By Paul Strauss: Cornelius “K-9” Bundrage 31-4-0 (19) stopped Cory “The Next Generation” Spinks 39-7-0 (11) again, but the way he did it did nothing for his chances to land a fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. His fight with Spinks at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, CA resembled a barroom brawl more than it did a boxing match.
Spinks came into Saturday’s fight with a fantasy, claiming he was in excellent shape, vowing there wasn’t going to be a repeat of their first fight when he was stopped by Bundrage. He promised this time would be different. He was going to stick and move, and counter effectively, and not run out of gas.
The thirty-nine year old Bundrage and his trainer Emanuel Steward weren’t about to let that happen. They intended for reality to drop on Spinks in the form of a big overhand right. In the process, Manny wanted Bundrage to rough up Sprinks, to lay into him when Cory ducked down, as he always did in an attempt to avoid the big shots. K-9 did just that, resembling a starving pit bull tearing into a steak bone.
Initially Spinks moved enough, ducked enough and clinched enough to survive. Then K-9 leaned to his left and let fly with an over the top round-house right hand. Spinks never saw it, and the bomb crashed into his face, depositing him on his backside.
Spinks beat the count, but essentially the fight was over. The only thing that saved him was Bundrage got arm weary trying to kill him. It gave Spinks a lull in the action while Bundrage regained his strength. Spinks survived the rest of the first round and the second round.
In the third round, K-9 started to come back, but it was an ugly round, like most of the fight. Both fighters looked clumsy and awkward. K=9 wasn’t doing himself any favors in hopes of landing a big fight with “Canelo” Alvarez. However, he did manage to nail Spinks again when Cory foolishly bent down, and staying in that unprotected position. K-9 nailed him with a good uppercut, followed by a few more glancing blows.
Much of the blame for the ugly fight lay with Spinks. He just didn’t have the power to worry K-9 at all, so he resorted to grabbing, clinching and bending way down. A few times it looked like he was grabbing at K-9’s ankles.
Manny was “pissed” that his dog was being too well behaved, letting Spinks gain a little confidence. He scolded his mutt for screwing around. It took a while for Manny’s words to sink in. The next few rounds returned to the really ugly and awkward stage. Both men were tired from all the wrestling. Unfortunately for Bundrage, the punch numbers were evening up, so on paper Spinks was getting back into the fight.
That changed in the seventh, when once again Spinks failed to avoid the big overhand right. Down he went, getting up only long enough to repeat the process moments later from another right. Then he went down two more times on his own, while trying to grab for dear life. Referee Ray Corona was having a hell of a time trying to figure out whether Spinks had been tagged, or was just wilting. But, it was inevitable K-9 was not about to denied. He wasn’t going to let him get away this time. Once more he caught him with a right hand. Referee Corona jumped in and waived an end to this offensive brawl.
The “Next Generation” has come and gone for Cory. For the thirty-nine year old K-9, he has another stoppage on his record, but no one really thinks he exhibited the skills necessary to beat Alvarez. Of course he always has a chance of landing one of those “come out of nowhere” right hands, but that’s about his only chance. Otherwise, he’s just going to be eating lots of leather with a little more “kick” behind them than Spinks can generate.
This must have been the night for “ugly”, because Erislandy Lara’s 17-1-1 (11) fight with Freddy Hernandez 30-3-0 (20) fit the bill too. In fact, ShoBox announcer Steve Farhood said it best when he described the need for a “new numbers” category to count “cuts”. The need came about as a result of repeated head butts, only one of which resulted in a penalty point taken from Lara. Lara’s face remained unmarked, but Freddy’s was a mess. Draw your own conclusions.
Lara’s wish going into tonight’s fight was to look impressive, which would make him the logical choice as an opponent for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. However, like K-9 Bundrage, he didn’t do himself any favors. He did outclass Freddy, but he also held too much, complained to Referee Wayne Hedgepeth too much, and stayed inactive too much.
During those moments of inactivity, he allowed Freddy to tee off on him. His tight defense and excellent footwork prevented Freddy from getting any clean head shots through, but Freddy did manage to land plenty of hard body shots, especially left hooks to the kidney. It wasn’t enough though, and Lara easily earned a UD. If it weren’t for the numerous clashes of heads, who knows how much better Freddy might have done?
When Lara wants to, he can move and box beautifully, making his opponent look silly, but too often he will bend in with that head and tight guard, and let his opponent take shots at him, hoping to set up something. It’s unnecessary, and makes for ugly moments. When he wanted, he landed a jab and right hook. When Freddy would miss badly with his straight right, he would leave himself open for Lara’s counter left. But, he took it and came back for more. Freddy needed to continue on through and pivot off to the left and away from Lara’s straight left.
After the umpteenth head butt, Freddy got really mad, and for a while there, it looked like he was going to really make it a fight. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Lara might deserve a shot at Alvarez, but it’s doubtful he will get one. At least on this night, he didn’t exhibit a “fan friendly” style against Freddy, and that’s what promoters look for…….a style that sells. As of now, Canelo still has a blind date.
In other action on the card:
Gary Russell Jr. TKO 3 Christopher Perez
Antonio Orozco TKO 3 Albert Cruz Jr.
Christian Lorenzo TKO 3 Javier Barragan