Spinks smile

Roman Karmazin missed out on world title

Russian boxer Roman Karmazin was unable to defend his IBF junior middleweight world title. Karmazin lost to former absolute world welterweight champion Corey Spinks by decision: two of the referees in their notes gave preference to the American - 115:113, and the third recorded a draw.

Meanwhile, before the fight, Karmazin’s chances were considered somewhat higher. On the one hand, Roman has not entered the ring for exactly a year since he won the belt by beating Kassima Ouma. But Spinks, having lost the title of absolute world champion to Zab Judah, has not fought since February last year. The fight was supposed to take place in Spinks’ native St. Louis, but Karmazin was used to performing at foreign venues. Speed ​​and mobility are the American's main assets, but they were equalized by the Russian's powerful blow. In addition, Karmazin has always successfully boxed with lefties, and this was Spinks’s first fight in a new weight. In short, according to forecasts, Roman Karmazin was supposed to win on points or by knockout, gaining a decisive advantage in the last rounds.

So, when Spinks gained some advantage at the beginning of the fight, Karmazin did not panic. The American attacked from a long distance, using his speed advantage to avoid retaliatory attacks. Karmazin, it seems, set his main task for the first rounds to exhaust his opponent. Sometimes he managed to get Spinks, and in the second round the American could even end up on the floor of the ring. But Spinks resisted, and then carried out several successful combinations.

The more rounds the opponents played, the clearer it became that Karmazin’s plan was not working. Spinks had no intention of stopping and continued to avoid the Russian's attacks. If the famous Freddie Roach had been in Karmazin’s corner, in whose gym Roman was preparing for this fight, perhaps the Russian would have changed something earlier and everything would have turned out differently. However, the famous coach caught a cold somewhere and could not come. Maybe he didn’t really want to - Roman Karmazin doesn’t have too much money to pay for the services of such an expensive specialist. “Last time they paid me with a T-shirt. Perhaps it was made in Russia and therefore was very expensive,” Roach noted in this regard.

One way or another, only around the ninth round did Karmazin, realizing that he was noticeably losing on points, finally go on the attack. Spinks had prepared tactics for this case too: the American constantly went into the clinch and, on occasion, hung on Roman. This is how Karmazin later explained his defeat. “It’s all about the referee,” Karmazin said after the fight. - It was very difficult to win with such a judge. He simply did not allow me to operate at close range. I asked him to let me free myself from Spinks’ clinches, but he didn’t agree.”

Thus, Karmazin had only hope for his blow, that Spinks would sooner or later open up and have a chance to knock him out. This almost happened at the end of the tenth round. But the American again resisted, and after catching his breath, simply continued to run away from Karmazin. As a result, the advantage Spinks gained at the beginning of the fight was quite enough to win on points, and Roman Karmazin lost the title in his first defense.

“I was expecting that we would have to fight all 12 rounds, and I built all my preparation with this in mind. Every night I prayed for this victory. I just needed to get into the ring, because I was ready for such a result,” said Corey Spinks, who, both before and after the fight, did not allow himself to criticize Karmazin. In turn, the Russian was also fair with his opponent. “Spinks was very clever. I couldn’t get a feel for his tactics until the seventh round, and then he just brought the fight to the end. But it’s okay, I’ll work hard and soon I’ll be back in the ring again,” said Karmazin, after whose defeat Russia was left with only one world champion in professional boxing – Nikolai Valuev. True, Oleg Maskaev may soon join him. The first number in the WBC rating a month later, on August 12, in Las Vegas holds a title fight with the champion of this version, Hasim Rahman.

Andrey VDOVIN