When many consider a fighter like Mike Tyson against the early heavyweight greats they either dismiss the ability of the old-timers and consider them “too small” or go the other way and canonize them above modern fighters. The critic will weigh the likes of Jim Jeffries, Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey in their day versus Tyson under modern rules. The first misconception that the old timers couldn’t fight is simply not true and while size does matter it can be trumped by ability. The latter point of comparing fighters under different rules is just not a level playing field. Let us consider then that we had a time machine and propelled Mike Tyson back in time to fight these men during their heyday. There are two important considerations besides the ability of the fighters themselves and those are: 1) the rules of the period and how the referees handled the fights and b) the gear that the fighters used.
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Cory Spinks Finds New Career in Retirement
Sitting ringside at Strike Gym’s “Boxing at the Creek” amateur fights, Cory Spinks reflects on his illustrious boxing career and discusses his new career training amateur boxers.
As an amateur boxer, Cory Spinks won championships in both the Police Athletic League and Golden Gloves. After making the leap into professional fighting, he became a World Champion at both Welterweight and Junior Middleweight.
With a fight resume that includes battles against Ricardo Mayorga, Zab Judah and Jermaine Taylor, Spinks has an ocean of work to reflect on.
Showtime Tripleheader Recap & Video Highlights
The StubHub Center in Carson, California has become one of the favorite venues for west coast fight fans. Tonight thousands came out for another stacked card from Golden Boy Promotions, with the three signature bouts featured on a Showtime Championship Boxing triple header. Let’s get into the fights.
Devon Alexander UD Jesus Soto Karass
Both of these welterweights entered the ring coming off loses and in desperate need of a win. Saint Louis native Alexander lost his IBF title via decision last December to Shawn Porter, while Soto Karass was stopped by power punching Keith Thurman later that same month.
Vasyl Lomachenko is back on track with a championship performance against Gary Russel Jr.
Loma is making some progress with the judges’ attitude, they grudgingly gave him the nod (116:112, 116:112, 114:114-?!?). The even score produced by one of them would have been hilarious rather than mysterious….if it hadn’t been grotesque. The punch stats indicate Lomachenko out landed his opponent 183:83 overall. He also landed the harder shots and held the initiative although Garry Russell Jr. threw more and missed much more. Missing so much is the definition of punching yourself out – it tires you more than landing.
Showtime Tripleheader Weigh In Coverage
Carson, California, USA – Showtime boxing presents another great tripleheader Saturday June 21st from the Stub Hub Center in Carson, California, which has become one of the premiere west coast boxing venues. The fights start live at 10pm eastern and 7pm pacific. Below are the weigh in results and a quick breakdown of the fights (including notable untelevised bouts) for tomorrow’s stacked card.
Siberian Rocky Gets Judges’ Cold Shoulder
When he stopped rolling, referee Harvey Dock started the count. Swelling started immediately, both below and above the eye socket, causing fears that this fight was going to end early. Those fears were fed when seconds later, Chris went down again. This time it was much less violently as he took a knee. It seemed Chris needed to do so to get a moment to gather his senses. He squinted a little too in an attempt to work the eye lids, making sure they were still there.
Mike “Yes Indeed” Reed Eyes National Spotlight on Saturday’s Top Rank Card — Glen Tapia, Russell Jr., More!
By Paul “Paparazzi“ Jones & Justin Jones – Capitol Heights, MD – This Saturday, Junior Middleweight Glen “Jersey Boy” Tapia(20-1, 12 KOs) headlines a Top Rank card against Keenan Collins (15-8-3, 10 KOs) at Bally’s in Atlantic City (NJ). Tapia is determined to rebound with an impressive showing after being stopped by James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) last December in a fight of the year candidate. While the stakes are high for Tapia, perhaps no one on the fight card has more to gain than unbeaten Junior Welterweight prospect Mike “Yes Indeed” Reed (9-0, 6 KOs).
Reed, 21, who fights out of Waldorf, MD, will be facing the hard-charging Nicaraguan Alberto Morales (11-3-1, 1 NC, 8 KOs) in a 6-round undercard bout. The contest marks one of the rare occasions that Reed will fight outside the confines of the Rosecroft Raceway (Fort Washington, MD).
Provodnikov vs. Algieri: The Siberian Freight Train makes a stop in Brooklyn
2013 was a tremendous year for boxing and rise of Ruslan Provodnikov was well documented in the media with the most notable example being HBO’s 2 days. If scripted, his real life Rocky story would be hard to believe a few years ago when Ruslan was a crude one-dimensional fighter vying to become a contender at 140.
Teaming up with world renowned trainer Freddie Roach, has helped Ruslan sharpen his strengths offensively becoming a force to be reckon with for anybody at the junior welterweight division.
After losing a closely fought dual to Mauricio Herrera, Ruslan managed to string together five straight wins in a row setting up an opportunity of a lifetime. Timothy Bradley was put through hell in his FOTY war with Provodnikov. When the smoke cleared it didn’t really matter to the fans how judges had it scored.
Could Andy Lee be next for middleweight champ Miguel Cotto?
Even though Sergio Martinez resembled an aging armored knight clumsily bumbling around the ring on shoddy wooden stilts, Miguel Cotto still shocked the world with his history making performance when he stopped the former middleweight king in dominant style. The victory puts Cotto in a great position to land some big name opponents and some nice paydays. Miguel has loads of lucrative options out there right now, and everyone near or around 160 is going to want a piece of him. Everyone.
It is therefore logical to assume he may soon wind up facing one of boxing’s big 3 money makers, which would involve a possible match with Canelo Alvarez or a return bout with either Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao. But looking into the immediate future, a rematch with either P4P star seems unlikely. Cotto and Pacquiao have formed a brotherly bond since they are now both under the tutelage of Freddie Roach. And with Mayweather expected to fight again in September, that’s probably a little too soon for Cotto to make his return after such an awesome win. That makes Alvarez the default frontrunner based on process of elimination.
Roach convinced Cotto beats Mayweather in return; isnt sure Floyd will take one
Fresh off his dominating stoppage win over middleweight ruler Sergio Martinez, history maker Miguel Cotto has plenty … continue