Oh my goodness, Cory Spinks lost his IBF Junior Middleweight Championship to Verno Phillips. This is a total upset. The commentator who called the fight somehow saw a blowout in favor of Spinks. I did not see that. I had Spinks winning 115-113. The official scores were 115-113 Phillips, 115-113 Spinks, and 116-112 Phillips. I am in shock because I never thought Phillips would win. Spinks did not land very many power shots and that is what probably cost him the fight. Most of the rounds were very close and although I had Spinks winning by a close score I could see him losing. Phillips was the more aggressive fighter and when he got in on the inside he caught Spinks a few times. At the end of round 7, Phillips caught Spinks with 2 hard left hands that stunned Cory. In round 8 I saw a change in momentum towards Phillips as he was landing a little more. In round 9 Spinks tried to fight on the inside and got caught with 2 hard lefts that really got his attention. Round 11, I felt Spinks finally got some urgency in his system and brought the fight to Phillips a little more. However in round 12 you could feel Phillips putting pressure on and landing a few more shots on Spinks. When the decision was announced, Spinks was in total shock as was his corner. For the third time in the month of March the older fighter(Phillips, Nate Campbell and Joel Casamayor) beat the younger fighter (Spinks, Juan Diaz, and Michael Katsidis).
Disappointed by the loss, Cory Spinks immediately left the ring without an interview. Phillips was excited about his victory. He stated he knew there were doubters out there because of his age, but if Bernard Hopkins could do it so could he.
Where does Cory Spinks goes from here? He was already having a difficult time getting fights because he is a slick southpaw without knockout power. This is his 2nd title fight loss in his hometown of St. Louis. The first loss was to Zab Judah when he was TKOd in the 9th round for his Undisputed Welterweight Title. He then barely beat Roman Karmazin to win the IBF Junior Middleweight Title that he ended up losing tonight. Many will say, including myself, that the switch of trainers may have had some effect on Spinks. This is not an excuse, but when I watched the fight I did not see the intensity in Buddy Shaw like I did with Kevin Cunningham in the corner. No matter how well Spinks would win or lose a round, Cunningham always lit a fire in his ass to keep him going. Shaw did not instill any urgency in Spinks and Spinks did not fight with any fire. The whole time I was watching the fight I kept wondering if the close rounds were going to Spinks. I am sure some of the close rounds I gave to Spinks, probably were going to Phillips. I am sad this evening because I was hoping Spinks would put on a dominating performance but he did not. I take nothing away from Verno Phillips because he was game. He fought hard and aggressive. He landed the harder shots and won a lot on the inside. I am still a Cory Spinks fan because I am from St. Louis and because I appreciate good boxing skills. However tonight he just did not show the skills and desire I thought he should have shown. The Pride of St. Louis is broken tonight. The Spinks (Michael, Leon, and Cory), the die hard St. Louis fans, myself and everyone from St. Louis, our pride was broken this evening. We will come back though, we always do. Goodnight.
Disappointed by the loss, Cory Spinks immediately left the ring without an interview. Phillips was excited about his victory. He stated he knew there were doubters out there because of his age, but if Bernard Hopkins could do it so could he.
Where does Cory Spinks goes from here? He was already having a difficult time getting fights because he is a slick southpaw without knockout power. This is his 2nd title fight loss in his hometown of St. Louis. The first loss was to Zab Judah when he was TKOd in the 9th round for his Undisputed Welterweight Title. He then barely beat Roman Karmazin to win the IBF Junior Middleweight Title that he ended up losing tonight. Many will say, including myself, that the switch of trainers may have had some effect on Spinks. This is not an excuse, but when I watched the fight I did not see the intensity in Buddy Shaw like I did with Kevin Cunningham in the corner. No matter how well Spinks would win or lose a round, Cunningham always lit a fire in his ass to keep him going. Shaw did not instill any urgency in Spinks and Spinks did not fight with any fire. The whole time I was watching the fight I kept wondering if the close rounds were going to Spinks. I am sure some of the close rounds I gave to Spinks, probably were going to Phillips. I am sad this evening because I was hoping Spinks would put on a dominating performance but he did not. I take nothing away from Verno Phillips because he was game. He fought hard and aggressive. He landed the harder shots and won a lot on the inside. I am still a Cory Spinks fan because I am from St. Louis and because I appreciate good boxing skills. However tonight he just did not show the skills and desire I thought he should have shown. The Pride of St. Louis is broken tonight. The Spinks (Michael, Leon, and Cory), the die hard St. Louis fans, myself and everyone from St. Louis, our pride was broken this evening. We will come back though, we always do. Goodnight.
