Corey Spinks article

http://www.maxboxing.com/Berg/Berg051906.asp

Cory Spinks’ star turn as the “umpire” for Don King’s ceremonial first pitch at the new Busch Stadium on Thursday, before the St. Louis Cardinals took on the New York Mets, may count as the only instance of “The Next Generation” having the upper hand with his promoter since signing with him in June 2002.

But even that cameo appearance smacks of a DK omnipresence.

In real life, Spinks (finally, once again) is aiming for the strike zone. The former undisputed welterweight champion (34-3, 11) is making his comeback from a 17-month layoff by jumping up to 154 pounds and taking on current IBF junior middleweight champ Roman Karmazin (34-1-1, 21). That Spinks’ return is booked for St. Louis – the site of his most humbling defeat – looks like a heater thrown right down the pike. But in this game, it’s King who calls the action.

Not that Team Spinks hasn’t tried to kill this particular ump. Following Spinks’ demoralizing loss to Zab Judah at the Savvis Center in Feb. 2005, the 28-year-old southpaw was apparently fed up with DK’s business-as-usual breach-of-contract shenanigans. Still beholden to Don King Productions, Spinks and his trainer, Kevin Cunningham, nonetheless went looking for a new promotions team – and eventually signed on with the fairly inexperienced but game Bobby Bostick. King called that ball low and outside, and, according to a source close to the Spinks camp, sent a reminder along that the fighter was still under his thumb. Team Spinks then backed away from Bostick and tried to sue DKP to get out of the contract.

But Spinks v. King had all the makings of a New York Yankees’ beatdown of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Only one of these teams has the resources and long experience to come out the winner. In Spinks’ case, the layoff was taking its toll on both his finances and his prospects. Finally, impatient with the glacial pace of the litigation, Spinks came to terms with King for another three years. To paraphrase the old saw, if you can’t beat ‘em, re-sign with ‘em.

Does that mean things are all sweetness and light between Team Spinks and DKP? Maybe, maybe not.

In early April, Cunningham felt optimistic about his fighter’s future, despite what he called “our promotional problems” that, at the time, remained unresolved.

“Cory is missing boxing big time,” said the police-officer-turned-trainer, “and he can’t wait to get back in there – especially in the new weight class with all these big names.”

What Cunningham was fishing around for then was a tune-up bout for his likely rusty boxer before jumping into the shark pool of the top 154-pounders. What Team Spinks is getting instead, however, is (1) thrown in with the second biggest, baddest fish, (2) who will be set loose in Spinks’ own backyard pond, (and 3) in a fight that won’t net the former champ much money but might result in a vicious bite that could drain the life-blood out of his boxing career.

The No. 1 alpha shark, of course, is Don King, who owns both Spinks and Karmazin. DKP stands to make way more from this Gateway City matchup than either of these fighters could have brought in against other opponents in other venues. No matter what happens on July 8, for King the night will be win-win.

The Spinks camp sees the bout, which will air on Showtime, as a chance for redemption rather than a death sentence: A win would redeem Spinks in the eyes of hometown fans, snag him another title in a second weight class, boost his profile as well as his ability to earn fatter purses – and doing all this in a division that is currently one of the hottest and most talent-laden tickets in boxing.

“Things happen for a reason,” Cunningham told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this week. “As fate would have it, we were out for a year and a half, and have the opportunity to come back for a world title. We’re going to get it done.”

If Spinks, respectively the youngest son and nephew of former heavyweight champs Leon and Michael Spinks, can indeed get it done, “The Next Generation” will enter the 154-pound sweepstakes in good company. In his decisive win over “El Loco” Ricardo Mayorga on May 6, Oscar de la Hoya lit a fire underneath a division already luminescent with the likes of Shane Mosley, (the retired but itchy) Felix Trinidad, Fernando Vargas and WBA champ Jose Antonio Rivera (whose move up to junior middleweight resulted in an upset win over defending champ Alex “Terra” Garcia). That’s not all. Former titlists Kassim Ouma and Daniel Santos fill out the top ranks of this weight class along with Ike Quartey and Sergei Dzindziruk. The pièce de résistance? Floyd Mayweather Jr. will likely follow Spinks’ and Rivera’s jump from the welterweights should he and “The Golden Boy” agree to a Sept. megafight.

If this division could talk, its voice – like Daisy Buchanan’s was to Jay Gatsby – would be full of money. And Cory Spinks, whose accomplishments as well as birthright ought to have made him seriously high-profile by now, will have a better shot at fulfilling the promise of his nickname.

Unfortunately, there are reasons “The Next Generation” hasn’t broken through to the Big Time. Though a talented and skilled boxer and quick, slippery defender, Spinks isn’t exactly a master of aesthetics. What’s worse, with only 11 knockouts to his name, he’s got a rep as a soft touch. Perhaps related to Spinks’ perceived lack of pop is a weight unwillingness or inability to move in for the kill.

Even his trainer fingers worry beads over this. “The only thing that sometimes bothers me about Cory is that he doesn’t have the mentality that this is a hurt business,” Cunningham has said.

His opponent, Roman Karmazin, has no such problems.

A natural aggressor, the Russian is long and long-reaching, and digs away at the body like a coroner. His left hook and straight rights land like spring twisters, and did enough damage to former champ Ouma last July to capture his title. And that was with Freddie Roach working his corner gratis. Roach will undoubtedly have more influence (and will make more money) this July.

That said, Karmazin’s one significant win over an anemic, off-kilter “Dream” may not spell doom for his first challenger. For starters, Ouma’s successful outing against Mario Antonio Rubio on the DLH-Mayorga undercard was no return to greatness; one could easily see how a once fearsome Ouma could have coughed up a hairball against “Made in Hell.”

For Spinks’ part, Hell has many levels – but Karmazin is probably not Dante’s inferno, and the St. Louis southpaw has made a career of putting out smaller fires. Spinks excels at escaping and wearing down aggressive, come-forward fighters; both competitors on July 8 will be rusty, but Karmazin, at 33, may not shake it off as quickly. Further, Cunningham believes his fighter loses nothing in gaining seven pounds.

“He’s looking real sharp,” Cunningham said of Spinks’ weight gain. “He has a lot of energy, a lot of strength. He’s a bigger, better, faster Cory Spinks.”

Certainly at 154 pounds, Spinks couldn’t possibly have less pop, and maybe the weight will lean him into his point-scoring jabs more. And if he retains his defensive elusiveness, there’s reason to believe Spinks could outpoint the Russian to pull out a decision.

Cunningham has also insisted that his fighter needs the motivation of a tough fight.

“If you put him in with an average Joe, you’re not going to see the best of Cory Spinks,” he said. “You have to put something in front of him that is competitive and brings the fear of losing.”

At this point in his career, what could be more fear-inspiring than losing another title fight … in a bout he maybe shouldn’t have taken … in front of 20,000+ nervous LOU fans … to a lower-profile DKP stablemate? Spinks could kiss goodbye his place in Don King’s starting rotation, and take all his coulda-woulda-shouldas with him to the bullpen – where smoke is not so much thrown as blown.

One hopes Kevin Cunningham is right about his man, because this bout should put the fear of God in him. Or the fear of Don King, which for Cory Spinks these days pretty much amounts to the same thing.