[kenyan_cheena]

AMERICAN | PUGILIST

*** Published bi-weekly out of Chicago, Illinois since 1950 ***

Monday 26 June 2006
Volume 57, Edition 13

ONE LAST SHOT
AT GLORY FOR DOKES

Story by Larry Masters

On Friday night Ohio's Michael Dokes returns to the ring for what, in his own words, is the "biggest fight" of his life against former WBC Champion Ken Norton in the quarter-finals of the International Boxing League's World Heavyweight Championship tournament. The 33 year-old has not fought since December 2004 when he was stopped in three rounds by Andrew Golota, a defeat that in the opinion of most signalled the end of the road for him. But back in April IBL president James Molk gave Dokes a chance to extend his career, personally calling him and not only offering him a one-year contract but also stating that he wanted him to take part in the league's tournament to crown their first world heavyweight champion.

Dokes thought it was some kind of crazy prank call at first. Living in modest accomodation and working at a local factory in his hometown of Akron, boxing had been the farthest thing from his mind for some months. But after realising that Molk was entirely serious he accepted the offer, humbled by the league president's words of praise and admiration. Molk spoke of his sadness and frustration back in October '99 when Dokes was robbed of the undisputed World Heavyweight Championship challenging Laurence Mays. Dokes appeared to defeat him but lost the bout by split decision. Reminiscing over that infamous contest brought back some painful memories for Dokes but in the days after their phone conversation he used it and other disappointments to push himself as he resumed training.

It must be said that Dokes has had more than his fair share of misfortune and near-misses during his career. Starting with the slimmest of defeats in the gold medal match at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and moving through his pro career Dokes has never really been able to "get over the hump". After entering the final round with a three-point lead he lost 22-21 to Cuba's Juan Rodrigues in Atlanta and had to settle for the silver medal. He immediately turned professional and went through the first couple years of his career undefeated, winning the NABF title, accumulating a 28-0 record and earning himself the nickname "Dynamite" and a shot at Mays' WBC, WBA and IBF belts. After the controversial result a rematch was held in March 2000. Most thought Dokes would sweep the floor with the aging champion but Mays dug deep to produce what ended up being the last great performance of his career. He dominated the fight from the opening bell and stopped a cut, bruised and swollen Dokes late in the 9th round.

After those shattering back-to-back defeats Dokes stepped away from the sport for almost twelve months. During that time he learned that his promoter Gerry Goldman had embezzled a large proportion of his prize money from the two Mays bouts. Dokes severed ties with the promoter soon after. When he returned to the ring he was a man on a mission and won his next five bouts by knockout before challenging Donnie Bates for the WBC crown in September 2002. Controlling most of the fight, it looked like Dokes' moment in the sun had finally arrived but once again he was screwed by a horrendous piece of judging. Bates retained the title after the fight was declared a majority draw, one judge favouring Dokes 117-112 but the other two both scoring it even at 114-114. To make matters worse Dokes suffered a shoulder injury while training for a rematch that was to be held in May 2003. It saw him out of action until August. In the meantime Bates retained the title with a win over Louisville's Frankie Goddard.

In another example of WBC incompetence, the organisation forced Dokes to earn his rematch with Bates by putting him up against rising Sydney gold medallist Tyrell Biggs in a September elimination bout. Dokes struggled to get motivated for the fight, rightfully insisting that it was unnecessary and he should have received a shot at Bates as soon as he had recovered from his injury. He looked listless and uninterested for most of the contest, which Biggs won by a comfortable unanimous decision. The Philadelphia native went on to be TKOd by Bates the following March in what turned out to be Bates' final successful defense of the title, Ken Norton obliterating him inside of three rounds to take the strap in October.

Meanwhile, Dokes commenced a steady descent towards oblivion in the aftermath of the loss to Biggs. His confidence, enthusiasm and optimism had been stripped away by the quartet of disheartening results and during the next fifteen months he fought four times, going 0-3-1 in those bouts. He had developed a serious drinking problem and struggled to train properly for each fight, two of which were against rising contenders in the Nigerian Ike Ibeabuchi and, in his most recent bout, Poland's Golota. After the pummeling he took in that fight Dokes' record stood at 33-6-2(24), meaning that in his last six bouts he was 0-4-2. As mentioned earlier, the Golota contest appeared to signal the end of Dokes' career. He looked spent, shot, washed-up, with nothing left to give. And at just 32 years of age. That assessment prompted many to ask what Molk was thinking when he went out of his way to involve the silver medallist in the IBL.

Molk has confirmed since that he believes in second chances and in his opinion, Michael Dokes deserves a second chance. In this writer's opinion it'll be Dokes' only chance but when I spoke to him last week I found a man who appears to be grabbing it by the scruff of the neck and making a real fist of it. Dokes has duplicated the training regime of the man he's scheduled to face by rising at 5.30 every morning and running mile after mile through the quiet and dark streets of Akron. Thanks to the IBL contract he's been able to quit his factory job and is training full-time, spending hours at the gym each day to get himself back into fighting shape.

"I feel like Mr. Molk has done more for me than just giving my career another chance," Dokes said. "I think he's given me a second chance at life, also. I've already said it a bunch of times since April, you know? I was on the scrap heap. Done. Finished. Yeah, I may have had some setbacks and suffered injustices but that doesn't excuse the way I let everything go down the toilet after the Bates fight. I should o' schooled Biggs but I had already lost that fight in my mind before I stepped in the ring. Everything after that is like some terrible nightmare. Sittin' here today it's hard for me to believe it even happened."

Dokes is only too aware of the fact that Norton is an unbackable favourite to win Friday's fight but that hasn't stopped him from pushing himself beyond exhaustion in preparation for it.

"This is the biggest moment of my career, no doubt," he said, running a hand over his cornrows. "Bigger than the Olympics, bigger than those title fights. It ain't for a title but if I can get past Kenny Norton I'll prove to everyone that I've still got what it takes, that I can beat anyone. And if I lose, well, no one's expecting me to win, anyway. And I'll still have another twelve months of fightin' ahead of me. Mr. Molk guaranteed I'd be fightin' at least four times during my contract term regardless of what happens on Friday and that just excites me. It's gonna be like how it was when I was comin' up back in '97 and '98."

As others have said, Dokes is one of a number of American heavyweights that are now closing in on the end of their careers and have "underachieved" during them. Two of the others in Tyrell Biggs and Ray Mercer will also be in action on Friday and Dokes told me that he was wondering recently why it was they they'd struggled to live up to the expectations that Olympic medals had brought down upon them.

"Tyrell, he's still got some good years left in him," Dokes said. "But he's gotta get his act together quick or he could turn out like I did. He had that one shot against Bates and didn't take it. He's struggled ever since and it ain't gonna be any easier against Haynes. That brother could destroy him easily so T's gotta be real smart in that fight. Real smart and real quick. Same for Ray against Anyukov. I don't envy him one bit havin' to go up 'gainst that giant. But I'll be hopin' and prayin' for both of 'em, without a doubt. It's gonna be hard for all three of us 'cause if we fail it'll just lead to people havin' more ammo to shoot us down, to say we're through. I ain't about to let that happen so I'll be doin' my best to shock the world."

In all reality Dokes' chances of upsetting Ken Norton are slim, but that won't stop a large section of the boxing following public from hoping for a miracle come Friday night in San Diego. After visiting with the man I am proud to say that I'll be numbered amongst them...