46) Tyrone Everett SD 15! US Fight Commentary TV -
v Tyrone Everett 30 November 1976 WBC Super-Featherweight Philadelphia [r1] … A study in concentration … counter right by Tyrone Everett … a quick right hook … [r2] … You have to breathe in all that smoke … Sneaky right [Everett] … good solid left … combination right-left … [r3] … Good right hook by Tyrone Everett … another solid left … combination … left … glancing right … [r4] … Both fighters with slight cuts … Counters from Tyrone Everett seem to be effective … Tyrone Everett a good one there! … [r5] … Good right hook from Alfredo Escalera … vicious right … Everett has been countering very very well … [r6] … Everett scored with a right hook himself … Good exchange … [r7] … Quick [Everett] right … good solid left hook … I give that one 10-9 to Tyrone Everett … [r8] … Good right-left combination by Everett … sneaky right lead … Everett scored … I saw that as a Tyrone Everett round … [r9] … Good movement there by Everett … Solid right to the jaw by Alfredo Escalera … Everett with a couple of good licks … solid counter … [r10] … Right uppercut to the body [Escalera] … [r11] … Escalera missing wildly … [r12] … The champion scored with a right-left combination … Escalera cannot score … Good right by Tyrone Everett … [r13] … Tyrone Everett: blood all over his face … high up on the head … continues to counter … good right-left combination … [r14] … Such a gutsy performance [Everett] … good right to the body … good right … [r15] … A wide margin of lead [Everett] … The champion is cut … Everett is even scoring in this round … [145-143 Escalera! 146-143 Escalera! 148-146 Everett] US fight commentary
[8.5] DIEGO CORRALES 45-40(33)-5 [Lightweight & Super-Featherweight]: Encyclopaedia Britannica online - Sweet Science online -
Diego Corrales, American boxer (born August 25 1977 Sacramento California; died May 7 2007 Las Vegas Nevada, fighting mainly at the junior lightweight (130 lbs) weight class, delivered ferocious punches and accrued a record of 40 wins (33 knockouts) and 5 losses after turning professional in 1996. He variously held the International Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior lightweight title (1999–2000) and the World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight title (2005–06). In one of the most brutal matches in boxing history, Corrales on May 7 2005 fought Mexican José Luis Castillo in a lightweight title bout in which both boxers inflicted punishing blows. In the 10th round Corrales, whose left eye was swollen shut and whose face was puffy and bleeding, came back after two knockdowns and battered Castillo on the ropes with such fury that the referee had to stop the fight. Corrales was declared the winner and was awarded Castillo’s belt. In their rematch on October 8 2005 Corrales was knocked out in the fourth round, but because Castillo had not made his weight, Corrales retained his WBO and WBC titles. He was killed in a motorcycle accident. Encyclopaedia Britannica online article
Outside of the boxing ring Diego ‘Chico’ Corrales was a mixture of wide-eyed kid and aw shucks mentality. Inside the ropes he was a locked-in human surface-to-surface missile armed with a nuclear warhead.
Ten years have passed since the boxing world and sports lost the Las Vegas prizefighter to a horrific motorcycle accident. Despite his early passing, many will never forget him.
My first glimpse of the stick figure slugger from Sacramento was on the undercard of Oscar ‘The Golden Boy’ De la Hoya meeting Julio Cesar Chavez at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. It was May 7 1996 and it was blazing hot. Corrales won that fight and would go on to win many more before losing.
Next I saw him on a January 1997 fight card at the Inglewood Forum. Jorge ‘Maromero’ Paez and Carlos ‘Famoso’ Hernandez fought separate co-main events back in 1997. At the time I had been laid off by the Los Angeles Times and was working for Uppercut magazine. Corrales blasted out some kid named Sal Montes in the first round.
After the fight card, the magazine’s editorial staff met at our headquarters in east Los Angeles. All agreed that Corrales was going places. Each writer and editor believed the tall, lanky Corrales packed a wallop and at 130 pounds looked unbeatable.
