He Coulda Been a Champion - a Greg Page memorial uni

[BigBoyBrackey]

ROUND 3

Rather than come out trying to take out his wounded opponent, Holmes opens the third seeming eager to show off his footwork, dancing sideways and then back, allowing a pleasantly surprised Spinks to clear his head for the first 30 seconds, then get inside and start landing with both hands to the body, then with a left hook to the side of the head.

Instead of varying his punches, Holmes is content to work the jab, although he is throwing it just often enough to keep Spinks from getting inside. A couple of body shots in the final 30 seconds seem to give Holmes a slight edge, though the round could reasonably be scored either way.

Holmes, 10-9

ROUND 4

The fighters meet at ring center, but after Spinks thumps a couple of hooks to the ribs, the champion reverts to dancing mode, a quick uppercut his lone offensive maneuver of the round's first half.

After Spinks gets inside and scores with a hook to the face, Holmes finally starts throwing, landing a pair of uppercuts that score without doing damage. Spinks again finds an opening while fighting out of a clinch, capitalizing with a left hook upstairs that buckles Holmes' knees.

Driven into the corner, Holmes answers with a smashing right to the heart that temporarily freezes Spinks, but the ex-champion recovers with a right uppercut followed by an overhand right that lands awkwardly on the left shoulder of a Holmes as the round ends.

Spinks, 10-9

ROUND 5

After a non-combative first minute, during which each fighter lands little more than a single probing punch, a clearly frustrated Holmes breaks a clinch by driving his right shoulder into Spinks' nose, drawing a warning from Steele.

Spinks responds with a heavy left hook-right cross combo to the ribs. Holmes momentarily reclaims control with a pair of hard jabs, further lumping Spinks' right eye.

But Spinks rallies again, bringing the crowd to its feet and nearly removing Holmes from his with an overhand right reminiscent of the one Earnie Shavers used to nearly upset Holmes in 1979.

Though hurt, Holmes manages to weather the last 45 seconds of the round that clearly belongs to Spinks.

Spinks, 10-9

("Is it possible, ladies and gentlemen, that the much-mocked, widely dismissed Leon Spinks possesses the pugilistic acuity to shock the world again?" wonders Howard Cosell before ABC cuts to a commercial for Miller Lite featuring Joe Frazier and The Knockouts.)

[BigBoyBrackey]

ROUND 6

After absorbing an obscene tirade from trainer Richie Giachetti that lasts for the entire 60-second break, Holmes comes out pumping the jab, landing a pair of hard shots in the first 10 seconds.

Holmes follows another jab, which further swells the challenger's right eye, with a straight right that sends him stumbling back a couple of steps.

Spinks comes forward once more, but more slowly as his jaw hangs, betraying the onset of fatigue.

Spinks starts to throw another overhand right, but Holmes steps inside with a perfect left hook that drops him face-first.

Steele waves Holmes back and begins the count. Spinks, his right arm awkwardly stretched away from his body and his left tight to his side, doesn't flinch until after Steele counts him out at 1:04 of the sixth round.

After several minutes, Benton and cut man Ralph Citro help Spinks to his feet and out of the ring.

A jubilant Holmes climbs the ropes and pumps his right glove defiantly in the air, as the crowd that had been cheering on the challenger only moments earlier begins chanting "Larr-y, Larr-y," clearly won over by the sudden, but decisive, knockout.

All three judges had Holmes ahead 48-47 when the final left hook landed. The AP scored it 48-46.

[BigBoyBrackey]

Greg Page, who held the WBA and WBC heavyweight titles at different times, was laid to rest today in Lexington, Ky.

Story on Page's funeral

Photo Gallery

[BigBoyBrackey]

DETROIT NEWS

Holmes Battles King, Cooney After Dropping Spinks

A near-capacity crowd at Joe Louis Arena saw a heavyweight championship fight Friday that, unlike most of Larry Holmes’ recent title defenses, was worthy of the name.

But The Easton Assassin’s near-decapitation of former world champion Leon Spinks early in the sixth round may prove to have less impact on the future of the heavyweight division than the battles that took place out of sight of the paying public both before and after the see-saw main event.

