Phillips upsets Spinks!

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March 28, 2008

By Brian Grammer at ringside
Photo: David Martin Warr/DKP

In a highly controversial, but very entertaining bout, Verno Phillips claimed his third world title with a split decision victory over reigning IBF junior middleweight champion Cory Spinks on Thursday night before 8,874 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Phillips, now 42-10-1 with 21 knockouts led on 2 scorecards, with scores of 116-112 and 115-113. Spinks (36-5, 11 KOs), won the third card, 115-113.

The first four rounds were fought rather evenly as both Spinks and Phillips looked for openings. Starting in the fifth round, the crowd started to grow impatient and they began to encourage Spinks to fight as Phillips began to turn up the heat.

The sixth and seventh rounds again were tactical battles, with both men jabbing and countering each other effectively.

Late in the eighth round, Spinks stunned Phillips with a right hand to head that sent the 38 year old new champion stumbling against the ropes, and the crowd, sensing that Spinks had finally gained the momentum, surged to their feet, roaring their approval. Phillips said that "he (Spinks) is sneaky. If you lean in, he will hit you with the 1-2".

However, in the ninth round, Phillips, later saying "he had the harder shots", countered Spinks attack by fighting aggressively off of the ropes, dominating Spinks throughout the second half of the round. Spinks, acknowledging that the long layoff prior to this fight may have affected him, said that he "felt a little rusty" and that he had "many opportunities to counter, but my body wouldn't let go". In the tenth and for most of the eleventh round, both fighters laid back a bit, recovering from the back and forth action that had taken place in the two previous rounds. Phillips, appearing fresher at this point though, through a big right hand to the jaw late in eleventh, which gave him the edge leading into the final round of the fight.

A slip by Phillips that sent him to the canvas at the beginning of the twelfth round seemed to inspire Spinks and the former champion took the action to Phillips in a desperate attempt to win the fight via knockout. Spinks got on his toes and moved his head, slipping punches as he desperately threw volleys in an effort to end the fight.

Several tense moments hung in the arena as the participants and the announced crowd of 8874 waited for the decision and an audible groan was heard as the public address announcer declared that the result was a split decision. Judge Jerry Griffin scored the contest 113-115 for Spinks and judges Robert Hoyle and Robert Paolino had it 115-113 and 116-112 for Phillips respectfully. Fightnews.com scored the fight a draw 114-114.

* * *

In the co-feature, unbeaten super lightweight contender, Devon Alexander, impressively controlled Miguel Callist in a unanimous 12 round decision. Alexander (15-0, 8 KOs), worked Callist (24-7-1, 17 KOs) around the ring throughout the fight, finally scoring a knockdown late in the 12th round with a left-right combination to the head.
Alexander was happy with his win, but said, "I could have done better, but I am happy with the knockdown in the last round" adding "but I wish I had knocked him out".

Callist, who showed incredible conditioning, was on his toes throughout most of the fight. "He (Alexander) is a young man and very strong, but I feel I did enough to win the fight".

Scoring the fight were Crystal Wright, 120-105, David Sutherland, 120-106 and Gary Merritt, 120-106, all for Alexander. Fightnews scored the contest 120-106 for Alexander.

* * *

While the two featured fights went the full distance, there was plenty of carnage and destruction on the undercard as five of the six bouts ended in first round knockouts.

Super lightweight John Jackson (11-1, 11 KOs) vaporized Leroy Newton (6-11-1, 4 KOs) in 2:10 of round one. "Action" Jackson dropped Newton twice, the second time for the count.

In another early ending, unbeaten super middleweight Marcus "Too Much" Johnson (13-0, 10 KOs) knocked out Jose Medina (14-11, 10 KOs) with a left hook to the liver at 1:57 of round one.

In the first bout of the night to get past the first round, unbeaten cruiserweight Francisco "The Wizard" Palacios (14-0, 7 KOs) won an eight round unanimous decision over savvy veteran Zack Page (14-19-1, 5 KOs) by scores of 79-72, 79-72, 78-73.

Super lightweight Angelo "La Cobra" Santana (2-0, 2 KOs) needed just 28 seconds to demolish Rasool Shakoor (1-3, 1 KO).

Hard-punching heavyweight Bermane "B-Ware" Stiverne (14-1, 14 KOs) manhandled Jimmy "Hurricane" Haynes (18-15-2, 8 KOs), dropping Haynes three times en route to a first round annihilation at the 2:08 mark.

In the opener, undefeated heavyweight Kertson "The Majii" Manswell (15-0, 13 KOs) needed just 93 seconds to desyroy Cerrone Fox (8-8, 8 KOs). Manswell punished Fox from the opening bell until the referee halted the slaughter.