Diego Corrales vs Jose Luis Castillo Fight On in My IPod

What is inside your iPod? You probably have hundreds and hundreds of cheezy songs that you would never admit that you actually listen to but you secretly do huh?

Personally I have a wide variety of songs. For my training, jogging, mountain biking I have songs that will pump be up and help add fuel to the fire such as songs by Linkin Park, Jay-Z, Nas, Kanye West, COMMON, B.I.G., Big L, 2Pac to name a few.

I also have more chill laid back songs by: Bob Marley, Coldplay, Marvin Gaye, and many other classic slow jams.

I even have hundreds and hundreds of 1980s classic hits to keep me busy for hours. But one of the greatest things that I have in my iPod is not even a song, its a boxing fight. Not just any boxing fight, it is the legendary war between Diego "Chico" Corrales vs Jose Luis Castillo.

Whenever I fly for a big trip whether it be for business or pleasure I always whip out my iPod and watch the Corrales vs Castillo fight. This fight has been widely recognized by all boxing experts as one of the greatest fights of all time and definitely the best fight of 2005.

This is the type of fight where both fighters literally stood toe to toe and just traded power shots round after round. All action, all excitement non stop. This is the type of fight where each time you watch it you feel as if you are watching it for the very first time. Not that many fights have that effect on a person like Corrales vs Castillo does.

By the glorious 10th round we have both Corrales and Castillo still throwing power combos at each other as if round 1 just began. Castillo knocks Corrales down hard and a more mortal man would of been done, but this is Chico we are talking about.

In that ring Chico is no mortal man. Chico gets up and does not run, does not duck he stands toe to toe with Castillo only to get knocked down hard again. Chico then spits out his mouth piece intentionally to buy himself time.

Chico goes to his corner to replace his mouth piece where his trainer Goosen says the infamous line to him, "You gotta get F*cking exciting on him!"

Translation if I send you back in this fight right you better knock this guy out right now!

At this point Chico's face is battered his eyes are almost bruised up to the point of being closed, he just suffered two back to back vicious knock downs and his trainer tells him to knock this guy out. Castillo smells blood and is just about to go for the kill. So what does Chico do in this situation? What would you do at this point?

Well shockingly Chico digs deep from all the way within as the true warrior that he is and again stands toe to toe with Castillo.

Chico lands the "perfect right hand" right on the chin of Castillo then pins him against the ropes where he unleashes probably one of the most wicked flurries in boxing history consisting of all power punches to the face of Castillo forcing Castillo to just take a brutal beating with his hands rocking back and forth like one of those used car lot wavy arm guys.

Tony Wickes, the ref has seen enough and quickly waves his hands as well to end the fight. Some may argue that this fight was stopped prematurely but if you really look at how bad Castillo was being rocked like a used car lot wavy arm guy you know that this fight had to be stopped right then and there.

This fight was simply amazing on so many levels. The excitement, the energy, the heart, the stamina, the courage, of these two men.

For Chico to come back from two vicious knock downs and to win the fight in the manner that he did is just simply WOW! When you open up a dictionary and look up the term: heart, you will see Corrales's picture there.

No other fighter out there has shown this amount of heart as Chico did time after time in so many of his fights. I watch this fight every time I fly to remind me, to inspire me to live life every day like the way Chico fought in that ring that night.

Thank you Chico for all the great memories. You live on in our hearts our minds and thankfully in my iPod.

Rest In Peace

Diego "Chico" Corrales