Dorin Spivey: Refusing to Rollover

By Ted Sares – I am a Teddy Atlas fan; always have been because I like the way he can break a fight down in terms that make common sense and I like the way he cares for fighters and for boxing. But every once and a while, even Teddy falls pray to stereotyping fighters too quickly.

On January 30, 2009, lightweight Dorin, 35-5, came in on very short notice to fight homeboy Antonin Decarie, 20-0, on the under card of the Urango-Ngoudjo fight at the Bell Centre in Montréal. At stake was something called the WBO NABO welterweight title. Spivey fights out of Virginia Beach Now managed by Pat Nelson, his trainer, at least until recently, has been all time boxing great Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker, but I am not sure he was involved in this tiff..

Before the fight, much was said about the fact Spivey had only fought 4 rounds since December 2006 and that he had other long layoffs during his career which began in 1993 and which saw him run off a 30-2 record including 29 wins by way of stoppage. He has only been stopped once, by Juan Lazcanao in 2000, in a fight for the NABF lightweight title. One of his distant wins came against tough Canadian Billy “The Kid” Irwin, and I was there when he beat the then-undefeated Michael Stewart at the Blue Horizon in 2002 in a close SD. Stewart was the Philly homeboy so you knew Spivey earned the win.

The Fight

It was pretty obvious from the start that ring rust would cost Spivey dearly in this bout and that he might well get gassed going into the mid to late rounds. Moreover, the far more active Decarie had good technique and fought the stationary Spivey smart using nice combinations alternating between the body and upstairs.. Dorin fights in a low crouch and is susceptible to uppercuts, but Antonin could not take advantage in the early going.

Teddy proved accurate when he said he though Spivey might gas due to the short notice and long layoff, for in the 6th through 9th rounds, he began holding the Montreal native around the back, a clear indication of fatigue. Indeed, he was even given two point deductions and was on the cusp of being DQ’d. Referee Gerry Bolen went so far as to say, “Look, if you don’t want to fight, take a knee and I’ll count you out.” And that’s exactly what I expected to happen. Teddy added grist to my expectation by calling for a white towel from Spivey’s corner; he voiced that when fighters come in like this on short notice, they can get hurt. He ventured further that the Portsmouth, Virginia resident did not have knockout power so he had no chance of winning. No knockout power? A 66.67 KO percentage would suggest otherwise.

At any rate, the stage was set for either a white towel, a deliberate knee for the 10-count, a foul to get DQ’d and go out without being stopped, or just a plain old stoppage which Decarie could not pull off, for he lacked pop with which to do it.

But then something funny happened in the tenth stanza. Spivey caught his second wind and decided to fight back; he started throwing leads and dangerous counters. Apparently, his fighting heart took over where his body had failed him. At the end of an active eleventh, he hugged Decarie as if to say, “I’m still here so lets do it.” There was more of the same in the last stanza, the only one I gave to Spivey, as he finished with a flourish. In the end, it was Decarie who looked to be tiring, and was blowing hard.The final scores were 105-119,106-118 and108-118, all in favor of Decarie. .

Teddy’s comment at the end was “Spivey was brave; so was his corner.” That kind of sarcasm resonates with a TV audience and that’s fine and dandy, but what Teddy should have said was that Dorin Spivey refused to take the easy way out tonight; he refused to roll over.

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