I think that this guy could of been really, really good. His fight with Holy where he was older and after years of abusing his body is amazing, perhaps my favorite HW fight and against an in prime, ATG HW. God only knows what he could of done if he didn't get into drugs. Thoughts?
Abuse or not, Dokes was back to PRIME bidness in 1989 at age 30 against Holy....... Dokes really trained his ass off for his '88 fight against Rocky Sekorski and his March '89 fight with Holy........... No excuses can be made...... Dokes would always lose to Holy in a time machine cuz Dokes was a level below Holy........ Their '89 fight was epic, only topped by Duran's war with Iran Barkley for the WBC title................. Dokes was a faded fighter against "Ruddock & Bowe." It was indeed sad to see.... Especially the lousy effort against Bowe...... By then, Dokes was 240 to 244 pounds........ MR.BILL:bbb
I am with MR.Bill; I thought Dokes had never looked better against Holyfield; and that was not with hindsight. Some people were desperate to show Evander was too small to compete at Heavyweight, and having a ten round war with a drug ravaged Dokes, seemingly six years past his pomp should of proved it. But Dokes was that good; the fight, that exciting and high quality, no one dared suggest Evander was not indeed the Real Deal, on the evidence of that fight.
Dokes was decent, but I don't think there was ever a time that he was going to be great. I felt his fights with Weaver(the rematch) and Coetzee exposed his limitations, beyond just his fondness for white powder.
Also, Dokes was naturally ripped in body tone.... He was buffed prior to age 34..... He fought his heart out against Holy on Showtime in '89.......... "Holy-Dokes" is a truly great non-title heavyweight fight......... The "Dokes-Weaver" rematch of '83 was a great fight for the WBA title that usually goes to the archives totally asleep with kids 30 and under.......... Such a shame......... My fav. 80s heavy title fights are: 1. Holmes-Cooney 2. Dokes-Weaver 3. Holmes-Spoon 4. Coetzee-Dokes 5. Thomas-Weaver 6. Tyson-Thomas 7. Spinks-Cooney 8. Tyson-Bruno 9. Smith-Spoon 10. Tyson-Berbick MR.BILL
No no no, I'm not arguing that Dokes was better against say Weaver than against Holyfield. He wasn't, Holyfield may have been his finest fight. What I'm saying is that we never saw the best of Mike Dokes. Imagine if Dokes had that intensity when he was younger and less shopworn, AND/OR if he wasn't on drugs. He probably never would of beaten Holyfield, but it's not like that's some huge smear against him, Evander is one of the best ever.
Well..... We did see Dokes' best effort......... His bogus KO1 over Weaver in '82 WAS a GREAT 216 lb. version of Dokes.... Hell, even Weaver was a solid 209 for the fight............ Dokes was NOT to be denied of the WBA title in '82............. YES! Ref Joey Curtis blew the call and stopped the bout WAY too soon, but Weaver was gonna lose on that night....... Dokes came to take the title, come hell or high water....... Its too bad that Dokes became *****-whipped and snowblind within a scant 6 months come May of '83..... Dokes at 223 pounds was NOT the same guy that a BUFFED 218 lb. Weaver was in Vegas....... I was in town at the time, goddammit...... BUT!! The rematch IS a truly GREAT WBA title fight of the 80s......... thumbsup SR.BILLARDO
Go and watch the early Dokes bouts where he utilizes footwork in there and fought off his toes for 3 minutes a round. He'd put on more weight and was off his toes prior to the first Weaver bout. That version of Dokes had fast feet and constant mobility to go along with those fast hands/good whiskers/big heart. That guy was going to be tough to beat. But when he put on weight, all that movement was gone and never came back. He didn't have legs anymore by the time of the Holyfield bout but could compensate with the other skills he had. Plus, Dokes had a strong competitive nature in there, kind of like Evander. He'll fight back hard if someone is trying to hurt him and hit him hard. He'll hang tough. The thing he won't do well is to chase a guy down and systematically break him down--that takes legs. He didn't have to look for Holyfield and it was more of a case of fighting him off.
Michael was a damn good fighter at one point, he had the fastest hands probably in the division around maybe '81, '82, and he had tremendous heart.It just that his power never truly developed, and Don King covered for him a few times.After about 1985, despite his later sucesses, was never the same fighter he was when he was younger.
Yea, Dokes was awsome, he could have been great, actually, I think he was great. Too bad he was messed up with drugs, like a lot of those guys.
Dokes just got out of jail at the end of last year. He was indeed one of the most talented fighters of the 1980's. Too bad he showed up all coked-out for the Coetzee fight in 1983.
I used to go watch Dokes and James Broad (both retired) spar for the hell of it in the early 90's.. They would fight as if the title depended on it.. Mike was around 260 at the time but moved his hands like a middleweight and glided like he was 220lbs.. I loved watching it because it was like watching a proper heavyweight ten rounder from the apron that a decede earlier probably would have sold good tickets at Caesars or something LOL... Mikes natural talent was so underrated, he had a great chin, a good right hand , good legs and a fabulous boxing brain.. Slim Robinson used to sit quietly in the corner and hand clap every round.. I remember James having a great round once and shouting over to Slim, (who was known for his work with Tim Witherspoon and Razor Ruddock) go phone Timothy, i know you still have his number.. I want us to do it again.. Mike missed boxing and couldn't leave it alone and it was a horrible knockout defeat at the hands of a young contender and a broken jaw with it (Robert Hawkins) that started to convince him that he was all done ... soon after he did that horrendous thing to his young girlfriend that sealed his fate for a greater length of time. Mike was put under sedation for a while in jail and became over 300lbs, then shortly before his release in 2008 he was stabbed by another inmate and almost lost his life and is now around 190lbs... weak as a kitten.. It hurts me to see how such a big strong man could go from those dizzy heights to the depths of despair... He could have been one of the great fighters the heavyweights ever saw grace the prize ring, he was an absolute natural, but he always needed a good solid friend to guide him and when Marty Cohen died it left him lonely i think..
I agree. Most people thought of him as just a banger, but he could box quite well. The story you tell is unfortunate, but somewhat typical in the world of boxing. Theres probably 100 shoulda woulda coulda stories for every happy ending one out there.
Seemed like he had a lot of pain in his life from the beginning.He said in an interview from 1987/1988 that he had been on his own since he was 14.I wonder what the stabbing was about.