RESEDA (California), Jan 14: Diego Corrales’s Feb 4 defence of his lightweight world title against bitter rival Luis Castillo is off after the champion was hurt in training.

Corrales, 40-3 with 33 knockouts, suffered a rib injury this week, forcing the bout — the third between the two fighters — to be postponed, promoter Gary Shaw said.

Shaw and fellow promoter Bob Arum said they will seek another opponent for Corrales for the same date as well as fixing a new date for the postponed fight.

“Chico hurt his ribs in sparring earlier this week,” Shaw said Friday. “He tried to fight through it for a day or two before getting examined by a doctor late on Thursday, who prescribed no training for the next three weeks to allow the injury to completely heal.

“Bob Arum and I will sit down with Showtime and discuss a new date for this fight, but we are confident it can be rescheduled for later in the spring.”

On Oct 8, Mexico’s Castillo (53-7-1, 47 KOs) knocked out Corrales in the fourth round in Las Vegas in a fight that had been scheduled as a fight for Corrales’ World Boxing Council lightweight title but ended up a non-title bout when Castillo failed to make the weight.

Corrales had stunned Castillo to take the title in an epic slugfest in May, twice rising from the canvas in the 10th round before stopping Castillo by technical knockout in the same round.—AFP