Castillo’s Punches Are Heavy as Well

Ultimately, it was worth the weight.

Jose Luis Castillo, who weighed in 3 1/2 pounds overweight Friday, was nevertheless in peak form Saturday, stopping Diego Corrales 47 seconds into the fourth round of their scheduled 12-round lightweight fight Saturday night at Thomas & Mack Arena.

Five months ago, in their first meeting, Castillo twice dropped Corrales to the canvas in the 10th round with his powerful left hand, and twice Corrales arose, coming back to batter Castillo into submission with a counterattack that made the round an instant classic.

Again Castillo smashed his trademark left hook into Corrales’ face Saturday night and again Corrales went down.

Again Corrales got to his feet.

But this time, he just made it as referee Joe Cortez reached the count of 10. This time, Corrales couldn’t steady his legs, regain his balance or clear his head.

This time, he staggered over to the ropes where Cortez put his arms around the fighter and signaled that the match was over.

“I knew he wasn’t getting up,” Castillo said.

“I promised I would knock him out before the seventh round and I kept my promise.”

While the knockout punch will be the centerpiece of the sports highlight shows, it was hardly the only blow in a dominating performance by Castillo (53-7-1, 47 knockouts). From the opening bell, he was clearly the stronger of the two fighters, scoring with both hands, particularly uppercuts.

In the second round, Castillo opened a cut in Corrales’ right eyelid.

In the third round, Castillo staggered Corrales (40-3, 33 KOs) with a right hand.

“I opened up and he caught me with a great shot,” said Corrales of the final punch. “I have no excuses. I don’t want to take credit away from his win.”

While Corrales lost the match, he was still the winner in two other categories. He was able to retain his World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization lightweight titles because Castillo’s weight problem reduced the match to a non-title fight.

And Corrales took home the bigger purse, $2 million to $1.2 million for Castillo. In addition, Castillo was fined $120,000 for being overweight, half of which went to Corrales.

Even though there was a 3 1/2 -pound weight disparity Friday, Corrales stepped into the ring heavier than his opponent. When the two fighters were weighed again Saturday, Corrales was 149, Castillo 147.

Immediately after the fight, Gary Shaw, Corrales’ promoter, announced he was invoking the rematch clause in his fighter’s contract.

“If they want to make it like the Rocky movies,” Castillo said, “I’ll fight him five or six times. I don’t care.”

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In the most controversial fight of the night, super featherweight Bobby Pacquiao (26-11-3, 11) won a split decision over Carlos Hernandez (41-6-1, 24) in a 10-round match.

Judges Duane Ford (95-93) and Chuck Giampa (95-94) gave the fight to Pacquiao. The third judge, Robert Hoyle, had Hernandez winning 97-92.

When the decision was announced, even Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, called it a bad decision.

“Hernandez won the fight,” Roach said. “He outhustled us.”

Hernandez suffered the only knockdown of the fight, going down from a left hook in the second round. But he quickly recovered to stage a strong rally.

When it was over, Hernandez cried in his corner, promoter Bob Arum called the decision “a disgrace,” and the crowd booed Pacquiao and cheered Hernandez.

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Jorge Arce (41-3-1, 31) defended his WBC interim flyweight championship with a second-round TKO victory over Hussein Hussein (28-3-1, 21). The fight was stopped at the 2:50 mark of the round when Jeff Fenech, Hussein’s trainer, threw in the towel after Hussein had gone down for the second time.

Welterweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., son of Mexico’s most acclaimed fighter, improved to 23-0 with 18 knockouts when he stopped Jeremy Stiers (9-5,6) 47 seconds into the fifth round of a scheduled six-rounder.