Cory Spinks vs Shakir Asanti
ST. CHARLES, Mo.–Nice middleweight contest on the undercard featuring hometown boy and former welterweight world champ Cory Spinks (27-6, 11 KOs). Shakir Asanti (16-10, 4 KOs) looks like he’s wearing some sort of elongated brown and gold loin cloth while Spinks is in red trunks. My neighbor says Spinks is in line for a title shot if he wins.
Even though Spinks has lost 3 out of his last 4 fights (the win was a split decision over prospect Deandre Latimore for the IBF strap) that probably makes sense in the twisted world of alphabet sanctioning bodies. Round by round scoring from ringside after the jump:
Round 1: Rough early action with Asanti getting in close and pummeling Spinks. Spinks hits Asanti with a low blow that lays him low but the ref waves it off. Spinks has got Asanti in the corney and is punishing hi with lefts and rights. Asanti tries to respond but he looks badly hurt already. Ref is considering stopping this fight.
Spinks throws a wild lefgt hook that misses but follows witha straight right that lands. That seems to ahve woken Asanti up a bit and he lets his hands go but quickly finds himself back on the ropes for the final ten seconds of the round. 10-9 Spinks.
Round 2: More big shots from Spinks this round but Asanti has settled down a bit and isn’t letting himself get hit as easily. Score it for Spinks.
Round 3: Fight has cooled down a lot. Asanti tends to cover up for prolonged periods, allowing Spinks to pound him with body shots that score points and weaken those legs. Spinks is landing at will now while Asanti is just holding up his guard; if Cory had more power this would likely be over already. 30-27 Spinks.
Round 4: Quiet round until Spinks lands a big shot that wakes up the crowd. The fighters go back to circling each other and jabbing halfheartedly. Spinks would be wise to press the action a bit more since Asanti doesn’t look like he’s capable of causing much damage. Spinks backs Asanti into the ropes and unloads another combination that mostly lands. Boring round. 40-36 Spinks.
Round 5: Spinks is able to stick his right jab into Asanti’s face with minimal resistance. Asanti comes back with sporadic combinations but he isn’t really trying to win this fight as much as survive. Spinks is landing whatever he wants but there isn’t any urgency on his part either. He seems content to bank these rounds and get out of here with a win. 50-45 Spinks.
Round 6: Asanti is barely throwing his straight right hand, which is normally the orthodox fighter’s weapon of choice against southpaws. His attack is mostly wide rights to the body and left hooks. Spinks is methodically working the jab and walking in behind it. Nothing big lands this round but Spinks is still running away with it. 60-54 Spinks.
Round 7: Another boring round. Asanti is doing more but he’s still covering up in between. The crowd wants Spinks to step it up and end this fight but he’s letting Asanti off the hook too easily. Closest round of the fight so far, we’ll give it to Asanti. 69-64 Spinks.
Round 8: It seems clear this fight is going the distance because neither man has the power to end it early. Spinks is smiling and talking to Asanti now; it would be a lot more impressive if he used that energy to throw punches. Asanti lands his hardest combination of the fight in response but Spinks isn’t fazed. Spinks comes back with some one-twos of his own but Asanti may have stolen that round as well. 78-74 Spinks.
Round 9: Spinks looks positively Sphinx-like to start the round. I can’t tell if he’s in a fight or deciding what he wants to eat for dinner. He picks up the action a bit this round while Asanti tries to respond. Spinks is back in control of the fight. 88-83 Spinks.
Round 10: Final round and neither man seems to be in much of a hurry. To his credit Asanti is still jabbing but he doesn’t have the power to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. As long as Spinks doesn’t do anything stupid he has this fight won. Thankfully he’s still looking for openings to land his power shots.
The crowd cheers the bout to its completion and shows their appreciation for local fighter’s effort. We’ve got Spinks winning by a score of 98-92. Leon Spinks gets an ovation of his own when his name is announced.
All three judges score the bout a clean sweep for Spinks 100-90. Probably fair. We gave Asanti a couple rounds more because Spinks looked lazy than anything else. This was a completely one-sided affair.
I just heard Asanti’s trainer trying to cheer him up by pointing out he just fought a five-time world champ on a week’s notice. Good point. Any fighter still standing after a 10-round fight deserves respect.