Then again he was fighting John L. Gardner. Nothing to take away from Gardner who was a decent fighter but Noel Quarless looked like a world beater against him. I do agree that Dokes was a lost talent but then again he was hardly the only one in the early 1980's. Randall "Tex" Cobb took a peak shape Dokes to a split decision the fight before he fought Gardner. If you are supposed to be a future great champion, that should not happen.
He got into the drug game, and didn't develop his punching power.Instead of defending his NABF title a couple of times, he got that title shot against Weaver(not his fault), and it went downhill from there.