Boxing beat: Oddsmakers list Castillo as favorite

Caesars Palace oddsmakers list ex-champion José Luis Castillo a 2 1/2-1 favorite over current World Boxing Council lightweight title-holder Diego Corrales in their rubber match Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Corrales (40-3, 33 knockouts) was a slight favorite in the first two fights, surviving two knockdowns for a 10th-round technical knockout win in May of 2005. Castillo (54-7-1, 47 KOs) won the rematch five months later on a fourth-round KO and apparently impressed bettors.

Corrales' title wasn't at risk in the second meeting because Castillo failed to make the 135-pound limit.

That's an issue both fighters are likely to address at today's news conference. Win or lose, Corrales insists this scheduled 12-rounder at the Thomas & Mack Center will be the series finale.

"Every time we see each other (afterward)," Corrales said in a recent telephone interview, "it will be in a cantina or having a cocktail together, celebrating and talking about what we did."

Showtime's taped telecast begins at 9 p.m.

Arco lineup is set

Promoter Don Chargin has finalized opponents for a June 22 show at Arco Arena featuring Sacramento light welterweight Rogelio Castaneda Jr. (22-10-3, 8 KOs) and Woodland junior lightweight Vicente Escobedo (9-1, 9 KOs).

Castaneda, whose International Boxing Association title will not be at stake, will face Lamar Murphy (29-10-1, 20 KOs) of Miami in the 10-round main event.

Escobedo will meet Baudel Cardenas (14-4-2, 5 KOs) of Mexico in an eight-rounder.

Talks the walk

Sacramento referee Jon Schorle, who has given Russian boxers pre-fight instructions in their native tongue, briefed two Mexican combatants in Spanish before officiating Jhonny Gonzalez's split-decision win Saturday night in Carson over Fernando Montiel for the World Boxing Organization bantamweight title.

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CALENDAR

Saturday: Hanover, Germany, Nikolay Valuev, Russia, vs. Owen Beck, Nashville, Tenn., for Valuev's WBA heavyweight title. At Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas (SHO), Diego Corrales, Las Vegas, vs. José Luis Castillo, Mexico, 12, for Corrales' WBC lightweight title; Vic Darchinyan, Australia, vs. Luis Maldonado, Mexico, for Darchinyan's IBF flyweight title.

June 10: At Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J., (PPV), Antonio Tarver, Tampa, Fla., vs. Bernard Hopkins, Philadelphia, 12, for Tarver's IBO light-heavyweight title. At Madison Square Garden, N.Y., Miguel Cotto, Puerto Rico, vs. Paulie Malignaggi, New York, 12, for Cotto's WBO light-welterweight title. At Mateen Boxing Club, Sacramento Depot Park, amateurs.

June 14: At Table Mountain Casino, Friant, Christian Cruz, Sacramento, vs. Ricardo Cortes, San Jose, 12, for vacant IBA Americas super-middleweight title.

June 16: At Radisson Hotel, Otis Griffin, Sacramento, vs. Marcus Pernell, Portland, Ore., 10, light heavyweights.

June 17: At FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tenn., (HBO) Jermain Taylor, Little Rock, Ark., vs. Winky Wright, St. Petersburg, Fla., for Taylor's WBC, WBO middleweight title.

June 22: At Arco Arena, Rogelio Castaneda Jr., Sacramento, vs. Lamar Murphy, Miami, 10, light welterweights; Vicente Escobedo, Woodland, vs. Baudel Cardenas, Mexico, 8, junior lightweights.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Jim Jenkins can be reached at jjenkins@sacbee.com.