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HBO World Championship Boxing Recap

May 19, 2007

FedEx Forum-Memphis, Tennessee

The crowd for this event is much smaller than anticipated. Jermain Taylor, a native of nearby Little Rock, Arkansas, was expected to draw a big crowd for the event and that is not the case. The first deck of the arena is not even half full.

WBC and WBO Middleweight (160 pounds) 12 Round Championship Match:

Jermain Taylor (26-0-1, 17 KO's, 160 pounds) (c) vs. Cory Spinks (36-3, 11 KO's, 160 pounds)

Taylor was the Bronze medalist in boxing at 156.5 pounds at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympiad representing the United States. Taylor is a year younger than Spinks at 28-years-old. Taylor has a three inch height advantage, standing 6' 1" tall, while Spinks is only 5' 10" tall. Taylor is at a .5" reach disadvantage, with his arm only being 23.5" long, compared to Spinks' 24" arm length. The champion weighed in unofficially before the match at 169 pounds. This is Taylor's fourth defense of his titles.

Spinks is the IBF Champion at 154 pounds, but is moving up in weight for the first time to challenge for Taylor's two titles. Despite being the smaller man Spinks failed to make weight in his first attempt coming in one pound over the limit at 161 pounds. Fortunately, for this match he was able to jog around for an hour and make weight at a second attempt 60 minutes later. (In something that should be noted with all of the recent talk of cutting weight, Oklahoma is now attempting to enact a policy of making IV's on hand after the weigh-ins for competitors after they make weight to rehydrate them quickly, if necessary to help competitors recover from rapid dehydration.) Spinks too, has a solid amateur background with a record 78-3 and was the 1997 National Golden Gloves Champion at 147 pounds. He comes from an entire family of boxer with both his father and uncle having won Olympic gold medals in the sport as part of the great 1976 United States team at Montreal Summer Games, and both became heavyweight champion among the numerous titles they held. His father is the famed Leon Spinks who defeated Muhammad Ali for the WBC Heavyweight Championship in only his eighth professional contest. Leon Spinks' is in his son's corner for this match. The native of St. Louis, Missouri, weighed-in unofficially before the match, at the same weight as Taylor, 169 pounds. There is a real concern that Spinks may be coming in too heavy and out of shape for this match. Less than 28 months agoSpinks was the undisputed champion at 147 pounds. Having added to 22 pounds since then has caused some in boxing to question if Spinks is just in this match for the payday or dedicated to winning and can actually maintain his speed, while being so much heavier.

One boxing writer referred to this match as a "walkout fight". The goal of Spinks is to box defensively for 12 rounds and earn a decision victory. That will make it unlikely Taylor can do anything more than win a decision victory.

The crowd is up to a decent size as the match is ready to begin withthe first deck mostly full.

Spinks is a southpaw and Taylor boxes orthodox. That means head clashes could be an issue, as is the case when opponents with different lead hands face each other. Boring round 1. Spinks probably won round 1, 10-9. It could have been scored even, or in favor of Taylor as well, because there was very few punches landed to judge the round on. CompuBox said in round 1, Spinks landed 10 punches and Taylor landed 6. Lederman, also gave round 1 to Spinks, 10-9. Round 2 is a lot more of nothing maybe for Spinks, 10-9. Lederman scored round 2 for Spinks, 10-9. Through 2 rounds our score cards have it for Spinks 20-18.

In between rounds 2 and 3 highlights are shown of one of Haiti's boxing representative's at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, welterweight Andre Berto's TKO victory over Martinus Clay. The match was stoppedat 2:17 of round 7 when Clay's corner threw in the towel, because Clay turned around and walked away from Berto toward a corner deciding not to continue in the match.

Taylor lands a few rights hands in round 3, good enough to win the round, 10-9. After the bell Taylor hits Spinks with a right hand, and immediately says, "I'm sorry." That made everything better. Lederman awarded Taylor round 3 on his scorecard, 10-9. The crowd in the arena despite booing Spinks entering the ring, has erupted in chants of "Cory, Cory" at points throughout the match in Taylor's home area. They do so again with 1:51 to go in round 4. The commentators note it may have something to do with the fact Spinks is an 8-1 underdog and an upset here might be financially beneficial to some in the crowd. Spinks lands enough punches that have no power on them to win round 4, 10-9. According to CompuBox, Spinks landed 7 punches to Taylor's 6, but Spinks threw 59 punches, while Taylor only attempted 23. Twenty-three is below the average number of power punches Pavlik landed per round in the first match of the show. Spinks is frequently circling to his left, Taylor's right, which is setting him up to be hit by straight right hands. Taylor is not throwing the punch, though. If this match were to turn into a slug fest it would greatly advantage Taylor, because Spinks' best punch cannot hurt him. Taylor has seemed tentative to engage so far. Lederman scored round 4 for Taylor, 10-9. He has it even through 4 rounds, 38-38. Through 4 rounds I have it for Spinks, 39-37. Round 4 was exactly what Taylor has averaged for the first 4 rounds, 6 punches landed of 23 thrown. Spinks is not lighting up the stat sheet himself, with CompuBox having Spinks averaging 8 punches landed and 48 thrown per round for the first 4 rounds.

