Boxers Casamayor, Corrales familiar foes

LAS VEGAS - Joel Casamayor couldn't stop himself from dancing at a Wednesday news conference ahead of his third bout against Diego Corrales. Casamayor (33-3-1, 20 KOs) got up to mock-salsa when speaking of his familiarity with Corrales' punching style. "It's like a girl I already know that I've danced with before," he said in Spanish as his manager translated. "It's easy to spin her around." "Chico" Corrales (40-3, 33 KOs) also has experience on his side going into the WBC lightweight title fight Oct. 7 at Mandalay Bay hotel-casino in Las Vegas. After losing to Casamayor in a bloody slugfest in October 2003, Corrales came back to work his jab and win a split decision in a rematch for the WBO super featherweight title five months later. For the rematch, Casamayor's longtime coach, Joe Goossen, switched sides to work in Corrales' corner, giving the fighter key information that helped him even the series. With Goossen again in his corner, Corrales said he still has the advantage. "He had nobody telling him exactly what I'm going to do," Corrales said. "He can only speculate, but (Goossen) can tell me fact for fact what he's going to do." The fight's promoters predict the title bout will revert to the wild punching match that turned their first fight explosive. "From the start, we got off on the wrong foot and stayed on that foot," Corrales said. Casamayor agreed. "He's talked a lot of bad things about me. That I'm not a good fighter, that I'm not this, that I'm not that. It's personal. He's brought the hunger back in my heart." Immediately after scoring a ninth-round TKO over Lamont Pearson last month, Casamayor challenged Corrales to fight again. Promoter Gary Shaw said it took just one phone call to persuade Corrales to accept. "I said, 'Chico. October 7th. Casamayor.' He said, 'Done.'" Casamayor said he needs to win the fight to get back into big payday bouts. Corrales said he was eager to defend his title, since his last defense set for June was called off when Jose Luis Castillo failed to make weight. "I'm not here to play. I'm here to defend my titles, keep my titles, and move on," Corrales said.-AP