DOUGLAS DECISIONS DOKES
Date: July 24th, 2004
Venue: Canton Memorial Civic Center, Canton, Ohio
In the main event, James 'Buster' Douglas, Columbus, outpointed Michael 'Dynamite' Dokes, Akron, over ten rounds to win the vacant Ohio heavyweight title. The score were 96-91 twice, and 97-90, all for Douglas.
These two men met in January, when Douglas won by disqualification. He was trailing on all the judges cards at the time, and Dokes was fuming, so this was his chance to get even. Considering Dokes said he really wanted to beat his opponent, you would have thought he would have come into the ring in better shape. He looked grossly out of shape. Anyway, to the fight.
The opening round was close, with both men showing neat boxing skills. Dokes just edged it.Douglas came out and won the next two rounds, suffering a cut over his right eye in the third which was stemmed by some good cornerwork between rounds. Dokes won the fourth, then Douglas won the fifth, by peppering Dokes with the jab, and making his left eye begin to swell. The sixth was a 10-8 round to Douglas when he dropped Dokes with a barrage of punches to the head. Dokes was up at seven and managed to shake it off as he won the next round. After the seventh though, Dokes was finished. He ran out of gas and began to carry his hands low. Douglas won the next two rounds and going into the final round Dokes looked like he needed a stoppage to win. A stoppage nearly happened, but it was Douglas who nearly scored it. Halfway through the round, he dropped Dokes with a strong combination of punches to the head. Dokes got to his feet only to be dropped by another barrage of punches. He again got to his feet and looked ready to be finished. The referee waved Douglas in and he trapped Dokes in the corner, landing a right-left combination to the head, just as the bell went, thus saving Dokes.
Douglas was in an upbeat mood after the bout, as he had the Ohio heavyweight title belt strapped around his waist. "I want Tyson next," he kept repeating. His father/trainer, Billy Douglas said he feels his son is now ready to take on Tyson, but with Tyson fighting Tucker first, and then a mandatory defense against the Page-Bowe winner, he knows his son will have to play the waiting game. "We'll probably take a keep busy fight in the meantime, against a Weaver or a Thomas." Then he left the ring to take a rest.
In the chief support, Tony 'TNT' Tubbs, Cincinnatti, won a questionable decision over Philadelphia's 'Terrible' Tim Witherspoon. The scores were 97-94 Tubbs, 96-94 Tubbs, and 95-95. "A hometown decision man," an irate Witherspoon claimed after the bout, and he's probably got a point.It was a close match, with Witherspoon throwing the more punches than his opponent, who just seemed content to throw one punch at a time. Witherspoon took the opening stanza, opening up a cut over Tubbs' left eye in the process. The cut was worked on between rounds and didn't cause Tubbs any further problems. Witherspoon took the second round, with Tubbs winning the third. The fourth was close, with the Philadelphian just edging it with his greater work ethic. Tubbs then won the fifth, Witherspoon the sixth.
Tubbs took the next two rounds, the eight close, but by now there was more clinching than punching and the crowd grew restless. This carried on in the last two rounds with aeach man winning a round apiece, and a draw looking a fair result. Then Tubbs was announced the winner.
"I felt I won," Tubbs said after the bout. "I threw the more punches." He didn't.
"Philadelphia, I'll fight you in Philadelphia." Witherspoon called.
"Anytime, anyplace man," Tubbs called back, before both men exited the ring.
Undercard Action.
Larry Holmes continued his good run of stoppage wins by halting Pinklon Thomas in the tenth and final round. It was a close fight until that point, with Holmes just edging it by landing the harder shots. Then in the tenth, Holmes dropped Thomas for a count of seven. Thomas clambered to his feet, and Holmes rained blows on his stricken foe. A left hook again put Thomas down after a delayed reaction. Thomas again got to his feet and the action resumed, only Holmes was the only one throwing any punches. Holmes was landing punches at will and motioned for the referee to stop the contest. Padilla, seeing that Thomas was putting up no resistance done the sensible thing and stopped the fight at the 2:19 mark.
"I want Weaver next, then I'm going for Tyson," Holmes said after the fight. Mike Weaver is the only blot on his 3-1 [3] record.
James 'Bonecrusher' Smith won a unanimous decision over eight rounds against Derek Banks. The scores were 79-72 twice, and 80-72. Smith dropped Banks in the seventh round.
Gerrie Coetzee, behind on all three scorecards, stopped Jody Ballard with two seconds left in the fifth round.
Lennox Lewis put on a devastating display of strength to KO Derek Amos at 2:36 of the opening stanza. He dropped his opponent with a strong combination right at the beginning of the bout, then didn't let his opponent off the hook, and knocking him out at the 2:58 mark.