K-9 Bundrage KOs Spinks; Lara & Russell Win Too in Indio

INDIO, CALIF.-IBF junior middleweight titleholder Cornelius “K-9” Bundrage knocked out former champion Cory Spinks to retain the title on a fight card filled with junior middleweights on Saturday.

Bundrage (32-4, 19 KOs) proved his win over Spinks (39-7, 11 KOs) a year ago was not a fluke in front of several thousand fans at Fantasy Springs Casino. Fans also saw a few very talented southpaws in Golden Boy Promotions stable.

Bundrage landed an overhand right bomb that plopped Spinks in round one in a roughhouse type of fight. The Michigan fighter wasn't about to allow Spinks to hold and hit.

Round two saw Spinks resort to holding and Bundrage tried his best to wrestle out of the clinging fighter from St. Louis. Both were warned for their tactics.

Spinks began to shoot his jab and combinations freely in round three. Bundrage had his moments with double right hands and some winging right sledgehammer type blows that missed. It was Spinks' best round so far.

During one of his clinches Spinks was tagged with a vicious uppercut and then three more followed from Bundrage as he took advantage of the lapse in protection by the St. Louis boxer. Spinks tried to rally but those blows were telling in round four.

The next few rounds went back and forth between the two foes but in round seven a sidewinder right hand sent Spinks down through the ropes. He got up and was sent down 40 seconds later with another right hand bomb. Spinks got up and was looked at carefully by the referee and sent out again. Bundrage took his time as Spinks held every chance and the fight ended with another right hand. Referee Ray Corona ended the fight at 2:32 without a count.

Bundrage retains the IBF title he took from Spinks last year.

Other bouts

Featherweight shooting star Gary Russell Jr. (20-0, 12 KOs) knocked down Mexico's Christopher Perez (23-3, 14 KOs) four times before referee Pat Russell stopped the fight at 1:41 of round three. Russell dropped Perez first with a right hook during an exchange in round two. In round three a straight left came blazing like a laser guided missile and down went Perez again. Another right hook put Perez down again in round three and he got up. Finally a one-two combination dropped Perez and the referee had seen enough. It was total domination by Maryland's Russell.

Cuba's Erislandy Lara (17-1-1, 11 KOs) used his speed, slick movements and a couple of head butts to gain a unanimous decision over Mexico City's Freddy Hernandez (30-3, 20 KOs) after 10 rounds of a junior middleweight decision. It was mostly Lara but he infused energy into Hernandez by head butting the Mexican fighter who was very angry by the move. A point was deducted from Lara in round seven by referee Wayne Hedgepeth. But Hernandez never could land enough power shots through Lara's guard. Most expected Lara to run right over Hernandez but it didn't happen. Judge David Denkin scored it 95-94, Fritz Werner 98-91 and Tom Taylor 99-90 for Lara.

San Diego's Antonio Orozco (15-0, 11 KOs) swarmed past Puerto Rico's Albert Cruz Jr. (9-4, 8 KOs) like an early summer hurricane and stopped the taller fighter at the end of round three of a junior welterweight bout. Orozco never let Cruz get his footing and attacked the body and head mercilessly. Cruz tried to counter the many combinations coming from Orozco but just got in more trouble for his efforts. By the end of round two it looked like the fight might be ended, but Cruz was sent out again for more punishment. After absorbing numerous uppercuts and a punishing left hook to the body, the fight was ended at the culmination of the round by referee Pat Russell on advice from the ringside physician.

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