Monday, March 7, 2005 | 9:32 a.m.
Little business was left unfinished Saturday night at Mandalay Bay, as the winners of two world title fights were gracious in their assessments of the men they beat even as they publicly turned their attention to their next championship bouts.
Two-time world lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo predicted a knockout victory against Diego Corrales shortly after he stopped Julio Diaz in the 10th round at the Events Center to retain his WBC belt.
A matchup with Corrales, the WBO champ, has been in the works twice before, although the plans were scuttled each time when contract negotiations fell through. It's now tentatively scheduled for May 7 in Las Vegas.
"I think (Corrales) is a very strong fighter, but he's a fighter who (stands right) in front of you," said Castillo, who improved his record to 52-6-1 with 46 knockouts. "He cannot take a punch. It will be a knockout fight."
In Saturday's other headliner, 2000 U.S. Olympian Jeff Lacy scored a seventh-round TKO against Rubin Williams to lift his record to 19-0 with 15 KOs.
Lacy, who kept the IBF super middleweight belt he won by beating Syd Vanderpool last October, has his sights set on Joe Calzaghe, the WBO champ at 168 pounds.
Calzaghe has a gaudy record of 38-0 with 30 KOs, but is considered elusive largely because he's notoriously reluctant to leave his native United Kingdom.
"I want to stay busy," Lacy said. "I want to fight at least three or four times this year. ... I'd like to fight Calzaghe before the year is over. ...
"I'm a young champion, and I have a kung fu grip on this belt and I'm not letting it go."
A crowd 4,765 was on hand for the final card presented by Mandalay Bay in its current incarnation; MGM Mirage is expected to complete its $7.9 billion buyout of Mandalay Resort Group by April.
In each fight, the loser acquitted himself well, showing plenty of heart before finally wilting against a more powerful opponent.
Diaz (30-2, 22 KOs), game but overmatched, suffered cuts and severe swelling around both eyes, partly as a result of accidental head butts in the fourth and eighth rounds.
"I couldn't see the punches coming," said Diaz, who went off as a plus-220 underdog in the Mandalay Bay sports book.
Castillo rocked the challenger with a mix of straight rights and big left hooks, sending Diaz to the canvas twice in the 10th round before referee Richard Steele halted it at 2:23.
Castillo was leading 88-83 on all three judges' cards.
"I didn't feel his punches; he was not very strong," Castillo said. "I let him hit me with a few punches so I could hit him with one solid punch.
"In the third round, he hit me with a solid punch at the end of the round that made me see stars, but that was it."
Castillo, noticeably bulkier than Diaz, said he gained 12 pounds after weighing in at 135 on Friday, yet insisted he'll have no trouble making weight for a fight against Corrales.
"I think it's going to be easy," he said. "The last two fights, I've had no problem making 135."
Williams (26-2, 15 KOs), an agile counterpuncher, landed some sharp open shots against Lacy before the champion began to dominate toward the end.
"I tried to get Lacy to come in so I could counter, but he hits too hard," Williams said. "I learned a lot and I hope I proved I was a good fighter."
Lacy was winning 58-57, 59-55 and 59-54 on the scorecards when referee Tony Weeks stopped it at 47 seconds of the seventh.
"He was determined; he was a bad boy," Lacy said. "But I'm conditioned; I got stronger as the fight went on. I got my second wind in the sixth round."
The card was billed as a co-promotion by Top Rank and Gary Shaw Productions, but Sycuan Ringside Promotions -- Diaz's promoter -- made its mark this weekend as well, president Glenn Quiroga said.
It was the first time a California tribe with significant gaming interests received so much recognition at a championship fight in Las Vegas, Quiroga said. Sycuan, a newcomer in the boxing promotion game, operates a major casino in Southern California, among other businesses.
"When we started (the boxing promoting company) last year, our goal was to sign a champion, and take part in a championship fight in Las Vegas," Quiroga said. "We've done it."
Julio Diaz will surely return to fight another day, and Sycuan continues to develop an impressive stable of fighters, among them WBO junior featherweight champ Joan Guzman, IBF junior featherweight champ Israel Vazquez, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., 19-year-old son of the Mexican great.
"Viva Sycuan" was the rallying cry at a prefight dinner Friday evening, a slogan that neatly encapsulates the alliance between the tribal enterprise and its boxing stars of Hispanic heritage.
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