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March 2001
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
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POINT PROVEN - MAYWEATHER V CORRALES After all the mouthing off he's done, Floyd Mayweather needed to produce a stellar performance. This he did, outboxing and demoralising Diego Corales. GRAHAM HOUSTON reports from Las Vegas |
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SICKENER: Mayweather was able to connect virtually at will and there was nothing Corrales could do about it
- Get Big Pic If you like skillful boxing, slick moves and elusiveness, backed up with rapid-fire punching, then you had to love the performance of Floyd "Pretty Boy" Mayweather Jr. when he outboxed, outclassed and finally overwhelmed Diego "Chico" Corrales in the much-anticipated clash of undefeated super featherweights in Las Vegas on 20 January. Corrales, the 6ft power puncher, was made to look ordinary as Mayweather literally boxed rings around him before ending the one-sided fight with two knockdowns in the 10th round, after having dropped the taller man three times in round seven. What looked like being a very tough defence of his World Boxing Council title by Mayweather became virtually a boxing lesson. Corrales, the former International Boxing Federation champ, who never lost his title in the ring, was rendered so ineffective that by the fourth round he was a man without any ideas, by the seventh without hope. Seldom can a boxer have looked as dominant in a fight that was close to even-money, with Mayweather a narrow 7-5 on favourite. Corrales hardly seemed to land a punch. In fact, statistics supplied by the punch-counters at CompuBox showed Corrales had failed to reach double digits in any round in terms of connections. And for a world-class boxer to succeed in hitting his opponent fewer than 10 times a round, for the whole fight, seems incredible. I thought back to the fight between Roy Jones and James Toney in this same ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in 1994. That was a fight that a lot of people thought Jones was going to lose. But Jones easily outpointed Toney. Yet Toney did manage to win some rounds, and he was there at the end, outclassed but defiant. Corrales only won one round on one judge's scorecard and got stopped, making Mayweather's victory even more impressive than the easy triumph by Jones. Toney, of course, had to lose a lot of weight to make the super middle limit for the fight with Jones, and it showed in his lack of energy. And it was well-known in boxing circles that Corrales was struggling to make the weight for the Mayweather fight, even though he had brought a nutritionist on board to help him get down to the 9st 4lbs (130lbs) limit. Even then, Corrales needed to lose weight on the day of the fight and was still two pounds over the limit at a test weigh-in minutes before officially weighing in. But I got the impression, as with Jones against Toney, that Mayweather would beat Corrales any day of the week, that if they were to fight another 100 times the result might not be much different. Mayweather destroyed Corrales mentally by making his man miss time after time, then popping him with counters. At first, Corrales looked as if he would just keep marching in and might start to catch up as the fight wore on. But nothing changed except that instead of coming on, Corrales started to break down, psychologically as well as physically. He was looking a beaten man by the middle rounds although no one can knock his courage. Even though his eyes were puffy and his jaw swollen, and he was hopelessly behind on points, Corrales protested when the fight was stopped, after two minutes, 19 seconds of the 10th round as his stepfather and trainer, Ray Woods, got up on the ring apron holding a white towel to signify to referee Richard Steele that enough was enough. Corrales signalled to his stepdad to get down, rushed over to remonstrate with him and seemed on the verge of pushing him away. But it was all over. Mayweather, boxing a month before his 24th birthday, had made the proverbial statement, proving that he belongs with the very best fighters in the business though perhaps not No. 1 pound for pound, which is his own assessment of his prowess. There had been boos from some in the crowd of 8,126 during quiet moments in the fight, but at the end the arena was roaring. Michigan's Mayweather, who scored his 25th consecutive victory with 19 opponents stopped, boxed a flawless fight: smart early, then opening up with the bigger punches and the two-handed barrages when he had his man ready to go. Corrales, from Sacramento, California, had won 33 in a row and stopped 27 of his rivals, but, in the words of Mayweather's manager, James Prince, the 23-year-old was a "lost man out there [in the ring]". You could see, round by round, the realisation dawning on Corrales that he could not win. He was the heavier hitter, no doubt about that, but, as they say, you can't hurt what you can't hit. There were times when Corrales cornered Mayweather or got him on the ropes, but he still couldn't nail him. Not with a really clean, decisive shot, anyway. Mayweather is an expert at turning his body and sliding away from punches, and he uncannily moves his head at the exact moment that the other man is throwing a punch so that if he does get caught it is seldom, if ever, with full impact. The result was that even when Corrales was letting his hands go and trying to surge ahead, he was not really hitting Mayweather cleanly. Some body shots got through - and I think Mayweather felt them - but punches to the head were indeed few and far between, although a left hook in the eighth did seem to jolt Mayweather a little, perhaps for the only time in the contest. But he grinned it off. And while Corrales was trying to land his blows, Mayweather was piling up the points, jabbing up and down, firing quick, snappy one-shot deliveries with either the right hand or the left hook and wheeling away, and, later, triggering off the two-fisted bursts. Corrales was finding himself in probably the worst, most demoralising position a fighter can be in - short of being knocked spark out - which is to find himself being hit time and again while being unable to hit his opponent. I made a note in the fifth "For the first time, doubt in C's eyes ... C. being hit enough to think twice about coming right in." At this stage of the proceedings it was clear that Corrales could only win if he could land a big punch, and that was never going to happen, not this night, not any night he finds himself in the ring with Floyd Mayweather. "He doesn't even look dangerous any more," said ringside neighbour Doug Fischer of HouseofBoxing.com. Mayweather was not only