When an assistant to promoter Don King came to Holmes’ dressing room while Spinks was making his ring walk to the cheers of an appreciative crowd, he found the World Boxing Council champion sitting on a rubbing table, wearing his trunks and robe, but no gloves.

“I told him I wasn’t going anyplace until I got my money,” a visibly agitated Holmes said in the ring after the fight when asked about the 75-minute delay. “I haven’t gotten a million yet for Ali and Berbick put together.”

Contracts for Holmes’ last two defenses, against Muhammad Ali last October and Trevor Berbick in April, called for the champion to receive $2.5 million and $1.5 million, respectively.

King was summoned and dueling obscene tirades could be heard in the hallway outside the dressing room for the better part of 10 minutes. The controversial promoter emerged looking disheveled and pushed his way to ringside, where he consulted with WBC President Jose Sulaiman, then disappeared until the post-fight press conference.

Holmes, due $1.9 million for his 10th title defense, denied that he and King came to blows.

“If I hit him, he’d be in the hospital and I’d be in jail,” Holmes said.

King responded to Holmes’ demand for his full purse in advance by threatening to strip the champion of his belt on the spot.

“He told me he rules boxing, he runs the WBC and would (expletive deleted) me so hard I’d never fight again,” Holmes said. “I told him, ‘Prove it, (expletive deleted).’”

Howard Cosell, who did not mention the behind-the-scenes turmoil during the ABC prime-time telecast, said Sulaiman agreed to strip Holmes and unbeaten – and largely untested -- contender James “Quick” Tillis with Spinks for the vacant title. Tillis, who was at ringside and already signed to fight World Boxing Association titlist Mike Weaver next month, never got the chance to say yes or no.

“Such a travesty ever would have been allowed on our network,” Cosell said. “Roone Arledge got King on the phone and told him that if he didn’t get Holmes in the ring, he’d never promote a fight on ABC again.”

Finally, King sent an emissary to Holmes with a check for $1 million and within a few minutes, the fight was back on.

“That’s more than I got for either of my last two defenses so far,” Holmes said.

Holmes declined to comment on whether a pre-fight visit from Ali had anything to do with the insurrection.

“What was said between us stays between us,” Holmes said. “But he’s got no use for that criminal, either.”

A source in Holmes’ locker room said Ali reported receiving only a fraction of his contracted $8 million purse for the fearful beating he took last fall in Las Vegas, the first major promotion King has funded with his own money.

Breaking with his time-honored tradition of crowding the winning fighter in the ring while the cameras are rolling after a fight, King was not seen again until he disrupted Holmes’ post-fight press conference.

“Larry Holmes has a very bad attitude and absolutely no gratitude,” King shouted from the back of the room. “(Expletive deleted) forgets where he came from and who brought him here. Without me, he could not draw flies to a garbage dump. Boy had best learn some respect.”

After King stormed from the room, a reporter asked Holmes, who improved to 38-0 with 28 knockouts, if he would ever again fight for his longtime promoter.

“Let me see if his check clears before I answer that,” Holmes said, breaking up the room.

Neither Holmes or Spinks were cut during the fight, but the champion drew blood with an elbow to the lip of Cosell during a melee during a ringside interview. Holmes went after No. 1 contender Gerry Cooney, who recently turned down a $5 million offer to fight for the WBC title to go after Mike Weaver’s WBA belt sometime this fall, presuming the latter survives the challenge from Tillis next month.

Ali, who looked and sounded markedly better than in the immediate aftermath of his drubbing last fall, left the building immediately following the fight, before details of the dressing-room standoff emerged -- but not until telling several veteran reporters at ringside that he was heading back to his secluded training camp in Deer Lake, Pa., to resume workouts.

“Can’t stop fighting yet,” he said shortly before Holmes began his ring walk, drawing cringes from the reporters listening in. “Still haven’t gotten paid for the last fight. And I’m still so pretty.”

[BigBoyBrackey]

The real Holmes-Spinks fight, which I'd never seen before, can be seen in its entirety here.

A dominant performance by Larry, and worth watching all the way through for the actual scuffle with Cooney at the end of part III.

[kenyan_cheena]

Great post.

