By Dr. Peter Edwards (photo by Tom Casino/Showtime)
In a battle for respect, redemption and name recognition, IBF junior middleweight champion Roman "Made in Hell" Karmazin (34-1-1, 1 ND, 21 KOs) defends his crown for the first time against former undisputed welterweight champion Cory "The Next Generation" Spinks (34-3, 11 KOs).
It’s been a long road for both Karmazin and Spinks, only of them is going to walk out of the arena with their head held high. Spinks has already seen the mountaintop, and also witnessed how easy it is to fall off the mountain once you get up there.
Coming from one of the most famous boxing families in the history of the sport, Cory has to face the added pressure of living up to the name Spinks. How many other fighters have an uncle and a father that were both former heavyweight champions? I can’t recall of any, as Michael and Leon Spinks became the first two brothers in boxing history to both become the heavyweight champions of the world.
On February 15 of 1978, Cory’s father, Leon Spinks made history by beating a past his prime Muhammad Ali by way of a 15-round decision in Las Vegas to become the fastest man ever to win the heavyweight crown. Leon became the heavyweight champion of the world in only his eighth fight, and many regarded the win as one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
A few years later, on September 21, 2005, another major upset took place when his uncle, Michael Spinks scored a decision over an undefeated Larry Holmes to snatch the heavyweight title of the world. Michael would have a rematch with Holmes, and won another decision to retain his crown. Prior to winning the heavyweight title, Michael was an outstanding light heavyweight and is regarded by some experts as the greatest light heavyweight of all time. He made history by becoming the first reigning light heavyweight champion to beat the reigning heavyweight champion.
The upset victories turned into tales of boxing folklore as the fighters and most boxing writers said there was an strange aura surrounding the fighters. The aura became know as the “Spinks Jinx.” After the history making accomplishments by his family members, it’s surprising that Cory did not change his last name before turning pro.
Not to be outdone, Cory stung the boxing world with his own “Spinks Jinx” upset victory. After years of obscurity, Spinks got his chance to shine when he was thrown in the main event of Don King promoted pay-per-view against a fighter that many saw at the time as the next big thing, Ricardo Mayorga. The bout was important for the sport because Spinks was risking his IBF welterweight crown, while Mayorga put up his WBA and WBC titles, in a combined effort by both men to unify the division.
At the time of the fight, Mayorga was considered an animal. He was coming off two consecutive victories over highly regarded Vernon Forrest, the man responsible for knocking Shane Mosley from the top of many pound-for-pound lists. Spinks was a big underdog in most circles and many felt he was simply too weak to hang with a power puncher like Mayorga. Once again, the Spink Jinx came to fruition on December 13, 2003, as Cory Spinks pulled off an upset majority decision to become the undisputed welterweight champion of the world.
The win over Mayorga was a showcase of how people underestimated his boxing skills and desire to win. No longer in the shadow of his father and uncle, Cory had made a name for himself and was receiving recognition as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.
The old saying goes like this; “what goes up, must come down,” and that is exactly what happened to Spinks. In his first defense of the welterweight crown, Spinks took on former junior welterweight champion Zab Judah, who was moving up in weight to challenge him for his crown. The fight was close, but became even close when Judah sent Spinks crashing to the canvas in the final minute of the fight when Cory exposed his chin by being overconfident and slugging it out with Judah when he was leading on the scorecards. That night he managed to pull off a win, but in their February 2005 rematch, Judah finished what he started in their previous fight.
The rematch with Judah was not pretty. A better prepared Judah was bombarding Spinks with power punches in several rounds, and finished him off in the ninth after the referee had seen enough and called a halt to the action.
The loss was devastating for Spinks, especially since the fight took place before a record crowd in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.
Since the defeat to Judah, Spinks experienced promotional problems, high criticism from all corners on his skills, his chin and his ability to make it back to the top of the mountain. Spinks has never been known as a quitter and becomes the fortunate victim of circumstance as being inactive for over a year and coming off a knockout loss, he finds himself challenging for a major world title in his return to the ring.
"I am so excited and feel blessed to have another world title shot,” said Spinks. “I am determined to win a world title in front of my hometown fans. I owe it to them for all their support."
Roman Karmazin, of Hollywood, Calif., by way of St. Petersburg, Russia, is arguably recognized as the best fighter at 154 pounds. Fighters like Shane Mosley and Fernando Vargas are only at 154 to fight each other, neither fighter has any interest staying at 154 pounds beyond their upcoming rematch, which only makes beating Karmazin a lot more important.
While most were praising the slick Kassim Ouma as the fighter to take over the 154 pound division after Winky Wright moved up to middleweight, it was Karmazin who snuck in on July 14, 2005, in Las Vegas, to easily beat up Ouma for his IBF title. The fight was not even close and judges saw it the bout in the same light when the presented their scores of 118-108, 117-109 and 116-110. Karmazin has won five in a row, and is not about to let Spinks take anything away from his blossoming career.
Once again, there is added pressure on Spinks as the bout is being held in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, and televised live on Showtime. Karmazin welcomes the challenge of beating Spinks before a hometown crowd and showing the millions watching that he is real deal.
"Look at my record. I have fought boxers from all over the world, most in their home countries. I defeated all of them but one. My message to Spinks and the people of St. Louis is simple: I am Roman 'Made in Hell' Karmazin. I will fight any time, any place, anywhere, and I will never back down. And when you are done with me, you are going to feel like you have been to hell and back," said Karmazin.
The fight will be interesting as Cory is looking to bring the Spinks name back to the top and begin rebuilding what was quickly becoming a promising career. Will Karmazin be able to break the aura of the Spinks Jinx? The experts are split on the winner. I give Karmazin a slight edge, and don’t see Spinks being able to pull off another upset unless he is 100% recovered from the Judah loss, doesn’t panic when hit by big punches and managed to keep his boxing skills sharp.
