Friends remember wife beater & drunk driver Diego Corrales
Natalie Mailer
Friends, business associates remember Corrales
May 8, 2007
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports
LAS VEGAS -- To his closest friends and boxing associates, Diego
"Chico" Corrales' death in a high-speed motorcycle crash came as no
surprise.
"I think anyone who knew him well knew he was a real thrill-seeker,"
said Joe Goossen, Corrales' estranged former trainer. Goossen recalled
begging the boxer who threw big punches and took big chances not to
ride the motorcycles he brought to training camp.
"We had a great three-year run," Goossen said Tuesday of a
relationship that ended when the two parted in October 2006. "We won
three world titles in three straight fights in two different weights."
Corrales' promoter, Gary Shaw, said Corrales, whose career faltered
the past two years, recently bought the racing motorcycle he was
riding when he was killed.
"He fought recklessly and he lived recklessly," Shaw said. "That was
his style."
Police said Corrales' 2007 Suzuki hit the back of a car Monday evening
while trying to pass at high speed on a busy residential street about
7 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip and not far from his home.
Corrales, who was wearing a helmet, was pronounced dead at the scene
of the 7:22 p.m. crash. He was 29.
Las Vegas police blamed speed and rider inexperience. 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licenses had been revoked in July 2006 for a drunken driving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.
The Clark County coroner's office was awaiting results of blood drug
and alcohol tests before ruling on a cause of Corrales' death, a
spokeswoman said. McDonald said the toxicology tests could take about
two weeks.
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.
In 1999, Corrales also pleaded guilty in Henderson Justice Court to
misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol, was fined and
agreed to attend traffic school, Karstedt said.
Corrales' lawyer, Marc Risman, said the 2006 DUI case was "being
resolved." Risman said Corrales was in training camp at the time he
was supposed to have appeared in court.
"It would be a shame if his memory was tarnished at this point by
past incidents that may have nothing to do with what happened
yesterday," Risman said.
"Diego lived life to the fullest," said Pat Lamparelli, 51, a family
friend who used to go on father-son outings with his son, Corrales,
and Corrales' son. "He lived it as if every day was his last day."
Lamparelli spent Tuesday at the home of Michelle Corrales, Diego's
pregnant wife. The couple had three children, with a son due in July,
and were trying to reconcile after separating earlier this year.
Michelle Corrales was not making public statements, Lamparelli said.
"It wasn't like he was down on his boxing career," Lamparelli said of
Diego Corrales. "He was trying to get his personal life in order."
Corrales, who fought most of his career at 130 pounds, was best known
for getting up after two 10th-round knockdowns to stop Jose Luis
Castillo on May 7, 2005, in what the Boxing Writers Association of
America and numerous boxing publications called the fight of the year.
Corrales was knocked out by Castillo in the rematch and then had three
straight fights undermined at the weigh-in.
"We had two amazing fights and our names will be linked forever,"
Castillo said in a statement. "For me it was a privilege of knowing
Chico and being part of such great fights."
Castillo couldn't make weight twice against Corrales, and the second
time Corrales refused to fight him at the higher weight, costing
himself a $1.3 million payday.
Corrales then couldn't make the weight limit for his WBC 135-pound
title defense against Joel Casamayor, and eventually lost the fight.
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.
Corrales lost his last three fights, including his final one April 7
against Joshua Clottey in Springfield, Mo. He had moved up two weight
divisions to welterweight for that bout.
Top Rank chief Bob Arum, who promoted a Corrales-Castillo fight with
Shaw, said all of boxing was stunned and saddened by Corrales' death.
"Diego was a class person who we were very fond of," Arum said in a
statement. "Our deepest sympathies go out to his wife, Michelle, and
the rest of his family."
A memorial service is scheduled Thursday in Las Vegas.
Yancy Lewis
Now if only Mike Tyson would do the same.
On Wed, 09 May 2007 02:44:07 GMT, natal...@aol.com (Natalie Mailer)
wrote:
briar...@softhome.net
> Another worthless human being does society a favor and kills himself.
> Now if only Mike Tyson would do the same.
>
>
> - Show quoted text -
Show a smidge of class - the man lost his life in sudden & tragic way.
The wife beating allegations, while IN NO WAY ARE EXCUSABLE in our
society, are considered quite acceptable in many Latin cultures. DOES
THAT MAKE IT OK? No - but you must take into consideration that
domestic situations are looked at much differently in many cultures
around the world - and particularly in Hispanic countries.
Briar
pablo
<briar...@softhome.net> wrote in message
news:1178688486.8...@h2g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> ... take into consideration that
> domestic situations are looked at much differently in many cultures
> around the world - and particularly in Hispanic countries.
Yeah, the wife's family would kill the wife beater. Dudde, that is some
serious silly cultural prejudice there.
Ronald 'More-More' Moshki
> Now if only Mike Tyson would do the same.
>
>
> - Show quoted text -
It's not the time to go into the beating of the dead.
It's a low blow; hell, if Cassius X were to leave us, we'd
wait at least three days before bringing out the nukes.
Of course, we'd never stop bashing Mr X everafter.
Eddie G.
away from his problems, but on the other hand He WAS a Class A Jerk,
Creep,etc.... the world is better off without him.
Screw Diego, he's the kind of guy who only needs
two pallbearers at his funeral...
...cause there are only two handles on a trash can.
On Wed, 09 May 2007 02:44:07 GMT, natal...@aol.com (Natalie Mailer)
wrote:
Morton Kindred
>Dude needed to "SAC" up and become dedicated to his family and not run
>away from his problems, but on the other hand He WAS a Class A Jerk,
>Creep,etc.... the world is better off without him.
>
>Screw Diego, he's the kind of guy who only needs
>two pallbearers at his funeral...
>
>...cause there are only two handles on a trash can.
>
>
LMFAO!!!
famous21
I believe every human being has worth, no matter their life
circumstance. Take a look at the person, being you, in the mirror and
reflect on the mistakes you have made in your life. Have your
mistakes diminished you as a person and a human being on the planet
that we live? I doubt you would answer in the affirmative.
Peace is better than aggression,
Famous
On May 8, 9:32 pm, yancy...@msn.com (Yancy Lewis) wrote:
> Another worthless human being does society a favor and kills himself.
> Now if only Mike Tyson would do the same.
>
> On Wed, 09 May 2007 02:44:07 GMT, nataliem...@aol.com (Natalie Mailer)
stin...@gmail.com
Boxing is a sport where we have attention..lime light...and pretty
much anything we want but the sad thing is its hard to trust anyone
and we normally end up self destructing. I have only seen a few
successful fighters leave the sport unscathed. Most of us leave after
its too late and have nothing left but the memories and the question
"what if". I fought pro for some time and had a taste of the life and
saw friends in the sport go down some treacherous paths.....Diego will
be missed and will always be respected but before you go slamming the
guy for his demons remember this....we all have our demons and a lot
of us boxers fight to get rid of them but you dont win every fight.
Also before you slam him ask yourself if you would be an angel
considering the amount of back stabbing and throat cutting that goes
on in the sport...think not!
mike jones