[Mike Rodgers]

Originally Posted by BigBoyBrackey

Greg Page's death on Monday, the coda to one of the saddest ends in a business filthy with them, spurred me to dig out maybe the greatest investigative boxing book, Jack Newfield's "Only In America: The Life and Crimes of Don King."

In addition to his murderous beginnings and profound mastery of corruption in just about every imaginable form, Newfield details King's destructive impact on the careers and lives of his fighters, from the quickly forgotten Candy Slim Merritt to The Greatest, Muhammad Ali. Nowhere were King's manipulations as devastating as on at least a score of heavyweight titlists and contenders in the 1980s, which Newfield terms "the Lost Generation of Heavyweights."

Tim Witherspoon is his poster boy, mainly because Spoon filed suit against King and was willing to speak out -- at least until meekly returning for a few more paydays in the 1990s. But his effect on Page was at least as sinister. Even the second title shot King gave Page (the first ended in a loss to Witherspoon nine months earlier, when King threw two disconted members of his stable in together) had a dark side, as he had to travel to South Africa to face Gerrie Coetzee just as anti-apartheid sentiment in the U.S. was peaking. Page won the WBA belt with an eight-round knockout.

But despite dominating the action, the win was tainted by a timekeeper's error that allowed the final punch to land at the end of a round that lasted nearly four minutes. And any boost the crown might have given Page's career was snuffed by the backlash he endured for the sin of playing Sun City.

Page lost the title in a hideous bout with Tony Tubbs the next time out and never got a shot at another world crown.

As a way of paying tribute to a gifted, but criminally misguided fighter who certainly deserved better on the business end of things, we'll be imagining a world in which Butch Lewis, Page's original promoter, never lets Don King within my-brothering distance of the unbeaten prospect, and convinces a legendary trainer to take on a second heavyweight protege from Louisville ...

As things progress, I'll tweak Page's ratings based on results. But to begin with, the main difference will be seen in his condition, motivation, and guidance from the corner.

Greg told me that after Don was through with his 1.2 million purse for winning the title that he only walked with $30,000. Heavyweight Champion of the world and got screwed all the way to the grave. Oliver has still not got paid one dime for his 2nd fight with Lewis. Don got the money and never paid him anything. ONLY IN AMERICA!

[BigBoyBrackey]

Philadelphia Inquirer

Witherspoon dishes out KO punch

Local prospect Tim Witherspoon had little trouble improving to 10-0 on Wednesday at Martin Luther King Arena, knocking out stepping-stone Bobby Jordan with a savage left hook in the ninth round of their heavyweight bout.

Witherspoon set up the decisive shot with a hard jab, scoring his seventh win by knockout in a fast-moving career that began only 20 months ago.

“He was telegraphing his right all night,” said the 23-year-old Witherspoon. “I wanted to get in some rounds tonight, so once I got my work done, I said, ‘It’s time to get him out of here.’”

Witherspoon nearly ended things early, hurting Jordan -- who fell to 5-7, 2 KOs – with a series of punishing rights in the first, the last of which had him sagging into the ropes when the bell rang.

Reinforcing his status as Philadelphia’s top young heavyweight, Witherspoon showed solid defense, an awkwardly effective style and pop in both hands. If there was a flaw in his performance, it was letting Jordan – who also looked ready to go in the fifth and seventh – hang around so long.

“He had a lot of tricks, but I knew it was just a matter of time,” said Witherspoon, who won seven of the eight completed rounds on the scorecards of two judges and six on the third.

[BigBoyBrackey]

Originally Posted by Mike Rodgers

Greg told me that after Don was through with his 1.2 million purse for winning the title that he only walked with $30,000. Heavyweight Champion of the world and got screwed all the way to the grave. Oliver has still not got paid one dime for his 2nd fight with Lewis. Don got the money and never paid him anything. ONLY IN AMERICA!

That kind of tale repeats itself again and again in Newfield's book (which, in later editions, was retitled "The Life and Times of Don King: The Shame of Boxing in America." The most amazing part is that he gets away with it, every single time.

Well, maybe in real life, but Greg's World might be another story ...

[Ric915]

Great Stuff So Far.

