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Spinks Hopes for No Jinx in Return to Italy
By Sean Stowell (March 18, 2003)
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While Cory Spinks comes from boxing royalty, he has rarely experienced the benefits that such a pedigree often brings with it.
He grew up on the tough streets of St. Louis while his father, former
heavyweight champion and 1976 Olympic gold medallist, Leon tried to recapture the glory he once held. While the “Spinks Jinx” used to be a reference to his uncle Michael, the “jinx” may be a run of bad luck that Spinks has inherited from his father and uncle.
Leon fought with mixed results as a cruiserweight through the mid-1990s, and even lived on the streets. The last time the boxing public saw Michael he was the latest victim of Mike Tyson. Last April Spinks lost a controversial decision to Michele Piccirillo in Italy for the vacant International Boxing Federation welterweight title.
This Saturday, he will begrudgingly travel back to Italy for a rematch with Piccirillo, where he vows the jinx will end.
“We’re still not happy about going to Italy,” Spinks’ manager Kevin Cunningham told MaxBoxing.com. “We’ll go there and do what we have to do.”
The fight with Piccirillo was an odd set of circumstances from the beginning. The fight was held at the Casino di Campione for 400 invited guests. While Piccirillo landed hard punches, Spinks set the tone, outworking the former European and Italian champion. Piccirillo led with his head, cutting Spinks over the right eye in the fifth round. While many who saw the fight felt Spinks did enough to win, the judges saw it 115-112 (twice) and 116-111 in favor of the hometown fighter.
Before Spinks could get a rematch with Piccirillo, he was forced to fight Rafael Pineda last August for the top contender spot in the IBF. Again Spinks was cut over his eye and the bout was stopped after the seventh round. Spinks came away with a technical decision.
Spinks was training in Las Vegas at the Prince Ranch before he traveled across the pond. Though he was brief on what he was doing in training, he clearly wants this fight more than any other in his career.
“I want this real bad, “ he said. “I learned from the first time. I can’t give away the game plan, but I’m working on everything it takes to win. I’ll be more aggressive in this fight than ever before.”
While his father was a brawler, he resembles his uncle inside the ring. The 5-foot-11 Spinks is a southpaw with good hand speed and mobility, keeping his opponents off-balance, and out working them.
Spinks met Cunningham when he was 16, and honed his skills inside a gym in the basement of old police building. Cunningham, a boxer in the Army and a former St. Louis policeman in the Spinks’ neighborhood, took in Spinks and his older brother Darrell.
Spinks had an amateur record of 78-3, winning the National Police Athletic League jr. championships in 1993. One person who can put the Spinks name back into royalty is ironically a King . . . Don King. King promotes Spinks, Piccirillo and World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council welterweight champ Ricardo Mayorga.
Spinks (30-2 with 11 KOs) and Piccirillo (37-1 with 23 KOs) will no doubt face the rugged Nicaraguan before he rematches with Vernon Forrest who Mayorga beat for the WBC title in January.
“I got Piccirillo and Spinks fighting in March,” King said after Mayorga defeated Forrest. “If Mayorga fights one of them before Forrest, I’ll be right back here with all three belts.”
A recent addition to the “Kingdom,” Spinks likes the opportunity afforded
him.
“I’m happy because I have a chance to get all three belts,” he said. “But I’m focused on Piccirillo right now, then I’ll focus on the other guys.”
Spinks’ only other loss came in 1998 against Antonio Diaz. The judges saw the fight 115-113 (twice) for Diaz and 116-112 for Spinks. It was a tough loss but a valuable learning experience.
“He grew up in that fight,” Cunningham said. “That made Cory a real professional fighter. He really learned that you can outbox somebody and still can’t win the fight. It was a good lesson that he learned.”
It is a lesson that Spinks will combine with his past experience against Piccirillo, in hopes that the formula will break his jinx.
“It’s a game and I can’t look back,” he said. “I have to rebuild to be the best in the game. I just have to beat him convincingly.”
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E-Mail Sean Stowell at seanstowell@hotmail.com
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