Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage, Detroit's 39-year old IBF junior middleweight champion, retained his crown last Saturday night against familiar foe, Cory Spinks, the same fighter he dethroned via 5th round TKO about two years ago in St. Louis, MO.
This time around, the so-called rematch between the two old protagonists at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, CA airing via Showtime's ShoBox: The Next Generation franchise followed almost the same script as the last time these two fighters met in St. Louis, albeit this time Cory Spinks lasted two more rounds longer than their first fight.
Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage's magical night began with less than a minute to go in the first round when he suddenly unleashed a powerful overhand right to the face of Cory Spinks, sending the game challenger crashing to the canvas.
But Cory Spinks was able to get up, and desperately grabbed Bundrage for survival, an act that led to both fighters falling to the ground. It was an omen of things to come as the two fighters turned their championship duel into a rough and tumble, one with neither fighter giving an inch or so it seems.
The fight was both beautiful and ugly as both fighters began to grab and hold, clinching and sneaking punches in close quarters, trying to impose their will on each other. Spinks, the bigger guy, was keen on roughing up the smaller Bundrage, but the Detroit fighter was game enough to play the game that his opponent was playing as he began to sneak an uppercut or two in between hugs and clinches.
By the third round, Cory Spinks' right eye began to swell, a recurrent target of Bundrage's active left jabs while Spinks tried to take his fight to Bundrage's body. Still, Cornelius' right bombs were landing on target, with Spinks looking helpless in evading them.
The fight went on its usual phase with Cory Spinks hugging, holding and even wrestling Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage for control, but the Kronk fighter also gave his opponent a dose of his own medicine.
As the fight wore on, the fighters' conditioning was being tested; both fighters are showing signs of exhaustion, breathing heavily through their mouths while throwing blows few and far between, until Bundrage suddenly connected with a chopping right to the face that again buckled Spinks' legs in round 6. Despite Cory Spinks' desperate attempt to counter his impending doom by trying to dig deep into Bundrage's body, from that time on, the outcome was slowly but surely in Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage's favor.
The seventh round proved to be Cory Spinks' downfall as another powerful right hand sent him to the canvas. Showing his heart, the fighter from St. Louis got up and desperately tried to grab his opponent once more, but he ate another powerful right that sent him on the seat of his pants again with time down to 1:54.
It was like a fast-paced action movie from then on as Cory Spinks tried several evasive maneuvers to delay the inevitable -- slips, holds, backtracks and grabs -- but Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage would have none of it as he continued to move and unleashed a barrage of punches (got away with a few low blows) at his hapless opponent.
And with 27 seconds left in the round, Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage finally caught Cory Spinks with his patented right hand bomb that finally crumbled not only Spinks' body, but also his will to fight. Down on all fours, the referee counted Cory Spinks out as Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage went down on his knees, barked and celebrated his victory, improving his record to 32-4-0-1 with 19 knockouts.
Fight statistics showed that en route to the seventh round knockout, Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage outlanded Cory Spinks 32% (97 0f 301) to 30% (75 of 247) of total punches. While Spinks has a negligible margin in jabs 27% (35 of 132) to 19% (31 of 160), Bundrage connected more power punches 47% (66 of 141) to 35% (40 of 115) which was really the story of the championship fight.
There is no question in many boxing observers' mind that Cory Spinks (39-7, 11 KOs), after a long career, should call it a day. But like many fighters before him who refused to accept the call of father time, he was in denial: "I'm not goin' to stop my career, I'm better than that and I know that, it's just his night tonight, I take my hat off to him."
Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage proved that despite his age and the long lay-off, he is still capable of giving us a good fight on any given night. Bundrage is a rugged, aggressive, scrappy and unorthodox fighter who barks his way around the ring. He will always be a handful to any fighter out there, Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez included.
In the post-fight interview, IBF junior middleweight champion Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage barks at WBC light middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo Alvarez to take notice: "The dog is coming, arf arf!"
But only if Cornelius 'K9' Bundrage's handlers will not put his boxing career on the cold cage again.
Note: This article was previously published on Detroit Fight Sporst Examiner.
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