[BigBoyBrackey]

NEWARK STAR-LEDGER


Young, Frank Coast at Sands

ATLANTIC CITY -- Veteran Jimmy Young showed once again that he still has something left at age 32, controlling the action throughout in a comprehensive 10-round decision over former prospect Marvin Stinson at the Sands Hotel on Tuesday.

The customarily defensive-minded Young surprised Stinson, who suffered his first loss in 16 pro bouts to Tim Witherspoon of Philadelphia in February, by coming out flat-footed in the first round. Young battered Stinson, who fell to 12-2-3 with 6 knockouts, with a series of clean combinations to the head, then established the jab.

The fight was meant as something of a get-well bout for Stinson, but Young belied his light-hitting image with a jarring uppercut at the bell.

After opening the second slipping and blocking Stinson’s swings, Young (27-10-2, 10) opened up again in the final 90 seconds, slamming home a pair of hard hooks late in the round.

The bout settled into a pattern in the third, with Young’s superior defense frustrating Stinson, who left himself open to enough counters to lose each round.

Trailing desperately entering the eighth, Stinson landed his best shot of the fight with a minute left in the frame. The left hook wobbled Young, but he quickly recovered with a salvo over the last 30 seconds that won him that round, as well.

One judge gave nine rounds to Young, who outpunched his younger foe by a ratio of better than 3-1, in part because Stinson was able to land fewer than 14 percent of his swings.

After the fight, Young said he wants another shot at No. 1 contender Gerry Cooney, who stopped him in four rounds in May 1980. Cooney struggled at times with Young’s slick defense before tearing open a hideous cut, which forced the stoppage.

“I got fat and sloppy against Cooney,” said Young, who weighed in at 224 before the defeat, but has come in under 220 during each of his fights this year. “I’m too quick and too slick for a big ox like him.”

Following a layoff of nearly a year, Young upset previously unbeaten Canadian Gordon Racette in his hometown of Nanaimo, British Columbia via 10-round decision.

Cooney is unlikely to risk his own perfect record against Young, particularly with a shot at the World Boxing Association title slated for fall, when he is slated to challenge the winner of next month’s meeting between Mike Weaver and James Tillis.

In the main supporting bout, Scott Frank of Oakland, N.J. stayed unbeaten by blowing out never-was Eddie Mallard via third-round technical knockout. Frank, whose only remotely recognizable opponents to date have been a 39-year-old Chuck Wepner and the bloated Ron Stander, improved to 15-0, 13 KOs.

Frank defended his New Jersey State heavyweight belt, the value of which was underscored by the quality of the challenger. With the loss, Mallard’s record fell to 1-6-2, his lone win coming via knockout in his 1975 pro debut.

Still, promoter Don King -- who had kept a low profile since being humiliated on national television by World Boxing Council champion Larry Holmes before and after the latter's sixth-round knockout of Leon Holmes earlier this month -- was seen with his arm around Frank, talking quietly but quickly, as the two walked to the dressing room after the stoppage.

[BigBoyBrackey]

The Frank-Mallard bout was reported as-fought-in-real-life, since, hard as it may be to believe, I could not find a rating for The Duck. I thought about creating one, but didn't want my first from-scratch effort to undervalue such a talent ...

My plan is to sim any heavyweight bout of any value, if I can dredge up both combatants from either the database, cornerwork or the forums (esp. btown's heavyweight file exchange). Anyone have any other sources for gems like Mallard?

Also, I had forgotten until hearing Holmes and Cooney squabble over it before the post-Spinks-fight brawl that Gerry did sign to fight Weaver, which never came off. The WBA really did order Weaver to fight Tillis, its No. 3 contender, first, for some reason. I'm thinking this may be the first diversion from reality ...

[BigBoyBrackey]

Other real-life heavyweight results from June 1981 that may or may not become relevant at some point:


June 13
John Dino Dennis W10 (split) Don Halpin, Boston Garden
Bernardo Mercado TKO1 Gilberto Acuna, Miami Beach, Fla.

June 16
Lynn Ball KO9 John Williams, Fort Worth, Tex.