The magazine used to have a section called Too Dangerous where we wrote about young unknown boxers that others stayed far away from. Corrales was number one on the list. Despite his scrawny and thin body frame, when he connected others could not continue.
A few months after the Inglewood fight, he fought on a Las Vegas card on April 1997. Facing ‘Chico’ was a slick-fighting southpaw Steve Quinonez junior out of Palm Springs. Both were prospects with Top Rank and it was pretty much the moment of truth for both fighters. That night it was all Corrales and by the fourth round it was all over when Quinonez could not continue.
‘He just hit too hard,’ said Quinonez.
A year passed before I saw Corrales back in the ring when he fought at the Olympic Auditorium. Once again he cracked somebody in the first round and it was over. One month later, at the same historic venue, Corrales was bumped up to the main event. This time his opponent lasted nearly two rounds, but barely.
Another year passed when Corrales met Angel Aldama at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio. The main event saw Antonio Margarito win a close split decision against San Diego’s Danny Perez. That same night, Corrales battered Aldama until he could not continue at the end of the fourth round.
Oxnard’s Robert Garcia had won the super-featherweight world title a year earlier in 1998 and defended it twice. Now the two 130-pounders were meeting at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Both had come up simultaneously through Top Rank and now, finally, here they were meeting in the prize ring. On one side was a smallish, aggressive over-achiever in Garcia. On the other side stood the skinny but tall Corrales who had power and definitely knew how to use it.
It wasn’t the main event that night. Mike Tyson was fighting Orlin Norris and the fight ended ridiculously quick. Later it was changed from a knockout to a no-decision. Some young guy in the front row kept shouting, ‘I spent $2,000 for a one round knockout.’ He repeated this several times. I guess he wanted people to know he spent a lot of money and was some kind of player. I got tired of hearing him and told him, ‘You must not know anything about Mike Tyson. Most of his fights end in one round.’
The fight between Garcia and Corrales was brutal and mesmerizing. Despite the firepower packed by Corrales, the titleholder Garcia would not go down and refused to quit. Both exchanged some horrific blows on each other. But as the rounds mounted, it was clear that the taller Corrales was maintaining his strength while Garcia’s blows were ebbing in power.
‘That was my favorite fight,’ Corrales told me. ‘It was great. We both didn’t want to quit.’
Finally, in the seventh round the fight was stopped and Corrales was the winner. After the fight was called, Corrales stayed around the arena talking to reporters and fans. I made introductions to the other members of the magazine. The publisher asked him if there was anything he wanted.
‘I sure could use a pop,’ said Corrales.
The publisher gave a surprised look and asked, ‘A what?’
‘A pop. A soda pop,’ Corrales replied.
The publisher and I laughed.
Corrales defended the IBF title four times in impressive fashion. His fourth defense was a three round demolition of Chicago’s Angel Manfredy. Before the fight, Manfredy prepared in Big Bear. Everyone in the camp talked about how aside from Corrales’ power there was not much to him. But when they met in the ring it was like a man against a boy as Corrales battered Manfredy until it was stopped in the third round.
Another super-featherweight named Floyd Mayweather had emerged and captured the WBC version with a dominating victory over Genaro Hernandez. Despite the knockout win, many saw Corrales as the favorite when the fight between him and Mayweather was announced in late December 2000.
Mayweather had beaten some pretty talented guys after winning the world title including Hernandez who only lost two fights in his entire career: v Oscar De la Hoya and Mayweather. Others Mayweather beat were Carlos Gerena, Goyo Vargas and Emanuel Augustus. All very talented.
They held a press conference in downtown Los Angeles at the Hilton.
‘Floyd’s a very good fighter,’ said Corrales during the press conference. He never once promised a knockout victory but was convinced he would win. ‘I’m going to pressure him.’
Most of the media was convinced that Mayweather was over his head against the taller and lethal punching Corrales. But until the two super-featherweights met on January 20 2001, both were undefeated and confident as a weatherman predicting hot weather in July.