Spinks Gets Jinxed By K-9 Bundrage

ST LOUIS, Mo. -A Spinks Jinx for the present millennium obtained yet again, as Cory Spinks made it a hat trick, losing a world title before a hometown crowd in The Lou for the third time since 2006.

Cornelius (K-9) Bundrage became the Kronk Boxing Team’s latest world champion, battering his way to a fifth-round TKO over Spinks to win the IBF junior middleweight championship. The Emanuel Steward-trained Detroit product was able to pressure Spinks from the outset, cutting off the ring so effectively that the St. Louis southpaw was never able to get his run-and-peck game in any semblance of working order.

Spinks’ rare moments of effectiveness came when he was able to parry Bundrage’s jab, but even then he couldn’t do much in return beyond thumping K-9 in the chest as he backed away. Bundrage led on all three scorecards – 40-36 on Bill Lerch’s, 39-37 on those of Tom Miller and Jerry Griffin – after four.

In the fifth, Bundrage hurt Spinks when he connected with both ends of a 1-2 combination, and then chased him to the ropes, where a pair of sweeping roundhouse rights knocked him sideways to the canvas. Spinks toppled over in the direction of a neutral corner.

Spinks got to his feet, but was so wobbly (and with so much time – a full minute and a half – left in the round) that referee Mark Nelson took him into protective custody, declaring Bundrage the winner and new champion at 1:25 of the round.

“Spinks had a staggered and dazed look, said the referee, who reported that Spinks even shook his head as if to say ‘No.’

“At the count of eight he stepped backwards. I didn’t want his opponent to hit him again in that condition.

The crowd, which may be accustomed to seeing this by now, accepted the referee’s verdict with equanimity. Spinks complained afterward that he “didn’t know why Nelson had stopped the fight.

Trainer Buddy McGirt voiced his opinion that “I think a world champion deserves the benefit of the doubt in that situation.

Perhaps, but Spinks seemed to make the referees case when he insisted “He didn’t even hit me and I lost my title.

If Cory actually believes he didn’t get hit, it only confirms the referee’s judgment.

Bundrage, who prepped for the title bout by sparring extensively with Irish southpaw Andy Lee, raised his record to 30-4 with the win. Spinks, who had earlier lost title defenses against Zab Judah and Verno Phillips in the same building, fell to 37-6 with the loss.

Another local favorite, cruiserweight Ryan Coyne, won something called the “WBC/USNBC title by stopping Kentuckian Warren Browning in the ninth round of their scheduled 12-rounder. The bout in theory was a matchup of unbeatens, although only two of Browning’s 13 previous opponents had ever won a fight. Although Coyne, a southpaw, took some heavy shots, he had established a healthy cushion on the judges’ cards (five points on two cards, four on the other) by continually outboxing his opponent before abruptly ending in the ninth, drilling Browning with a straight left that ddropped him in his tracks in a neutral corner.. Using the ring ropes, Browning hauled himself to his feet, but could barely stand. Referee Mike England wisely stopped it at 2:21. Coyne is now 15-0, Browning 12-1-1.

“Browning was a tough guy, said Coyne. “I thought he would have the power advantage, coming down from heavyweight, but the truth is I will walk you down, lock you in the closet, and defeat you.

Unbeaten Russian welterweight Ramzan Adaev won a unanimous decision over local Chris Tyler in an inartistic bout in which Tyler didn’t help his chances when he had a point deducted, for repeated holding, in the final round. Marty Bickle scored it 59-54, while Barbara Madison and Brett Miller returned 58-55 scorecards. Adaev, an ethnic Chechnyan, is now 8-0-1, Tyler 2-4-1.

In another prelim, Mexican lightweight Jorge Espinoza improved to 6-0 with his first-round knockout of Kansas City’s Ryan Pederson. (2-6).

Armenian junior middle Vardan Gasparyan (11-3-5) had opened the show with a second-round TKO of Tennessee journeyman Jesse Davis (11-19-1). Given another thirty seconds, Gasparyan might have put Davis, whom he had visibly staggered, away in the first. The Kotelnik stablemate was landing at will with little response when referee Celestino Ruiz, to spare both the opponent and the crowd, intervened at 2:43 of the second.

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GATEWAY TO GREATNESS

August 7, 2010

JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHTS: Cornelius Bundrage, 153 ½, Detroit TKO’d Cory Spinks, 153 ½, St Louis (5) (Wins IBF title)

JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHTS: Jorge Espinoza, 131, Guadalajara, Mexico KO’d Ryan Pederson, xxx, Kansas City, Mo. (1)