Weeks Ref (1)

When A Boxing Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent

 

As the sands of time passes, The Ring Record Book and online boxing records websites will keep track of the events in sports which pass by. As time distances from sporting events which occurred, the people are forgotten not so much as the printed details of the sporting event which transpired.

 

May 7, 2005, is a matter of record in Las Vegas, Nevada, when the late Diego Corrales defeated Jose Luis Castillo. Considered to have been the best bout of 2005, the round ten finish of Castillo by Corrales after coming off the canvas to win ranks with the first round of Thomas Hearns versus Marvelous Marvin Hagler as one of the best boxing rounds ever.

 

Castillo held the World Boxing Council World Lightweight title, Corrales held the World Boxing Organization World Lightweight title. The titular unification bout was a seesaw back and forth ebb and flow bout, until Corrales pulled it out in spectacular fashion.

 

Not since ‘The Old Mongoose’ Archie Moore came off the canvas three times in the first round against Yvon Durelle and came back to retain his World Light Heavyweight title in the eleventh round had such a direct turnaround been achieved, let alone in a single round, in a late round.

 

In October 1995, referee Tony Weeks debuted in the heavyweight bout between former World Heavyweight champion Tim Witherspoon and Everton Davis, a seventh round stoppage at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona. Primarily based in Las Vegas, Nevada, Weeks refereed Tyson Fury’s victory over Wladimir Klitschko for the lineal heavyweight title at Espirit Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. Weeks will appear next in Las Vegas as referee of the Arthur Abraham versus Gilberto Ramirez World Boxing Organization World Super Middleweight title bout in April 9, 2016.

 

There is not a day which goes by, by his own admission, in which Tony Weeks does not think of one bout he refereed, the first meeting between Diego Corrales versus Jose Luis Castillo. It would be Diego’s last hurrah, the last time his arm was raised in victory. Corrales had gone through hell. In the end, nobody was shocked more over how the bout ended than referee Weeks himself.

 

How did Chico Corrales reach inside the depths of his heart and soul to find the strength and courage to finish Corrales on the ropes? How did Diego manage to walk Castillo down, counter time him with head shots and move in for the kill after enduring the worst of circumstances? Like a wily old street dog in the hood, Corrales spit out his mouthpiece twice after going down twice, buying extra time to clear his head, and pondered trainer Joe Goosen’s pleas to get inside.

 

Simply put, on that night Diego wouldn’t go. Castillo was left in a quandary. What to do?

Diego was looking for the straight overhand punch, and had to time Castillo on the inside. Diego’s eyes were nearly swollen shut but instinctively he was all of a sudden able to time Castillo perfectly. It’s an ‘it’ an instinctive boxer has in the heat of the moment. Diego found his ‘it’ and proceeded to back Castillo up counter punching inside. Like a master craftsman doing his job, like Max Schmeling timing Joe Louis again and again till he brought him down, Corrales had suddenly found his perfect timing and game plan. Not many fighters can do this midstream, a key point.

 

The photograph of Weeks stopping the bout to save Castillo from further punishment is worth a million words. How could a fighter decked for counts of eight and nine in the tenth round get up and finish off his world champion opponent? More than a decade later, the riddle remains unsolved. Even Weeks could not figure out the impossible comeback against impossible odds. How was it done? Corrales versus Castillo I is just another phenomenal sports riddle which will never be solved, like finding the remains of the missing deceased mountain climber Andrew Irvine on Mount Everest with the missing Kodak cameras he and George Mallory had in their possession when they presumably summited in 1924.

 

Ghosts cannot talk. If ever a boxing picture tells a story ending an event, Castillo, Weeks and Corrales in picture tell an incredible story. Yet the photo was largely overlooked.

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