Posted on 05/08/2007 8:01:56 AM PDT by cdbull23
LAS VEGAS – Diego Corrales, a former world champion boxer who scored one of the most memorable knockouts in boxing history, died Monday in a three-vehicle accident near his Las Vegas home.
Corrales was driving a 2007 Suzuki 1000 motorcycle, traveling northbound on Fort Apache Road in the southwest part of the city, when it inexplicably struck the back of a 1997 Honda Accord, Las Vegas police spokesman Sgt. Tracy McDonald said.
McDonald said the motorcycle careened into the southbound lane and, at some point, he was tossed off the bike.
A 2004 Mercedes-Benz traveling in the southbound lane was unable to brake in time. McDonald said the driver, who was not identified, "was unable to avoid striking the motorcycle and possibly the operator of the motorcycle also."
"Diego Corrales lived an 'X Games lifestyle,' " his promoter, Gary Shaw said. "He was a true warrior. He did everything hard and fast. He loved anything to the extreme. He was the kind of guy in the ring you never had to worry about quitting. I don't know how many times he would say, 'They'll have to kill me first.' "
Corrales' wife, Michelle, who is seven months pregnant, was on the scene and identified the body shortly after 11 p.m. PT. The accident occurred at approximately 7:30 p.m. McDonald said there was no outward evidence of drugs or alcohol involved.
He could not say how fast the motorcycle was traveling.
"There is still a lot of evidence to go through," McDonald said.
Corrales, who was 40-5 and held world championships in both the junior lightweight and lightweight divisions, was the victor in one of the most storied bouts in the sport's history.
On May 7, 2005, he and Jose Luis Castillo engaged in a toe-to-toe slugfest for nine rounds at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Twice Castillo knocked down Corrales in the 10th round and appeared on the verge of knocking him out.
But Corrales arose after the second knockout and fought back with a fury, and he wound up stopping Castillo in what would become the 2005 Fight of the Year. It also would be his last victory.
"No one who ever saw that fight will ever forget it," Shaw said. "There weren't that many people in the arena that night, but I know there are hundreds of thousands of people who now say they were there because that was one of those nights. He belongs in the Hall of Fame based on that fight alone."
In a June 2, 2006, story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Corrales spoke of his love of extreme sports. He told a story of jumping from a plane at 14,000 feet, snowboarding on rocky terrain and scuba diving with a school of sharks.
He said he liked the rush he got from those types of sports.
"I'm only young once, and unless someone hasn't told me something yet, I only get to live once," Corrales told the Review-Journal. "If I couldn't do this stuff now, stuff I always wanted to do, I would never get a chance to do it."
The father of five children, Corrales struggled through the last part of his life. He had financial difficulties and used part of a signing bonus he had received from Golden Boy Promotions to pay back taxes he owed.
However, Golden Boy was seeking the money back because it turned out he was not free to sign with the company and still was under contract to Shaw. As Yahoo! Sports reported last week, Corrales had signed a legal document promising to repay the money.
The knockout win over Castillo turned out to be the last of his career. He was knocked out in the fourth round of the Oct. 8, 2005, rematch with Castillo, a bout marked by a controversy when Castillo failed to make the lightweight division limit of 135 pounds.
Corrales agreed to fight at 147 pounds so as not to disappoint fans who had purchased tickets. But Castillo then failed to make weight for a planned June 3, 2006, rubber match, and that bout was canceled.
Corrales then didn't make weight for an Oct. 7, 2006, bout with Joel Casamayor and wound up losing his title on a split decision. In his last bout, on April 7, he was soundly beaten in a welterweight match by Joshua Clottey.
"He gave every ounce of himself every time he was in there," his manager, James Prince, said. "He was a fearless guy, and I'll always remember how hard he fought no matter what the circumstances."
Inexplicably? Usually it means you weren't watching where you are going..........
One of the best fights of the decade, and undoubtedly the highlight of Corrales' career. His win over Joel Casamayor in '03 was also a high point, and gave him recognition. (Corrales lost both rematches, it should be noted).
All in all a pretty good boxer. .....and extremely tall for his weight. Almost looked like (a less talented) Sandy Sadler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imZaiGJgbsw
Amazing stuff.
Thanks for that replay. Ref stopped it a trifle early, imo. Smart move by Corrales spitting out his mouthpiece after each knockdown, even if it cost him a point. Bought him enough time to regroup and turn it around.
Never liked ole Hector. Very killed defensively, but an extremely boring fighter with little power. ....and an aversion to mixing it up. Macho, he ain't. But he sure liked to talk.
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Corrales was driving a 2007 Suzuki 1000 motorcycle,... when it inexplicably struck the back of a 1997 Honda Accord
"The Suzuki 1000s always were a bit twitchy." < /obscure Aliens reference >
“Guess she don’t like the cornbread either.”
Wow, never seen that fight before. RIP Diego.
Sounds like cockpit error to the old curmudgeon.
God bless him and may his spirit rest in peace! He was the ultimate warrior who would always either triumph or go out on his shield. We’ll sure miss him.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=21&art_id=nw20070509001435429C356923
....Police reported that at 7:22 p.m. Monday, Corrales was traveling northbound on two-lane Fort Apache Road north of Mesa Vista Avenue “at a high rate of speed,” according to a witness.
Corrales attempted to pass a northbound 1997 Honda Accord when he “saw [a] southbound Mercedes and got back into the northbound lane,” Det. William Redfairn wrote in a news release.
Corrales, realizing he was riding too fast and too close to the Honda, slammed on his brakes, police said.
“There was a huge skid mark there,” said Leonard, who visited the crash scene Monday night.
Corrales lost control of the motorcycle, striking the rear of the Honda and sending him off the motorcycle, which skidded into the oncoming Mercedes.
Corrales, 29, was pronounced dead at the scene after his newly purchased 2007 Suzuki 1000 motorcycle, reportedly traveling in excess of 100 mph, was involved in a three-vehicle collision....
Corrales’ estranged wife Michelle, who is 7 months pregnant, identified the body 3 1/2 hours after the crash. Corrales was wearing a helmet and, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police spokesman said, there was no evidence that drugs or alcohol were involved.
[snip]
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20070509_Corrales_dies_in_motorcycle_crash.html
I put that fight on my Top Ten Reel... truly a classic!
Could have been a software/hardware interface issue.
A real family man:
“The state Department of Motor Vehicles said Corrales’ vehicle and motorcycle
licenses had been revoked in July 2006 for a drunken driving
conviction on an October 2005 arrest.
Las Vegas police Sgt. Tracy McDonald said investigators found an April
21 bill of sale for the motorcycle and were trying to calculate the
speed, which he said appeared “well above” the posted 35 mph.”
“Corrales had a history of drunken driving and faced arrest stemming
from a failure to appear in January in a Las Vegas court on a separate
DUI charge on March 1, 2006, said Kathy Karstedt, a spokeswoman for
the Clark County district attorney. Charges also included speeding and
evading a police officer.”
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mmaboxing/story/10172483
“Corrales was born in Sacramento, Calif., and lived in Las Vegas in recent years. He won his first 33 fights and held a piece of the 130-pound title before he was stopped by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a unification fight in January 2001.
Corrales went to jail on a domestic abuse charge after that fight, and didn’t fight again for two years. He came back to fight a trilogy against Casamayor, losing two of the three fights, and split a pair of fights with Castillo.”
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/ap/story.asp?AP_ID=D8P0KT3O0
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