June 18
Chuck Gardner W6 Mike “The Giant” White


June 21
Mitch (Blood) Green W6 Melvin Epps

Non-heavy results from June 1981 that may have an impact on this uni, or involve guys I like:


June 14
Frank “The Animal” Fletcher W10 Norberto Sabater (previously unbeaten)

June 25
Sugar Ray Leonard TKO9 Ayub Kalule
WBA Light Middleweight title

[BigBoyBrackey]

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Source: Weaver Looking Past Tillis to Cooney

Mike Weaver has plenty on his mind these days: Two undefeated contenders, to be precise.

Weaver, scheduled to make his second defense of the World Boxing Association heavyweight title belt against James Tillis at The Spectrum later this month, has signed to face Gerry Cooney in October, the Inquirer has learned.

Tillis brings a 20-0 record, with 16 knockouts, and the WBA’s No. 3 ranking into his July 31 challenge of Weaver. He has never fought a ranked contender, however, with his biggest wins to date coming against the decidedly un-ballyhooed likes of Tom Fischer and Domingo D’Elia.

So Weaver might feel safe making plans for his future beyond Tillis. In the wake of his 54-second demolition of Ken Norton in May, Cooney (25-0, 22 KO) represents the biggest payday in the heavyweight division.

Sources close to the Spectrum card, promoted by Bob Arum, suggest Cooney will return to action in the main supporting feature, against an opponent to be named later this week.

With $5 million or more at stake for both fighters in the fall, taking a tune-up seems like a foolish risk for Cooney, who could do little to enhance his marketability, but plenty to hurt it with a sub-par performance.

Circumstances would dictate safety-first matchmaking, but if there has been a knock on the towering Long Islander to date, it has been the quality of his opposition. Norton, a former champion and longtime contender, had been destroyed in less than two minutes by Earnie Shavers in March 1979, then extended by journeymen Scott LeDoux and Randall Cobb before being gifted by the judges with a draw and a split-decision win, respectively.

Should Weaver and Cooney each prevail on July 31, their meeting would take place sometime in October, most likely in Las Vegas, the source said.

Unbeaten Philadelphia Tim Witherspoon is scheduled to appear on the undercard at The Spectrum, and Arum is said to be in negotiations to sign another top prospect coveted by rival Don King, Greg Page, for another preliminary bout.

[BigBoyBrackey]

Aside from the Weaver-Cooney doubleheader, the fight schedule for July 1981 includes:

July 10 - Jimmy Young vs. Jeff Sims. Nice real-life management, putting Young in with two young, fairly hard-hitting prospects within 11 days. I thought about diverting from reality here, especially given how things ended up in RL for Jimmy, but decided to skip with the script for reasons that may or may not prove relevant ...

July 11 - WBC featherweight titlist Salvador Sanchez takes on Nicky Perez in an over-the-weight tuneup for next month's mega-matchup with Wilfredo Gomez. Including this one because a) Sanchez was awesome; b) the fight with Gomez was one of the matchups that captured my imagination as a young boxing fan; and c) as the supreme being of this universe, it is my will. So let it be done.

July 18 - Michael Spinks vs. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad for the undisputed light-heavyweight championship. This one qualifies for simming both under the non-heavy superfight clause discussed in a post above above, but also because Eddie just stepped up to heavy and lost a split decision to Renaldo Snipes in May '81, while Michael might just have a future at the heavier weight.

Across the pond on the same night, the heavyweight champions of France and Spain square off as Lucien and Felipe Rodriguez reprise their controversial March meeting, won by Lucien via fifth-round disqualification.

July 21 - Conroy Nelson challenges Trevor Berbick for the Canadian heavyweight belt in a 15-rounder at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In another hemisphere, fading Kallie Knoetze faces fellow South African at West Ridge Park, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Having been knocked out in three of his previous seven outings, another loss could be the end for Knoetze. The former South African police officer's lone American appearance, against Bill Sharkey in 1979, made him better known as a poster boy for apartheid than for anything he has accomplished in the ring.

July 24 - At Festival Hall in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Tony Mundine meets Steve Aczel with the Australian heavyweight, light-heavyweight and cruiserweight belts all at stake. Not to suggest the talent pool in that country is a bit thin at the moment, or anything.

