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CORY SPINKS REFLECTS ON CAREER AND THE MAYWEATHER FIGHT THAT NEVER HAPPENED

By Percy Crawford | September 19, 2014
CORY SPINKS REFLECTS ON CAREER AND THE MAYWEATHER FIGHT THAT NEVER HAPPENED

"It was close, man. I don't know why it didn't come through. We set it up after the first Zab fight. We got all up in each other's face and we were setting it up. When he fought Baldomir, he was supposed to fight me...yeah, I definitely would have presented a problem because I was naturally gifted, just like he was. I'm not taking nothing from Floyd, but I believe in my skills too," stated former undisputed welterweight champion Cory Spinks, who shared his thoughts on the current state of boxing, his own career, what he's currently doing in retirement, and much more. Check it out!

PC: How has retirement been treating you my man?

CS: Everything is going good, man. I miss the action, but I stay around things.

PC: Yeah, I saw you recently attended an amateur event.

CS: Yeah, I'm actually training some kids. I have the kid's program going right now. I have a kid's boxing summer camp. Things turned out for me.

PC: Do you still get in there and mix it up on the pads, bag, or spar any?

CS: I still do that, man. It's in the blood, so I love the contact. I like to give these fighters pointers and I teach them that defense is everything, man.

PC: As a fighter, you took your ring entrances to the next level. Adrien Broner and a few other fighters have pretty interesting entrances as well. Are you impressed?

CS: Yeah man, you know, I've been knowing Adrien since he was a kid. He always used to try and out-do me in dancing and everything. He just stole flava from different fighters. He stole the arrogance and everything from Floyd, he stole the dancing coming to the ring from me, and he added his own element. He raps sometimes when he comes to the ring.

PC: Is there any fighter, whether it be style wise or your in-ring or out-of-ring persona, that reminds you of yourself, or has that fighter not come across yet?

CS: No, I don't think they have come around yet. Really, it's just like Floyd; me and him grew up around boxing and we really didn't have to learn it. It was like a gift. We had to learn different tricks, but I already knew how to use my head. I had my stance and everything. I just had to learn different tricks and get older and get better.

PC: Speaking of Floyd Mayweather, at one point, you guys were very close to fighting and even had a face to face staredown. Is that a fight you wish you could have gotten before you retired?

CS: Yeah, it was close, man. I don't know why it didn't come through. We set it up after the first Zab fight. We got all up in each other's face and we were setting it up. When he fought Baldomir, he was supposed to fight me.

PC: Do you think your style at that time would have gave Floyd problems?

CS: Yeah, I definitely would have presented a problem because I was naturally gifted, just like he was. I'm not taking nothing from Floyd, but I believe in my skills too.

PC: Do you still watch a lot of boxing or do you just tune in for the big ones?

CS: I watch it as much as I can. I check out Friday Night Fights and HBO and Showtime. I'm a fan as well as a student. I keep up with it. People think I'm a big boxing fan, but man, my wife keep up with all that stuff. She always on the sites. She be coming back and telling me stuff if I ain't seen it or heard about it. That's where I get my info from; I get it from my wife.

PC: Christy is good people and funny as hell.

CS: She's something else.

PC: Give me a few fighters who you enjoy watching.

CS: A lot of people hate Adrien Broner, but I like watching him. You know who just recently impressed me though, Kell Brook. Oh my God, I became a fan. Yeah man, he is a good fighter. He real precise with his punches and everything. I became a fan. But I like to see the best fight the best instead of them taking fights against people they supposed to beat. I want it to be like back in the day when the Marvin Hagler's fought the Sugar Ray Leonard's and the Tommy Hearns fought the Roberto Duran's. All of the big names that was around back then, they all fought each other. I just want boxing to get back to that.

PC: When did you see the turn in boxing to where that wasn't the case anymore? Mayorga was a guy that guys weren't too particular about fighting. Vernon Forrest was dodged as well as Winky Wright. When did you see the sport turning into an "okay, not him; give me him" type of deal?

CS: It was around that time. It was around that time when... even though like Oscar would fight these guys. I like Oscar and I think a lot of people don't give Oscar the credit he deserves, but I think Oscar was phenomenal. He was "The Golden Boy" and he didn't get that name for nothing. He fought everybody in his prime. He fought everybody; Tito, Ike Quartey and Pernell. Some people around boxing don't even know Ike Quartey.

PC: "Bazooka" was a bad boy.

CS: Was a bad boy! He was very dangerous. I take off my hat to guys like that and Tito, who would move up in weight and fight anybody. Around bout the end of their career was when boxing started to turn and started to be... it's always been a business, but back then, everybody wanted to fight the best.

PC: We discussed a potential Mayweather fight, but was there anyone in particular you wanted to fight and never had a chance to?

CS: I wanted to fight Floyd and Oscar. I almost came close with both.

PC: After you beat Mayorga and he was supposed to fight Shane Mosley if he won, I wanted to see you fight Shane. I always thought that would be a great fight.

CS: I tried. They never would. I went to press conferences trying to get them to fight me; they wouldn't fight me. I guess the southpaw style gives people so many problems, they just stay away from it.

PC: Being a slick southpaw in boxing is a gift and a curse.

CS: Yeah it was, man. It just so happened that when I fought Mayorga, he was supposed to be crazy man and he was knocking out everybody and he knocked out the guy who was looked at as the top fighter in our weight class, Vernon Forrest; beat him twice. They thought he was gonna knock me out too and I prevailed. I lived by the old motto: I'll fight anybody. That's why I moved up to fight strong Jermain and all that because boxing is a sport and boxing is a game of chess. Who makes the right moves!

PC: You came from the era with your dad and uncle where everyone truly fought everyone, so it has to be even tougher for you to see some of the situations that go on now.

CS: Yeah! These guys need to go ahead and tell their managers and their promoters to make these fights happen. If they wanna make some money, fight the best people that's out there. That's how they make they money. They gotta fight somebody that is worthy of them making them huge paydays. They want to pinch and nickel and dime and everything; go fight 'em. It's like the guy at middleweight, Triple G. He's the man, so why not go and try and beat that man so you can become the man. Just because he's knocking everybody out, don't let that scare you. It might just be his night to fall, so go in there and take a chance. Boxing is a risk; be a risk taker. Just because you get knocked out don't mean you're not gonna win another world title. That's if you get knocked out. You know the difference between boxing today and boxing back then? You got scared fighters now, and back then, you didn't have any scared fighters. That's the biggest difference in boxing now is that they let the media hype these people up and then they get nervous and scared and they buy into these guys hype, but back then, they were some animals back then and none of them guys were scared to fight nobody, even though he just knocked out a tough guy like Roberto Duran and all that. Man, they weren't scared to fight each other. People scared to fight certain people, man.

PC: I appreciate your time "Jinx"; best of luck in everything you got going on and hit me up anytime man. It was a pleasure and honor to speak with you. Is there anything else you want to add?

CS: I just want to tell the boxing fans and media, don't let this sport die, man. It's still in good shape and it took a long time for it to get where it's at now. Keep it alive, man, keep it alive. Don't let these fighters let it die down because they scared to fight each other. The fans, the ball is in y'all corner, man. Keep it alive, man.



[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]

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