Fox Sports and the Associated Press are reporting that Diego "Chico" Corrales, who won titles in two weight classes and was involved in one of the most memorable fights in recent times, died Monday in a motorcycle accident. He was 29 years old.

Reports indicate that Corrales was driving his motorcycle at a high rate of speed when he ran into the back of a car about 10 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip on Monday night.

Corrales, who stood 5-10 1/2 but fought the majority of his career at 130 pounds, was a crowd pleasing big puncher best known for getting up after two 10th-round knockdowns to stop Jose Luis Castillo in one of the most thrilling fights ever.

That fight took place exactly two years to the day before his untimely death. 730 days is all it took for Corrales to go from triumph to tragedy. The fight was named by the Boxing Writers Association of America and numerous boxing publications as the fight of the year for 2005.

He lost his last three fights, including his last fight on April 7 against Joshua Clottey in Springfield, Mo. He had moved up two weight divisions to welterweight for that fight, but dropped a decision. I watched the fight and it was apparent that he could not bring the same power up as he went up in weight. There were times in the fight that I was certain Corrales would be knocked down but he showed the heart of a champion and fought to the bitter end against a younger and stronger opponent.

Corrales was born in Sacramento, Ca., but lived in Las Vegas in recent years. He won his first 33 fights and held a piece of the 130-pound title before he was stopped by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a unification fight in January 2001.

Although most of his fans will choose to remember the engaging warrior we saw in the ring, Corrales did have a fairly dark side to him. He was sent to jail on a domestic abuse and didn't fight again for two years. He came back from his exodus to fight a thrilling trilogy against Joel Casamayor, losing two of the three fights, and split a pair of fights with Castillo.

Corrales' promoter Gary Shaw summed it up best when he said "he always cared about the fans and gave them their money's worth. He was a true warrior. He was what boxing stood for, and what boxing is all about."

While the boxing world ruminates over the De LaHoya -Mayweather matchup from this past weekend, let's all take a moment to recognize the passing of a great boxer and a tragically flawed man, Diego "Chico" Corrales.