Spinks In a Squeaker

On Saturday night, Cory Spinks went up in weight to challenge the former Russian bareknuckle brawler Roman Karmazin for his IBF junior middleweight belt. Spinks moved up in weight after he was stunned and stopped by Zab Judah at 147lbs. Spinks had all three of his belts taken by domination in front of his hometown fans, and he was certainly out to redeem himself.Going into this fight, I was torn. As a child of the Cold War, I don't easily root for a Russian, but I have long loathed Cory Spinks and his silly showboating. I saw Kamazin's beat-down of Kassim Ouma, and was looking forward to this fight, as it looked to be a good match of contrasting styles--Karmazin's precision punching and moderate power against Spinks' speed, slickness, and relatively light hands.In the first round, Cory Spinks came out swinging, and he used both his hand speed and mobility to take the round over the less active, plodding Karmazin, who kept his left hand low in the typical European...