Michael Spinks vs Eddie Davis competitive fight https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/26/sports/spinks-keeps-title-beating-davis-in-12.html Michael Spinks, in enough trouble that his big brother Leon rushed to ringside from his seat in the audience, staved off a game second-half effort by Eddie Davis today to gain a unanimous 12-round decision in defense of the undisputed light heavyweight title. The undefeated 172-pound champion, with one of the most varied attacks in boxing, was in such control through the first seven rounds at Resorts International that a knockout of the 32-year-old challenger from Freeport, L.I., seemed inevitable. But the 173 1/2-pound Davis, ranked second by both the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council and getting his second title chance, suddenly started to put combinations together. In each of the next three rounds, Spinks was rocked. ''Believe it or not, for the first time in years, I thought I was getting into a case of having to come from behind,'' said Spinks. Most Rounds to Spinks Spinks said he knew ''I was in a fight,'' although two of the three judges apparently did not think so. Carol Castellano gave the champion the decision, 115 points to 114, or 6-5-1 in rounds. But Joe Cortez gave Davis only one round on his 119-109 scorecard, and Larry Hazzard gave the challenger only two rounds on his 118-111 card. ''Michael is up on a pedestal, he's overrated,'' said Davis. ''You can beat him, but you can't beat the guys on the sidelines with a pencil.'' ''How can any scorecard give Eddie only one round?'' asked Dennis Rappaport, the challenger's manager. ''We're asking for a wide-scale investigation.'' Champion Is Now 25-0 Spinks, who thought he won ''clearly,'' said Davis ''gave me all I ever wanted in a fight.'' ''It's a wonder I didn't get knocked down a few times just from his efforts,'' said the champion, now 25-0 including a ninth-round knockout of Davis's younger brother Johnny in 1982. For most of the first half, it was a wonder Davis was not knocked down. Spinks, at 6 feet 2 1/2 inches with a five- inch height advantage, was able to keep away from the challenger and hit him with left hooks one round, overhand rights the next. When Davis did get close, Spinks's better hand speed, combined with an unusual ability for a tall man to throw short punches, was dominant. But Davis, now 27-4-1, began to negate Spinks's jab by throwing his own. ''He don't like jabs,'' said the challenger. ''He can't stand them, as a matter of fact.'' Inside, he began to reach Spinks with lovely little uppercuts, and when the champion pulled his head back from a pair at the end of the eighth round, Davis connected with a solid left hook to the head. At the end of the ninth round, Davis landed a solid left uppercut, followed by the rest of a four-punch combination that had the champion stumbling. Davis was getting tired, though. He landed some solid left hooks in the 10th, fewer in the 11th and, after scoring with a big right hand at the start of the 12th, he wilted. Spinks had been all set to earn $1.3 million for a rematch with Qawi, whom he defeated 11 months ago in a title-unification bout, set for April 20. But Home Box Office, the subscription-television company that was paying $1.8 million for that bout, stipulated in its contract with Butch Lewis, the promoter, that neither fighter would be allowed to take an interim bout after Feb. 15. Lewis broke the contract with today's fight so that Spinks could pick up a payday of almost $1 million less, and HBO canceled the Qawi fight. 1984-02-25 : Michael Spinks 172 lbs beat Eddie Davis 173½ lbs by UD in round 12 of 12 Location: Resorts International, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA Referee: Frank Cappuccino Judge: Joe Cortez 119-109 Judge: Carol Castellano 115-114 Judge: Larry Hazzard 118-111 This content is protected
Longhorn, I had it 116-114 in favor of Davis. Man, I just shook my head at this one when I first watched it back in the day. Cortez and Hazzard didn't even try to hide their partiality. Only Carol Castellano at least had a close score. At least a case can be made with a close score, but those other two didn't even try. Incidentally, was he known as 'Red Top'? I remember an Eddie 'Red Top' Owens from the '70s and Red Top davis from the '50s, but you caught me with the reference.
This was the fight that inspired my "Difficult Fights To Score" thread. Brutal thing to judge, in my eyes. I can't call it a robbery because the nature of the fight was one that allowed for so much play and room for different results depending on one's criteria for scoring. I could easily see a case for giving this one to Davis, but could just as easily defend Spinks as the winner.
''Michael is up on a pedestal, he's overrated,'' said Davis. ''You can beat him, but you can't beat the guys on the sidelines with a pencil.'' That's rough. I feel for Eddie. He absolutely deserved a fair shake on the cards, even if it would have meant a close decision lose. Certainly more accurate than a wipeout where none of your efforts are counted.
This was it. Eddie put in a beautiful effort and Spinks on the night was struggling to contain him. A rematch would have been fitting but Davis did get stopped by Johnson just after Spinks next fight. We would have seen a different fight imo.
I thought Davis beat Michael watching it live also. Davis' quote is Las Vegas' motto YOU CAN'T BEAT THE GUYS WITH THE PENCILS
Me too. Spinks couldn't land anything on the guy. Minimal clean punches. the guy getting hit was Spinks. You gotta love the sport where they have fights like this and lopsided scoring for the wrong guy. Imagine trying that in other sports like say Tennis or baseball or football=====you look up at the scoreboard and all of a sudden the Patriots lead 42-10====in a game they were losing. That's one of the things that makes boxing so interesting though. And you still have the old boxing saying anyway---get the ko and do not let it go to the cards. How many guys thru the years should have gone for the stoppage instead of waiting for the ring announcer to announce the victor?
