogies, the two fighters wind up being friends. Castillo stated in his open workout that he is receptive to the possibility of being actually friends with Corrales, but that inside the ring, it’s all business.

“I agree,” Corrales said with a grin. “People keep talking about how he cheated or whatever with making weight in our last fight, but its water under the bridge. It is what it is. There’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t have any, you know, animosity towards him or anything like that. Maybe after we finally finish this trilogy, we can hang out, put back some beers and talk about how we kicked each other’s butts.”

Corrales also made it no secret that he will be ready to go toe-to-toe, just like in their epic first two encounters. But, he said sternly, he won’t make the same mistakes as he did back in October.

“I won’t change up my gameplan as far as creating a war and trying to smash him,” he promised. “That is how I fight; I try to smash people and knock them out. I am not going to run around; I will bang with him. However, I do know what mistakes I made and what changes for the better he made. I know what I have to do.”

Not one to reveal all of his dirty little secrets, Corrales wouldn’t openly detail his fight strategy.

“It’s not really a surprise as to what I’m going to do out there, but there are a few tricks up my sleeve that will catch him by surprise,” he revealed. “Joe Goossen is the best trainer and I had probably the best camp I’ve ever had. I am so focused for this fight, it’s not even funny.”

One concern leading into the fight is the issue of Castillo failing to make weight. Naturally, the question elicited somewhat of a groan from the lightweight champion, a sign that he’s somewhat worn of answering questions about Castillo’s weight.

“Well, I am confident that he’ll make weight,” he muttered. “I hope he does. We’ll have a lot of problems if he doesn’t. I know I am right on target for my weight, like I always am. Hopefully he is, too. But to be honest, I am not even worrying about that. I am juts focused on what I have to do during training.”

Almost everybody involved within the fight game expects the third meeting between Corrales and Castillo to be filled with fireworks and ending with a knockout. Most insiders feel that Castillo will be too much to handle for Corrales and that Chico’s chin won’t hold up, leaving Corrales as the underdog.

“That’s great,” he gleefully remarked. “I absolutely love being the underdog. I am not one for predictions and I expect to knock him out. But I am just aiming for the win. That’s all that matters to me. I am not worried about other names out there like (Ricky) Hatton or (Floyd) Mayweather; just Jose Luis Castillo. But being an underdog is a great thing.”

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