Rematch Turns a Corner

It was a scene that left boxing fans with a bad taste, yet hungering for more.

Fighting on the undercard of the James Toney-Evander Holyfield heavyweight match at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center last October, junior-lightweights Joel Casamayor and Diego Corrales waged a fierce battle. After six rounds, Corrales had been knocked down twice, Casamayor once.

An enthusiastic crowd cheered and hollered for more, but the cheers quickly turned to boos when the fight was stopped then because of cuts around and inside Corrales’ mouth. While Casamayor was hugged by his trainer, Joe Goossen, Corrales, who had been swallowing blood, bitterly protested the stoppage. He wanted more.

Tonight, he gets his wish.

At the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn., Casamayor (30-1, 19 knockouts) and Corrales (37-2, 31) will have a rematch, with the World Boxing Organization’s vacant 130-pound title at stake.

Goossen will be back, instructing his fighter. This time, though, Goossen will be in the other corner, working for Corrales. Trainer Buddy McGirt will be in Casamayor’s corner.

How did such a switch occur? Casamayor said it was because of his desire to move his training site from Goossen’s Van Nuys gym to a ranch in Northern California. Not quite, said Goossen.

“It is something that was shocking to me,” Goossen said. “A move was made, plain and simple. I am going to just leave it at that.”

Maybe he will, but Gabe Ruelas, who used to box for Goossen, will not. Ruelas, who now works for promoter Dan Goossen, one of Joe’s brothers, was trained by Joe from the time he was 12 through a career that included a World Boxing Council super-featherweight title.

Ruelas said, “Upon hearing the news of Casamayor’s split from Joe, the man who had trained Casamayor for over four years, I sat back in my chair, dumbfounded. How come success changes a boxer’s direction and thinking? Is it the boxer or the people behind him? The longer I’m on the other side of the ropes, the more I realize that change normally comes with winning.

“Casamayor’s decision wasn’t in Joe’s hands at all. Joe couldn’t control it if he tried. Nothing he did was wrong. There was nothing he neglected. What Casamayor faced was what I had confronted many years ago, along with my brother Rafael. It’s the old grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side scenario.

“I saw it all up close. When I was a young amateur in Joe’s gym, I witnessed him resurrect the failing career of veteran Alonzo Strongbow. Shortly thereafter, Strongbow relieved Joe of his duties, but lost his next time in the ring.

“Then, as a rising professional, I saw it all again with Michael Nunn, undefeated with Joe, making big money to boot. A can’t-miss superstar in the making, Nunn was never the same after leaving Joe.

“Successful fighters always seem to attract new friends who want to make you believe that, whatever success you are enjoying, it should be bigger and better. They’re always telling you what you want to hear, usually not what you need to hear.

“Joe trained me all of my professional life by my own choice. Who knows what would have happened to me, where I could’ve ended up, had I listened to my so-called friends or even some family members who told me to move on? That is something I never wanted to find out. Why? Because I knew I had success with Joe, and, more importantly, I wanted to demonstrate something many fighters lack, the strength to be loyal to the one who got you there.”