Castillo vs Diaz?
By Jose Reyes
WBC lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo has IBF champion Julio Diaz (30-2, 22 KOs) in his sights as a possible opponent for March 5 in Las Vegas. According to Castillo, Showtime would only pay him $500,000 for his proposed fight with WBO champ Diego Corrales, which was far less than what Castillo expected for a unification clash between he and Corrales. "I have always wanted and have searched for these type of fights, interesting combats, big and without a doubt a battle with "Chico" Corrales would be an explosive fight, but everyone knows that a unified title fight is worth much more than what is being offered to me by Showtime and I have to value myself," stated Castillo. "In case that my opponent would become Julio Diaz, it would also become a good fight because he is also a champion of the IBF and I am ready to face the best but I want to be paid what is only fair." Castillo stated that his promoter would confirm his proposed against the IBF champ this week and if the fight accepted by the Diaz camp then he would leave this week with his team to start concentrating and training on the fight. In his last fight, Castillo beat Joel Casamayor, to be considered by many the best at 135, which was the reason he was hoping to see his demands on the purse be reflected to fight against Corrales.
Tuesday, January 18 2005 (fightnews.com)