6 comments:
i turned on donkingtv and got dead airspace. i gave it a half and hour and still nothing. so i missed the loss. i like cory spinks but i found his fighting style suspect after the judah loss. and now there's no kevin cunningham -- why? i thought they had a good chemistry. if cory had more power, i'd have more hope for him. but i'm thinking it's going to be tough to get another big fight for him.
Yeah I did not get donkingtv on the first try either. I am not sure what the issue was with that. However the only fight I had difficulty with was the very first fight on the telecast. The rest of the fights I saw clearly without any issues.
As for Cory, yes he has boxing skills but like with anything we get tired. Since he does not have the power to make guys back up off of him he gets tired later in the fight. The Spinks-Judah rematch in St. Louis, I was at, and I could tell he was not going to win. First of all Judah had figured him out towards the end of their first fight and almost had him out. Second, Spinks was not moving a lot and was fighting flat footed. Last night he just did not have any extra desire. The hungry fighter was clearly Verno Phillips. Spinks fought like he could not lose and then he did. It was uninspired.
Now the situation with Spinks and Kevin Cunningham is not clear. They both have said it was time to go seperate ways. Egos got in the way. They swear there is no beef, but I wonder. I mean they are not at the same gym at all. At first Spinks and Devon Alexander were training at the same gym under Cunningham. Now they are at two seperate gyms. You get the vibe that there was a meltdown, but they are trying to cover it up. I will say this, Cunningham was missed in the corner last night. His tough, no nonsense military style was missed. He always lit a fire under Spinks to keep him going, but the new trainer seemed too relax to me. He did not really make Spinks fight hard in my opinion. Cunningham would have and the fight would have probably been won by Spinks.
Yes Spinks lack of power and now lack of belt is going to make it even harder for him to get a fight. His popularity in his own hometown has diminished especially after last night. In 2005 when he fought Zab Judah there was 22,000+ at the fight. Last night there was under 9000 people at the fight. I am sure the fight being on a Thursday night had some to do with that, but still that is over 13,000 less fans. It is going to be a hard road back up for Cory Spinks, and I wish him the best in coming back up.
I didn't see the fight, and I did not go, I am sorry to see that spinks lost, but he will come back.
Rachel
http://bakedblog.com
I really hope Spinks can bounce back from this loss. A true fan like me will support him.
#,
I witnessed, on TV, the Spinks upset of Ali in 1978. I remember the pride that the military showed for the elder Spinks and how his story had a real impact on people.
I hope he is alright as his hard times were splashed all over for years. I hope he is living a good life.
Maybe the boxing Gods can figure out a way to set up a union so that retired fighters have some kind of fall back for their futures.
dean
Dean, you witnessed history back then. Well Leon Spinks is definitely on hard times today. I think he has developed a relationship with his son Cory nowadays. I saw that Leon has some new teeth(not trying to be funny) so I am guessing Cory bought them for his dad. Leon makes a few dollars I read at those card shows where he maybe there signing autographs. He lived a life of partying and never really achieved any success outside of his upset of Ali. When I saw Leon in person in February 2005 when Cory fought Zab Judah in St. Louis, Leon was shaking so hard as he walked by it shook my seat. I am not sure if he has Parkinson's or not. I will never forget it because I was in the 5th row and he was walking by and we felt some shaking and when we turned it was Leon Spinks. It was a real sad sight to see honestly.
I agree there needs to be a retired fighters fund. I think there is one but I do not think it is a big one like they have for former baseball and basketball players.
Post a Comment