Remembering Chico

By Robert Morales

Diego Corrales will go down as one of the most fearless fighters in history, thanks to his stunning 10th-round knockout of Jose Luis Castillo in May 2005.

It was a fight in which most ringside observers were astonished that Corrales was even able to get up from two 10th-round knockdowns, let alone come all the way back to stop Castillo in the same round.

But Corrales, who was killed Monday night in a high-speed motorcycle accident in Las Vegas, also was a caring young man who had a wide variety of interests.

"My wife and my kids were crying their eyes out last night," Joe Goossen, who trained Corrales for 2 ½ years, said Tuesday. "No matter what went down business-wise with me and Diego at the end, he was a unique and special individual and my family really admired him for his personality outside the ring and in our home.

"He was so much fun to be around. My girls loved him. He would chit-chat with my daughters for hours like no other fighter would ever do. He had a real soft side to him that no one else really knew."

The day after Corrales got up from that savage beating he took in the 10th round to stop Castillo, Goossen said that Castillo must have thought Corrales was movie screen boogeyman Freddy Krueger because of the way his beaten-to-a-pulp-face looked and because he kept coming back.

This visual doesn't exactly make one think of Corrales as some kind of sophisticate. But Goossen said he was that, and more.

"He was one of the most fun guys to be around," said Goossen, who recently had a falling out with Corrales over a money issue. Goossen said Corrales owed him for their last fight together, a loss to Joel Casamayor last October. (Corrales was trained by Dickie Wood in what would be the last fight of his career - a decision loss to Joshua Clottey last April 7.

"He had a great personality because he wasn't limited in his scope of life," Goossen said. "He was pretty-well rounded. He dabbled in a lot of things - real estate, culinary arts, he could talk politics. He was a very bright guy.

"He had a lot of potential, academically. That wasn't his priority, but he certainly did not neglect the world around him, which is an unusual trait for most fighters."

Unfortunately, Corrales, who was only 29, was not only a daredevil in the ring, he was one outside of it. He liked fast motorcycles, skydiving, deep sea scuba diving, etc.

Corrales and his wife, Michelle, were estranged. They had one daughter together and Michelle was expecting their second child. Corrales also had four other children.

"The first thing my wife said was, 'Michelle is six months pregnant right now,' " Goossen said. "With the amount of kids he had ... this is another situation that is going to be devastating to the friends and family around him.

"It doesn't just stop with the tragedy of Diego's death."

Gary Shaw promoted Corrales for the last few years of his career, in which he went 40-5 with 33 knockouts and won championships in two weight classes. He referred to Corrales as being lionhearted.

"He was a true warrior," Shaw said. "He epitomized what a fighter and fights should be. He should be the poster boy for that. He gave the fans their money's worth every time. They knew when he walked in the ring, they knew there was going to be a fight, no matter what.

"His (first) fight with Castillo was one for the ages, one that will be remembered for a very long time. The 10th round may have been the best round in boxing."

Castillo came back and stopped Corrales in the fourth round of their rematch in October 2005. That was the fight where Castillo did not make weight and Corrales' two lightweight titles were taken off the table.

"We had two amazing fights and our names will be linked forever," Castillo said in a statement released by Top Rank Inc., which promotes him.

Bob Arum, chairman of the board of Top Rank, was Corrales' promoter when he won the super featherweight title with a seventh-round stoppage of Robert Garcia in October 1999.

Arum was also Castillo's promoter for his two fights with Corrales.

"He was a real warrior, a kid who never gave up," Arum said of Corrales. "You could always count on him to give you a great fight. It is a real tragedy."

Lots of fighters claim to be warriors. Diego Corrales proved he was, every time he fought.