Taylor wins round 5, 10-9. In round 5, Taylor landed 14 of 27 punches. Lederman scored the last round for Taylor, 10-9. Merchant is calling this match the boxing version of flag football with the amount of punches being landed. That may however, be unfair to the flag football lineman and defensive backs who like to jam. Larry Merchant says he would rather watch a debate between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Jim Lampley asks Merchant if he would rather watch a debate between Representatives Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo. Merchant says it is too obscure for him. Anyone who watched the Republican debates on May 15 knows a debate between Representative Paul and Mayor Rudy Guiliani, given enough time, is guaranteed to produce a better boxing match then this snooze fest. Spinks landed 7 punches out of 53 thrown in round 5 and his corner was pleased with those numbers. Round 6 to Taylor, 10-9. The crowd is being overly generous by not booing the boxers out of the building. Through 6 rounds, I have it even, 57-57. Spinks landed 7 punches in round 6; Taylor landed 9. The CompuBox numbers halfway through the match have Taylor landing 49 of 145 punches thrown and Spinks landing 46 of 292 punches thrown. In the opening contest, Miranda who was behind and had nearly been knocked down in the first two rounds had already landed not only punches but 48 power punches in the first 2 rounds of the match. That is one less than the total number of punches Taylor has landed in the entire match through 6 rounds and two more then Spinks. Lederman gave round 6 to Spinks, because he was busier. That means we agree that it is even through 6 rounds, 57-57. Emanuel Steward in Taylor's corner tells him every time between rounds to throw more punches, but Taylor is not responding.

Spinks wins round 7, 10-9. Spinks' right eye is just beginning to swell, but it is not hampering his vision. Lederman scores round 7 for Taylor who landed a few good punches, but not many punches, 10-9. With a little over a minute to go in round 8 the crowd finally begins to boo the boxers, which shows how patient they have been. Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley clearly would have started booing in round 4 or 5. Taylor takes round 8, 10-9. Lederman scored round 8 for Taylor, 10-9. Taylor wins round 9 on my and Lederman's scorecard. He has it for Taylor, 87-84, while I have it for Taylor, 86-85. Emanuel Steward after rounds 8 and 9 has been anything, but gentle in telling Taylor how terribly he is boxing. Steward is telling Taylor that if he needs to throw more punches or not only could he lose this match, but millions of potential dollars in big matches down the line. It is going to be very hard to convince people to pay money to see someone performing like this box anyone. Steward is actually telling Taylor that he would rather Taylor be boxing Miranda on this show, because he was more prepared for that match and Kelly Pavlik clearly has had the better night. The CompuBox numbers to this point in the match are that Taylor has landed 76 of 225 punches, good for a 34% connect percentage. Spinks has landed 64 of 428 punches thrown, for a 15% connect percentage. Those number are greatly improved for Taylor, through 9 rounds he is only 16 connects away from the number of power punches Pavlik landed through 3 rounds. Spinks' number of connects per round average has slowed in the last 3 rounds he has now only landed one more total punch then Pavlik landed power punches in the first two rounds of his match earlier. In round 9, Taylor landed 8 of 25 punches; Spinks 7 of 47.

Taylor wins round 10, 10-9. Lederman saw round 10 the same way. When Lampley commented that Merchant had already booed the match, Merchant shot back with, "I love these sparring sessions, for which people pay hundreds of dollars." Lampley hopes the people got into the building in time to see the undercard matches. In Taylor's corner between rounds 11 and 12 Emanuel Steward rips into Taylor with a profanity laced tirade, about needing to actually go out into the ring and punch to not let Spinks steal the title. Round 11 goes to Taylor, 10-9. In round 11, Taylor landed 10 of 35 punches, good for a 29% connect percentage. Spinks landed 9 punches of the 50 he threw, for an 18% connect percentage. Lederman scored round 11 for Spinks, 10-9. Taylor could need to win this last round to win the match and keep his title, with how close a lot of these rounds have been. With 51 seconds to go in round 12 the action is stopped as Spinks' mouthpiece is knocked out and goes all the way to the floor of the arena. He is allowed to get an entirely new mouthpiece and then action is resumed. Taylor wins round 12, 10-9, and on my card the match 116-112. Spinks is celebrating after the match, and Taylor is not. Neither man should celebrate that performance. Lederman scored round 12 for Taylor, 10-9, and the match 116-112. The final CompuBox numbers for round 12 had Taylor landing 9 of 33 punches thrown. Spinks landed 4 of the 25 punches he threw in round 12.

The official decision is that the judges score the match: 111-107 (Spinks), 115-113 (Taylor), 117-111 for the winner by split decision and still WBO and WBC Middleweight Champion of the World, Jermain Taylor. It may actually be a unanimous decision, with the way the numbers on the first scorecard were announced it is possible the second number, Taylor's should, have been 117, because a score of 107 is impossible in this type of match. Jim Lampley referred to this match as borderline unwatchable, that may be generous, as it likely crossed that border in round 4. The final CompuBox numbers for the match have Taylor landing 101 of 319 punches thrown, for a 32% connect percentage. Spinks landed 85 of the 542 punches he threw in the 12 rounds. That gave Spinks a 16% connect percentage for the match. Lampley expresses confusion/frustration at the fact that Spinks spent all of round 12 boxing on the run appearing to want to protect a lead and then celebrated enthusiastically after the final bell having landed only 85 punches in 12 rounds. The power punch numbers for this match are just pathetic, Taylor landed 51 of the 128 power punches he threw, good for a 40% connect percentage. Spinks landed 42 of the 150 power punches he threw, good for a 28% connect percentage. The numbers back up that there was more done in the opening six minutes of the first match then in the entirety of this garbage main event.

After the match, Taylor said that he did not expect Spinks to be on the run all night. When asked about the opening match Taylor's first comments were that Miranda who had been challenging him for months was overrated, which may be an indication of how focused he was on this match. Taylor went on to say he was impressed with Pavlik, but his next match would be with the person who could offer him the most money for him to compete.

It appears the correct scorecard should have read 117-111 Spinks. Lampley said based on that, that judge should never judge another major championship match again. He said that score was a complete travesty.

Decide to do anything else no matter how painful (wisdom tooth removal without anaesthetic) or unpleasant (watching New York Yankee baseball) you can think of rather than watch the main event, it will be more enjoyable.