peppering Corrales's face with the jab, causing his right eye to redden and swell, but he was also driving in really stiff, ramrod-type jabs to the body, demonstrating superbly how the shorter man (Mayweather stands slightly over 5ft 7ins) can be very successful with the jab against a much taller opponent - always assuming that the smaller man has the speed, reflexes and intelligence of a Floyd Mayweather. Corrales is not known as a jabber. Although freakishly tall for the weight class, his style is to walk up and look to hammer his man with hooks and right hands and short, debilitating jolts on the inside. But, against Mayweather, all he was doing was walking into punches. And I noticed that every time Mayweather chose to stand his ground and let the punches rip with both hands, he always got the better of it. Corrales had no answer to Pretty Boy's blazing hand-speed. And before Corrales could get off a counter, Mayweather was gone again. The seventh was a disaster for Corrales, who was down from a left hook as soon as the round started, then twice more before the bell, with left hooks doing most of the damage. A right hand almost to the back of the head was a parting shot as Chico sank to his hands and knees for the third knockdown, but referee Steele either thought he was not all the way down or that the punch had been launched before Corrales was on the canvas, because he did not caution Mayweather. But, although a section of the crowd booed Mayweather, the errant blow was academic: Corrales had already been beaten up, and he was saved by the bell. Judges John Keane of Northampton and Anek Hongtonkam of Thailand made this a 10-6 round in favour of Mayweather, as did I, while Las Vegas judge Jerry Roth saw it as 10-7. But now the only question was whether Corrales could somehow make it through the full 12 rounds. Corrales did manage to come back quite well to be reasonably competitive in the eighth and ninth, even winning round nine on judge Hongtonkam's card, but Mayweather was just biding his time for the next big assault. It came in the 10th, with two more knockdowns, the first from a left hook, the second from two right hands in a row. Corrales was up in a flash after the second knockdown of the round, his knee having barely touched the floor, but Ray Woods was already up on the apron to retire his brave stepson. Corrales screamed at him: "What the hell are you doing?" The right thing, that's what. Corrales said afterwards, in the TV interview with Larry Merchant of Home Box Office, that he thought he deserved the right either to be allowed to last the distance or to lose on his back so he could go out like a champion. But he had become vulnerable and Mayweather was merciless, even ignoring pain to throw his sore and swollen right hand although the left hook was the principal weapon of destruction. After nine rounds, the scoring underlined Mayweather's mastery; judge Keane had it 90-78, judge Roth saw it 90-79 while Hongtonkam's score of 89-79 reflected the one round that Corrales was deemed to have won. The punch statistics showed Mayweather landing 220 to Corrales's 60. It does not get much more one-sided than this in a meeting of top-level boxers. It ended with Mayweather in an emotional embrace with his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., who trained him from the earliest days of his boxing career but from whom he had become estranged. Big Floyd, who had been shouting advice from ringside, told the post-fight press conference: "I told him it's time for us to forget the b.s. and put your career back on the road." Floyd Jr., asked if he thought Corrales was his toughest opponent, said: "He was tough - but I was hungry." Asked if he thought he could continue to improve, he said: "There's a lot of things I need to improve on, but I don't want to tell you because I don't want to tell you my secrets." But he suggested he actually had something in reserve against Corrales when he said: "I can dig in my bag of tricks when I'm boxing and pull out things when I need to, but tonight I didn't really have to." He said he knew he had the fight won mentally. "Most opponents that I fight, I beat them mentally before we even get in the ring," he said, "and then I have to go out there and do the physical part." Mayweather showed his incredible boxing instincts, taking his time, picking his man apart, where some had thought that he might try to go toe to toe due to the aggressive-minded approach of his uncle Roger Mayweather, who now trains him (as he did when Big Floyd was out of circulation for a few years). But Pretty Boy said afterwards that he combined the teachings of both his father and his uncle: defence and offense. But Roger had told me before the fight that he would not send out his nephew to do anything foolish, although, when the time was right, Little Floyd would close the show. "The people who like Floyd [to win the fight] are all saying it will be by decision," he said, "but don't be surprised if he gets him out of there in the later rounds." The uncle was spot on. Roger Mayweather did not attend the post-fight conference. "His wife's pregnant," said Little Floyd by way of explanation. But there is a well-known coolness between Big Floyd and Roger, who might not have felt comfortable being seated at the same table as his older brother. The win seals an HBO multi-fight, $15 million contract for Mayweather, not hugely improved from the $12.5 million deal he famously rejected as a "slave contract" last year. Asked by a joking reporter if he thought Mayweather deserves an additional increase after such an impressive showing, his promoter, Bob Arum, said: "We have a plan. I believe that, in the near future, he will be not only be recognised as the best fighter in boxing but he will be the best attraction. That means making the most money." But the biggest money-maker, against Prince Naseem Hamed, seems far from likely. Hamed can make huge money in his own featherweight division, and in good, competitive fights, too (such as the one against Marco Antonio Barrera that editor Glyn Leach previews in this issue) without moving up four pounds to come in as the underdog against Mayweather. But Mayweather said: "I'd like to fight Prince Naseem. That can be a mega fight for me." But for now he will savour the moment of a truly marvellous performance. "This is one of the greatest days of my life," he said, "because I proved so many people wrong." A reporter called out to promoter Arum: "It looks like you've got a new Golden Boy," referring to Oscar De La Hoya's recent defection. "Yeah, but this one has heart," Arum replied. "He [De La Hoya] was destroying [Felix] Trinidad, but he didn't go and finish the job like my man here." |
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