He was a danm good fighter and was very unlucky to not win the IBF JR. MW belt against Cory Spinks in St Louis. I was six rows back from ringside and he definitely had some moments in that fight and made Cory work. Big strong and physical for 154.
Yea he got that nickname from fighting in underground bare knuckle fights to put food on the table is what I read. I also read his original trainer was involved with Popenchenko and that's the school Roman was taught from.
Me too! I was bummed that I didn't get to meet him at the press conference. He was getting booed pretty bad by the pro Spinks crowd. I did get to meet William Joppy, Jean Marc Mormeck, Maselino Masoe and Randy Griffin. It was a pretty good card.
That's awsome. When I get a chance I like to go to the weight In's in the Phila NJ area got to meet alot of fighters. All were really kool too.
He beat Kassim Ouma when Ouma was at the peak of his powers. Ouma had beat Verno Philips for the title and then he beat the hell out of Kofi Jantuah after that. So it was a big deal when Karmazin dropped him twice and romped to a huge win on the scorecards. I vividly when that happened. It was an extremely commanding performance. I wish he hadn't lost to Alex Bunema because he probably would have been matched up with Sergio Martinez. That was before everyone knew how good Martinez was. Vernon Forrest (rip) and Karmazin would have been other matchup I would have liked.
Yeah Cory was able to draw really well in St Louis. I can't even count how many times I saw him as an amateur and a pro. It was pretty cool to watch him fight in smokers as a amauter in front of 100 people and then fight Judah in front of 20k plus. He is a really nice guy just like his dad. I'm glad he got out of the sport with some money and more importantly his health. After what Roman did to Ouma, I knew his was going to have his hands full.
Depends what standard he is held up to. For a contender, very good. For a belt holder a) of his time, decent and b) of all time, mediocre.