July 29 - Fighting for the first time in more than nine months, Earnie Shavers hits the tank-town circuit against a stiff to be named later in Saginaw, Mich. (In real life it was someone named Terrel Williams, but as boxrec.com lists his career mark as 0-1, I don't think I'll find a rating for him unless he made one up for himself.)

[BigBoyBrackey]

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Cooney Stuns Skeptics,
Agrees to Face Mercado

In a move even more surprising than his willingness to risk getting upset in a tune-up fight before challenging WBA heavyweight titlist Mike Weaver this fall, top contender Gerry Cooney has agreed to face dangerous Colombian Bernardo Mercado at the Spectrum on July 31.

Cooney and Mercado, who was ranked No. 1 by the WBC heading into a title eliminator with Leon Spinks last fall, will meet in the main supporting bout to Weaver’s defense of the WBA belt against James “Quick” Tillis. Mercado engaged in a slugfest with Spinks before fading in the later rounds and getting stopped in the ninth.

Cooney had been widely expected to take a safer fight against a shopworn – and ideally, light-punching – trial horse like the names presently dotting his resume, such as John Dino Dennis and Jimmy Young. In May, Cooney obliterated the nearly decomposing Ken Norton in just 54 seconds.

Instead, he’ll face Mercado, who earned his lofty WBC ranking by standing up to the murderous shots of Earnie Shavers in October 1980 before stopping “The Acorn” in the seventh.

Cooney (25-0, 22 KO) will be a clear betting favorite. But the 6-foot-6, Mercado – who has won 25 of his 28 wins, against three losses, by knockout – certainly has at least a puncher’s chance. Which is more can be said of most of the towering Long Islander’s previous fodder.

“Everybody’s asking if I can take a punch,” Cooney said during a news conference Thursday on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, site of Rocky Balboa’s famous cinematic roadwork before his fictitious first meeting with Rocky Balboa. “I guess we’ll find out July 31.”

While Cooney’s career has received an unquestioned boost from the revival of the “Great White Hope” archetype by the two “Rocky” films, it was Mercado playing the role of the gritty underdog on Thursday.

“I let being ranked No. 1 give me a big head,” Mercado said. “I did not take Spinks seriously. I have learned.”

In his first bout since that defeat, Mercado stopped Gilbert Acuna in less than a round in Miami on June 13, a day after Spinks fell in six rounds to WBC champion Larry Holmes.

The pairing is a clear attempt by promoter Bob Arum to boost the ratings for the July 31 ABC-TV telecast while positioning the agreed-upon Weaver-Cooney fight in October as a closed-circuit event.

Assuming, that is, both win at the Spectrum.

Tillis and Mercado have other ideas.

---Arum, who is dueling with rival Don King for the services of up-and-comer Greg Page, who has a deal with Butch Lewis that runs through the end of the year, announced the unbeaten Louisville heavyweight will open the televised portion of the card against an opponent to be named by early next week. Page stopped former European champion and two-time world title challenger Alfredo Evangelista on the Holmes-Spinks undercard in his last fight.

"We think he's ready to step up," said Arum, who struck a deal with Lewis to put Page on his card. "It's time to see what he's got."

[BigBoyBrackey]

Palm Beach Post

Young Mystifies Sims

For the second time in less than two weeks, and the third time in three months, slick Jimmy Young made a heavyweight prospect look like a novice.

This time, the pupil was hard-hitting Jeff Sims of Miami Beach, whose 12 previous wins had all come by way of knockout.

Young -- who took a one-sided decision from Marvin Stinson on June 30 and stopped previously unbeaten Canadian Gordon Racette on April 10 -- came out clinching. When Sims did free himself during the fight’s first 90 seconds, Young peppered him with flurries to the head and body.

Sims finally got in a heavy left hook midway through the first, but Young used head movement, hand speed and well-timed hugs to keep the young slugger off-balance for the rest of the round.

Instead of continuing to grab in the second, Young – usually known for working at a distance – let his hands go inside, even backing Sims into an unaccustomed position against the ropes.

Late in the round, Young’s left hook tore open the skin above Sims’ right eye, then worked the cut with a series of jabs.

Sims landed a hard jab of his own just before the bell, following up with an overhand right that just missed landing flush.

