Articles...

SHARMBA'S STRONGEST PERFORMANCE IN YEARS, THE RETURN OF 'CHICO' CORRALES

By Danny Serratelli, ringside

Boxing at Bally's in Atlantic City returned with a bang with former IBF Junior Lightweight Champion Diego "Chico" Corrales making a comeback after a two year hiatus from the ring due to personal problems. Back in January of 2001 Corrales was coming off dominating and devastating victories over Angel Manfredy (TKO 3), Justin Jukko (KO 10) and Derrick Gainer (TKO 3), and boxing insiders were beginning to talk about his unlimited potential. Corrales at the time was 32-0, 27 KO’s and had secured the biggest fight of his career, a unification bout with WBC champ Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Leading up to the fight, Corrales was having domestic problems, which led to legal trouble.

He came into the fight with Mayweather with a lot on his mind and it showed when Mayweather thoroughly dominated him, and eventually stopped him in the 10th round. After the fight Corrales served 14 months in jail, hence the hiatus, and comeback.

Corrales put on a good performance against a game but out matched Michael Davis 23-13, 9 KO’s of Indianapolis, Indiana. Corrales dropped Davis with a body shot in round one and a big left hook, which he took a shot to land in round 3. The game Davis came to fight, but was cut in the 5th, and took some hard shots before the referee eventually stopped it. Corrales won every round on all three judges cards.

After the fight, the soft spoken and seemingly polite Corrales said that it was a good way of coming back, and that he obviously felt a little rusty. He was anxious to land that first good shot he said, but laughed when he said that he did not want to take any. "I need more fights but, we'll know and everyone else will know when I'm back," said Corrales.

The big 135 pounder said he plans to stay at 135 and "the weight felt nice". When asked about Mayweather several times, he said how everyone asks about him about that, but that Floyd is the one with the pressure. Chico took his regular laid back approach and said that he'll work his way back and see what happens. I have a feeling that if he stays out of trouble he will be back with the top guys in the division soon.

In the main event former WBA super lightweight champion Sharmba Mitchell 50-3, 29 KOs opened a lot of eyes. I admittedly have always thought that Mitchell had good boxing skills, but was not always the most entertaining guy around to watch. This fight was definitely entertaining as Mitchell stopped the 140-pound Argentine champion, when Vilches' corner threw the towel at 2:58 of the 4th round. Mitchell dropped Vilches once in the first and twice in the 4th, when the referee jumped in and waived it off. With the victory, Mitchell has secured the #2 ranking in the IBF, behind champion Kostya Tszyu and #1 ranked Arturo Gatti.

After the fight Mitchell said the key to his dominating performance was staying active and in shape, he had come down from 152 pound to make the 140 limit instead of the over 160 pounds he said he has usually went up to between fights in the past. Mitchell said, "For some reason I'm reaching my peak right now and I keep talking about retiring, but right now it's crazy, if I keep going like this, I can't stop."

His manager Gary Shaw agreed. Mitchell said the press keeps talking about Gatti and Ward, who put on great performances, and Judah, who gets KO’d, but "I put on a boxing clinic." He said that in the talent rich 140-pound weight class his rankings are 1.) Kostya Tszyu 2.) himself 3.) Gatti 4.)Judah and 5.) Ward. Mitchell said the knee he injured in the fight he couldn't continue with Tszyu was a "dead issue," and that he'd like to fight Tszyu for the title now.

Notables in Attendance- Baseball Hall Of Famer Willie Mays, Levander Johnson, 'Chop Chop' Corley, Bobby Czyz.