He looked as a very special fighter when he was a teen. His famous exgibition vs Ali at 18 where he showed speed and skills. But it was no surprise if you study his amateur career. At 15 Dokes fought Leon Spinks who was already 21. At 16 and 17 he scored two wins over Trevor Berbick who was 20 and 21 respectively. At 17 he beat John Tate, 21. Also at 17 he lost to the legendary Teofilo Stevenson, 23, who was already a World amateur champion and Olympic Gold medalist. But Dokes lasted the distance against the ATG Cuban despite 6 year gap in age. That's a very impressive career considering he was fighting grown men who were 4-6 years older.
His 1st 'official' fight as amateur on boxrec is recorded when he was 13. So he has amateur fights recorded at the age 13-17. He probably started earlier and had numerous fights as a kid.
Dokes looked AMAZING as an amateur. Very fast hands, good power, good head movement. He was overconfident and fell apart sometimes when his opposition hung tough but if you saw him at his best youd think he was destined for greatness.
Dokes showed a ton of potential very early. Had he stayed on the right path in the pros he might have had immeasurable success
Interesting bit of trivia: In 1974 Michael Dokes, then only 15 years old, lost to 22 year old Bobby Stewart for the National Golden Gloves 178 pound championship. Five years later Stewart would discover 13 year old Mike Tyson at Tryon Juvenile Detention Center and eventually introduced him to Cus D’Amato.
From what Greg Page implied in a newspaper interview, they robbed him of a decision against Dokes in the 1976 Golden Gloves semifinals.
Such an immense talent. Dude had the fastest set of hands of any heavy I have ever seen. He had pop. He had dog. He had respectable size. But even with all that you can't fake it at the top level. As big a What If? as there has been.
He had short arms, or fought short-armed, and that to me was always going to be an issue. It was less so when he had legs and used them to move in and out, but when he matured he became much more of a potted plant so had to be in the pocket to generate offense and was waiting for the receipt. And I mean back to when he was fighting Weaver the second time and maybe before. His lifestyle choices didn’t help him, but I think the T-Rex arms reach was always going to present an issue.
Dude had a 78" reach... but... he fought in a weird, almost sway back, posture, almost the posture of an old man. Butt out, shoulders pinned far back (which made the reach look short), chin out a bit. I never understood that about him and he had it even when he was old. Always made him look shorter than his 6-3.
