Last year’s bloody battle between Manny Pacquiao (40-3-2, 32 KOs) and Erik Morales (48-3, 34 KOs) would have been “Fight of the Year” if it hadn’t been for the epic slugfest between lightweight champs Diego Corrales (40-3, 33 KOs) and Jose Luis Castillo (53-7, 47 KOs).
The Corrales-Castillo fight rates as one of the greatest of all time.
The rematch between Pacquiao and Morales on Jan. 21 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev., on HBO pay-per-view, has another chance to outdo the rubber match between Corrales and Castillo, who will finalize their trilogy Feb. 4 on a Showtime-televised card from the Don Haskins Center in El Paso.
Both fights have the necessary ingredients to be the best fights of 2006 – a proven history, fighters seeking redemption, big punchers and intensely determined fighters.
The original Pacquiao-Morales clash ended in a narrow decision for Morales, who was a slight underdog going into the fight.
This time around, both fighters know what to expect, and the punches should sting a bit more with the use of Reyes gloves – a “puncher’s glove” – rather than the Winning brand used in their first fight.
Both fighters seek redemption. The Filipino Pacquiao needs to even the score with his Mexican nemesis, and Morales is coming off a surprise loss to Zahir Raheem last September.
As for Castillo and Corrales?
The first battle was on its way to ending in a KO victory for Castillo when, after two knockdowns in the 10th round, Corrales pulled one of the biggest turnarounds in history and was able to stop the iron-chinned Castillo.
The rematch, held in Vegas last October, was steeped in controversy after Castillo failed to make the necessary weight limit.
The fight went anyway, and Castillo had an easy time dispatching Corrales in the ring, stopping him in the fourth.
This time around, we can expect Castillo to make weight. The question is whether he will retain his strength by doing so, possibly turning this into the even matchup seen in the initial go-round.
Both fighters have said they expect to pick up from where they left off, fighting phone-booth style, although we’ve seen Corrales switch from brawler to boxer-puncher in previous fights.
Whether he decides to go toe-to-toe or dance around and pick his spots to trade punches, there’s no reason to expect any less drama than what was staged in the first two fights.
At stake, besides breaking their 1-1 tie, is the undisputed lightweight championship.
On the drama scale, Corrales-Castillo has a better chance of upstaging Pacquiao-Morales. Castillo and Corrales have proved susceptible to each other’s power, while neither Morales nor Pacquiao have been down, or seriously hurt, from each other’s shots.
Holm update: Albuquerque boxer Holly Holm (12-1, 3 KOs) will return to the ring on either Feb. 24 or 25 on a Fresquez Productions card at Isleta Casino when she defends her Women’s International Boxing Association junior welterweight belt against ranked contender Shadina Pennybaker (9-4-1, 2 KOs) of Pittsburgh. Although she’s been fighting but once a year, Pennybaker is on a two-bout win streak at 151 pounds.
ET CETERA: The undercard of the rubber match between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego “Chico” Castillo on Feb. 4 in El Paso at the Don Haskins Center is Las Cruces’ Austin Trout (2-0, 2 KOs) and El Paso’s Rene Armijo (5-2, 2 KOs). Tickets are priced from $40-$300 and are available at all Ticketmaster locations. . . . Fresquez Productions Inc. is branching out. On March 3, they will promote their first card in San Antonio, Texas, headlining local contender Gabriel Elizondo (20-1, 8 KOs). In December, Elizondo won a decision over El Paso’s Cesar Lopez (18-2, 4 KOs) in Albuquerque.