Young regained control in the third, firing jabs at the cut over Sims’ right eye, which began oozing again with a minute to go. Again, his own blood seemed to invigorate Sims, who landed a hard right that caused a mouse to form under Young’s left eye, but failed to win him the round.

Sims’ corner closed the wound during the break, but Young quickly undid their handiwork in the fourth, this time forcing the ring doctor to take a look. The fight continued, but with Sims preoccupied by the flow of blood obscuring his vision, Young took advantage with fast combinations that expanded his commanding lead.

Sims came on strong in the sixth, scoring enough to take the round as Young retreated into a defensive shell.

Young resumed counterpunching in the seventh, taking that round. Sims had his best round in the eighth, as he threaded several hard left hooks through Young’s version of the rope-a-dope, while further swelling the veteran’s left eye with a pair of hard rights.

The ninth was even until Young reopened the cut yet again and won the frame going away. Sims entered the 10th needing a knockout, but was more than willing to accept Young’s clinches throughout.

Sims got a bit of home cooking from one judge, who scored it 95-95, but Young did enough to preserve his early lead in the eyes of the other two, who scored it 96-94 and 97-93.

With the win, his third straight since getting stopped due to a cut by Gerry Cooney in May 1980, Young improved to 28-10-2 with 10 knockouts.

“I want another shot at Cooney, or a rematch with Michael Dokes,” Young said, referring to his 10-round loss to the rising contender in September 1979. “But they don’t want to risk those pretty records, so I’ll take whoever I can get. Larry Holmes has been dodging me for years and Mike Weaver wants no part of me, neither, so I’ll have to keep schooling these punks until the big names got no choice.”

Sims, whose only previous loss was a knockout in six to veteran Larry Alexander in April 1980, fell to 12-2.

“I thought I had him a couple of times, but he kept slipping away,” said a visibly frustrated Sims, who predictably started lobbying for a rematch. “Soon as this cut heals, I’m back in the gym. Next time, I’ll take him out.”

[BigBoyBrackey]

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Sanchez Demolishes Perez in 5

WBC featherweight titlist Salvador Sanchez delivered a scintillating five-round advertisement for next month’s showdown with 122-pound king Wilfredo Gomez on Saturday at Olympic Auditorium, dispatching veteran Nicky Perez in brutally dismissive fashion.

Most expected Sanchez to work on his timing and stamina against Perez, who came in with a 50-3 record, 26 of the wins by way of knockout, but had done his best work at 122 pounds. Sanchez, however, came out as if his belt and reputation were at stake, flooring his smaller foe with a devastating right cross just 13 seconds into the first round.

Perez got up and managed to survive the round, but clearly lost the second and hit the deck early in the third, this time from a rapid-fire left-right to the face.

Again, Perez got up and barely made it to the bell, though the fight could and probably should have been stopped at any time in the final minute.

With Sanchez taking a breather in the fourth, Perez landed his only serious blows of the night, taking the round on the scorecards of all three judges.

That would be it for the native of Tucson, Ariz. Sanchez landed a heavy left hook in the opening moments of the fifth, then put on a clinic for more than two minutes, shaking Perez with just about every punch and combination imaginable. Finally, referee Robert Ferrara stepped in with Perez slumping into the ropes near his own corner, making a TKO winner of Sanchez with 14 seconds left in the round.

A more evenly matched, if briefer, skirmish broke out at ringside after the fight, when Sanchez traded wild swings with Gomez, a Puerto Rican native who started berating his Mexican rival with a string of obscenities.

Security intervened before the two champions could do any damage to each other or to what is widely considered the biggest featherweight bout since the days of Sandy Saddler and Willie Pep, scheduled for Aug. 21 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

[BigBoyBrackey]

When mulling whether to sim Sanchez-Perez and include a write-up, the deciding factors were the magnitude of the Sanchez-Gomez bout, the possibility of adding heavyweight bouts to that undercard that advance the storyline and, most of all, the opportunity to use the picture in the post above.

If you're a fan of Sanchez and/or really big hair, do yourself a favor and check out the youtube clip of Sanchez-Perez here.

[Mad Bomber]

Very nice beginning.