Joel Casamayor rejoices after gaining a split-decision victory over Diego Corrales on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Photos by Ronda Churchill. Diego Corrales, top, and Joel Casamayor trade punches in the 11th round of Casamayor's split-decision win Saturday at Mandalay Bay.

Diego Corrales lost his lightweight championship on the scales Friday. He lost the fight in the ring a night later.

Joel Casamayor landed a series of close-range left hands, which was just enough to pull out a split decision in a less than scintillating fight before 6,638 fans Saturday at Mandalay Bay.

Casamayor, 35, won the decisive third match against Corrales, and his prize was the WBC lightweight belt.

Judge Adalaide Byrd had it 116-111 for Casamayor, and Nobuaki Uratani saw it 115-112 for the Cuban. But Jerry Roth scored it 114-113 for Corrales.

The Review-Journal card favored Casamayor, 116-112.

Casamayor danced around, flicking a jab and an occasional left at Corrales, who early in the fight stalked but didn't throw punches. That clearly hurt him with the judges, all of whom gave the first three rounds to Casamayor.

Both fighters said they thought they deserved to win. But Casamayor was prepared for a loss after previous losing decisions against Acelino Freitas, Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo in which he still refuses to concede defeat.

"I was concerned when it went to a decision, but I knew they wouldn't take this one away from me," Casamayor said. "They didn't see it my way against Freitas, Castillo and the last time against Corrales. I won those, but I won this one clearly."

Not surprisingly, Corrales didn't see it that way. He and trainer Joe Goossen looked at each other in disbelief, their mouths wide open, when ring announcer Jimmy Lennon called the split decision.

"I was landing great shots, but how are you going to win running away?" said Corrales, who said his battles to try to make weight didn't affect him Saturday. "He was going backward the whole time. I was landing the harder punches and I thought I definitely did enough to win."

Goossen, who used to train Casamayor, said Corrales wasn't able to land punches in the early rounds because Casamayor's legs were strong and he was moving away rapidly.

But Goossen said the fight began to turn Corrales' way when Casamayor's energy began to drain and he couldn't move as quickly.

"Check the rule book: If one guy is backing up and not doing anything and the other guy is coming forward and trying to do something, whether you land something or not, you win the round," Goossen said. "Aggressiveness has to be scored. The first two, three rounds, it was a chess match and there were very few punches that were thrown. There was a lot of feinting, jabbing and slipping.

"You ask, 'Why did you look better in the second half?' Well, that's because he slowed down. We pressed him enough so he slowed down."

Corrales (40-4), who went off as a 9-5 favorite, scored a controversial knockdown late in the fifth round. In a round that Casamayor appeared to be winning, Corrales threw a wide left hook that television replays indicated cuffed Casamayor around the neck.

In addition, Casamayor's foot was on top of Corrales' and the combination appeared to throw him off balance. Referee Kenny Bayless ruled it knockdown, though Casamayor protested even as Bayless was making the count.

"I never went down," said Casamayor (34-3-1). "He pushed me down."

Casamayor led by three points on one card and by a point on the other two after six rounds.

But the hard-punching Corrales began to land hard rights and seemed to hurt Casamayor near the end.

"Honestly, if I didn't win that fight, I don't know what I have to do to win one," Corrales said. "I couldn't believe it."