08.07.06 – By Mike Nixon: In a bout that’s likely to spur controversy, Cory Spinks (34-3, 11 KOs) won a narrow 12-round majority decision tonight beating Roman Karmazin (34-2-1, 21 KOs) in a close match, that saw Spinks outpunched and running in the 2nd half of the fight, at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Fighting in front of a hometown crowd, Spinks was cheered for every punch he threw, even the ones that missed their mark, making it seem as if he was dominating Karmazin, when from my view of the fight, Spinks was landing weak arm punches and soft jabs. At the same time, Karmazin fought bravely, ripping hard hooks to the body and the head of Spinks, sending him in full flight during much of the exhanges.
When Spinks wasn’t running, he was doing a lot of holding any chance he could get. Based on this outcome, I feel that there should be a rematch because Spinks was not even in the fight in the 2nd half, and he lost the 2nd round badly, almost getting knocked down. The final scores were: Scores were 114-114, 115-113, 115-113. However, I had it scored 116-112 for Karmazin. In winning the fight, Spinks now takes hold of IBF junior middleweight title.
In the early rounds, Spinks jabbed continously and used the large ring to move away from Karmazin’s slow come forward style. Perhaps not being used to fighting someone as quick as Spinks, Karmazin seemed slow to catch up with Spinks, who had an easy time picking Karmazin off with his jab. Whenever Karmazin was able to get in close, Spinks would quickly wrap him up in a clinch, holding on tight to keep Karmazin from unloading. Rounds 3-5, were essentially a repeat of this formula, with the crowd going beserk for everything Spinks did in the ring.
In the 6th round, the fight turned around, when Karmazin started finding his range and unloading with left and right hooks, connecting to Spinks’ head and sending him reeling in retreat. At the end of the round, Spinks look tired and hurt as both fighters went to their corners. In rounds 7-12, it was all Karmazin, landing at will against Spinks, who liked like he was just trying to survive the bout on his feet.