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   GREAT CALL SOUTHERN !!!! CUBAAAAAAAA LIBREEEEEEEE !!!!!!!! CASAMAYOR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   per maxboxing

   LAS VEGAS, Oct. 7 – It probably shouldn’t have been as close as it was, but Joel Casamayor kept his career alive as an elite fighter by winning his rubber match with Diego Corrales by split decision Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay resort & casino.

   Casamayor, who appeared to control the majority of rounds with an effective stick-and-move strategy, won the somewhat lackluster third bout by scores of 116-111 and 115-112. Veteran judge Jerry Roth scored the bout 114-113 for Corrales.

   It wasn’t an action-packed affair like the first bout, which took place in October of 2003 and featured three knockdowns and a lot of blood. It wasn’t the intense chess match that the rematch was, either. It was a very tired-looking Corrales desperately and unsuccessfully stalking an aging veteran, who still has command of his skills, but didn’t take many chances in the bout.

   This was clearly not the version of Corrales that lost to Casamayor in the first bout and then out-pointed the Cuban in the rematch two and half years ago. That version was quick, sharp and busy. Saturday night’s version, which has been through two wars with Jose Luis Castillo and a brutal battle with the scale in preparation for tonight’s bout, was slow, sluggish and only managed to throw one punch at a time, most of which missed his elusive target.

   Casamayor, who improved to 34-3-1 (21), boxed from a safe distance throughout the fight, consistently getting off first from the outside and either dancing out of range of Corrales’ delayed reactions, or holding the 6-foot power puncher on the inside. Corrales’ only moment in the first half of the fight was when he scored a flash knockdown at the end of the fifth round which was really a push to the back of Casamayor’s head that forced the Cuban to one knee.

   Casamayor was up immediately after the knockdown and proceeded to clown and showboat while alternately punching, moving and holding Corrales on the inside in rounds six, seven and eight.

   Casamayor was a mocking and frustrating puzzle that the slow-off-the-trigger Corrales could not figure out although the former two-division champ had his moments late in the bout when Casamayor’s 35-year-old legs began to slow down enough for his head to be tagged on occasion.

   Corrales came on strong in the final three rounds of the bout, landing some flush right hands and left hooks that momentarily stunned or knocked the tiring former 130-pound titlist off balance.

   However, even in these final rounds, Casamayor was still the sharper and more accurate puncher. In-between the heated exchanges that awoke the subdued crowd inside the Mandalay Bay’s Event Center, Casamayor controlled the distance and tempo of these rounds.

   Corrales, who dropped to 40-4 (33), didn’t see it that way. The 28-year-old veteran thought he finished the bout strong enough to deserve the decision.

   “How can you win when you run away?â€

   

   posted by dab2dap

   Oct. 9 2006 10:55am