By James Blears
Is it really ten years since the greatest lightweight encounter of all time came to pass, between Diego “Chico” Corrales and Jose Luis “El Temible” Castillo at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, as the cheers continue to echo into eternity?!
After it was all over, and several months later, Diego and his Wife came to Mexico to be presented with the fabled Green and Gold Belt by Don Jose Sulaiman at a hotel in Avenida Reforma. It was a crisp bright lovely morning and the only time I ever met Chico. To borrow a book title from Kurt Vonnegut, it was the : “Breakfast of Champions.” Diego “Chico” Corrales, radiated happiness and was bubbling over with laughter, enthusiasm and goodwill. He became serious for just a moment and then burst out laughing, as he recalled that after the fight his eyes were so swollen that he had to wear his Wife’s outsize sun glasses. And oh boy how it hurt real bad, but he wouldn’t have swopped it for the World! Such unvarnished sincerity and outright honesty made me swallow hard.
It was such a happy and memorable day! Diego was on the top of the World. Combinations of jokes and laughter were flying thick and fast. Almost impossible to believe that this kind, generous, sparkling larger than life, yet slim bundle of fun and irrepressible energy, was such a ferocious warrior in the ring. A man who’s determination to never, ever give up and to always seek victory no matter what the stacked odds, or decked. Two men combined into one. Continue reading
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