Boxing Legacy: Cory Spinks

Cory Spinks was born into a famous boxing family. Born on February 20, 1878, he is the son of Olympic Gold Medalist and former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks. Cory's uncle was Olympic Gold Medalist and light heavyweight legend Michael Spinks. With a background like that, it is unsurprising that Cory was an amateur star in his youth. Indeed, the surprise is in that Cory Spinks did not go to the Olympics himself (the man Spinks defeated at the National Golden Gloves, Dante Craig, went to the 2000 Atlanta Games instead). Instead, he had to settle for a record of 78-3 with National Golden Gloves and National PAL titles in 1997. Calling himself "The Next Generation," Cory Spinks turned pro in November of that year.

Standing 5'9 1/2" with a 71" reach, Cory Spinks was a quick, skilled southpaw. He was a smart, talented boxer, but no power hitter, and Spinks relied on speed, skill and guile to win fights.

Early Career
Moving quickly up the welterweight ladder, it was only 13 months before Spinks met tough 25-2 journeyman Antonio Diaz, and beat him in a Split Decision. By April 2002, he was making the first title challenge of his career. Vernon Forrest had just vacated his IBF Welterweight Title to fight Shane Mosley, leaving the highly-ranked Spinks to fight 36-1 Italian Michele Piccirillo for the belt. Piccirillo was a European fringe contender and gave Spinks a close fight. Spinks should have won it by a round or two, but Piccirillo was the hometown boy and got the nod. Dan Rafael of USA Today called it "one of the most controversial decisions in modern boxing history."

The loss was, in fact, typical of the frustrations Spinks would have to endure. Not only did he miss out on a big fight with Forrest, he had to travel to a foreign country a questionable loss. Despite his famous name, Cory Spinks would never be given any breaks in his boxing career. He would have to earn every title, every big fight, and would suffer repeated robberies at the hands of better-connected fighters. His name could have been Cory Schmo for all the good it did him.

Earning the Title
Spinks bounced back by knocking out fringe contender Rafael Pineda in August 2002. He then traveled back to Italy for a rematch with Michele Piccirillo. This time Spinks got a fair shake, handily outpointing the Italian and taking his IBF title. 26 years old, Spinks was now a world champion, just like his father and uncle.

31-2, Spinks was next matched with the Don King-managed thug from Nicaragua, Ricardo Mayorga. Mayorga was at the peak of his career at that point, with big wins over Andrew "Six Heads" Lewis and Vernon Forrest, and both the WBA and WBC Welterweight Titles hanging off his shoulders.

King must have thought that Spinks would be easy meat for his fighter, perhaps akin the what Michael Spinks was to Mike Tyson. It was not to be. Mayorga was tough and could punch, but he had no skill to speak of past brawling. Spinks out-boxed him, but even so the judges still almost robbed him. Despite having lost two points for fouling, Mayorga scored 114-114 on one card and 114-112 on another. In other words, if the referee had been as blind or dirty as the judges, Mayorga would have won the fight. John Keane's 117-110 was a more accurate scoring of what happened in the ring, namely a Spinks landslide.

Regardless of what had almost happened, Spinks had beaten Mayorga and walked away with the green, red and black belts in hand. He was that rarest of creatures in boxing, an Undisputed World Champion.

Spinks the Champ
Now the top dog at welterweight, Cory Spinks made his first defense against the much-hyped Zab Judah in April 2004. At 140 lbs., Judah was described as being "Pernell Whitaker with a punch," but he had shown a nasty tendency to lose his focus during fights. This was what happened when Kostya Tszyu crushed him. Now he was fighting at 147 lbs. and seeking redemption through a fight with Spinks.

Judah was supposed to be both faster and harder-hitting than Spinks, but that is not what the fight showed, In a spirited encounter, Spinks swept the early rounds, and that proved to be enough to clinch the fight for him. Judah hit the canvas in the 11th and Spinks in the 12th. The two knockdowns evened each other out, and Spinks carried the fight by a clean Unanimous Decision.

Spinks went on to make a second defense against faded 140 lbs. contender Miguel Angel Gonzalez, utterly dominating him. That led to a February 2005 rematch with Judah. Finally getting his due, Spinks headlined before a hometown, St. Louis crowd of 22,000. This time, however, Judah came out and contested the fight from the start. Never losing his focus (for once), Judah landed a big left in the 9th that sent Spinks to the canvas. Cory Spinks got up, but Judah came in and hammered him to TKO defeat.

2005 proved to be a tough year for Spinks for more reasons than just the loss to Judah. His wife stabbed him in the shoulder and abdomen in a domestic dispute. The two are now divorced and Spinks has since re-married.

Comeback
Undeterred by his knockout loss to Judah, Spinks challenged Roman Karmazin for his IBF 154 lbs. Title in July 2006. Karmazin was hardly a tomato can. The Russian was making his second defense and had wins over Kasim Ouma and former middleweight champ Keith Holmes on his record. He would later beat Bronco McKart and Antwun Echols. Karmazin pressed the action hard, Spinks boxed from the outside, and the result was a close fight that Spinks just barely won.

Now a two-division champion, Spinks made one defense in 2007 before moving up to challenge the middleweight king, Jermain Taylor. Spinks was screwed, and screwed hard, in Memphis that night. Taylor, the darling of HBO at the time, was so unfocused and inactive that night that his actions can barely be described as "fighting," yet somehow he won two scorecards by 115-113 and 117-111. Worse, the HBO commentators (Jim Lampley in particular) were openly biased in calling the fight and denigrated Spinks at every turn. It was an event worthy of Goebbels. Spinks was much busier and did more than enough to win, yet was robbed and insulted before a live cable audience. Secondsout.com called it the "Worst Decision of the Year."

Although he had not won the World Middleweight Title, Spinks still had his IBF 154 lbs. belt. He defended that before his hometown fans in St. Louis against 41-10-1 fringe contender Verno Philips in March 2008, and lost a Split Decision. Philips put on what was arguably the best show of his career. In a hotly contested match, both men threw plenty of leather. As with the Karmazin fight, Spinks was the busier man and fought from the outside, while Philips pushed the action from the inside.

Philips immediately vacated the belt, however, so Spinks fought for it again in April 2009 against Deandre Latimore. Cory Spinks won his title back, and at the time of writing the IBF Junior Middleweight Champion. His record stood at 37-5 with 11 KOs, and he was scheduled to defend his belt in March 2010.

Sources: boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=7781&cat=boxer: /boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Human:7781: ; cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/spinks_cory.htm; live fight footage