BoxRec

March.22.1981
Caesars Palace,Las Vegas,NV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r86ySB6c9v4

Boy the hair styles back in those days...lol.. I love this fight. Micheal Dokes had sickening had speed back in those days. I gave the fight to Dokes, but I have known some who actually thought Cobb edged it. Not something I particularly agree with.

Yeah,I couldnt help but notice Michael Dokes cool lookin 'Doo" myself.
If I was a casting director for a Hollywood movie,
I think I would have screen tested him to play a pimp in a movie with it.
He sort of had an"Iceberg Slim" look to him and the way he talked.

Caractacus wrote:Yeah,I couldnt help but notice Michael Dokes cool lookin 'Doo" myself.
If I was a casting director for a Hollywood movie,
I think I would have screen tested him to play a pimp in a movie with it.
He sort of had an"Iceberg Slim" look to him and the way he talked.

He was a damn good fighter. Those fast hands and boxing skills have become underrated in my opinion. Too bad he wrecked his career with a rough life style.

Did you know that Michael Dokes also use to design and make his own clothes too?
well,its true!

Michael Dokes was Larry Holmes sparring partner 1976-1977.
Here is what Holmes said about Dokes when he was ringside
at one of his pro fights.

"Michael Dokes is a very good boxer.
He's a pretty good banger,especially with the left hook,
and he throws pretty good combinations"

Here is the rematch almost one week short of 4 years later.
March.15.1985.
since their first bout,
Dokes was 8-1-1(6)
and
Cobb was 7-2(3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk7Aa3h3EVY

Caractacus wrote:March.22.1981
Caesars Palace,Las Vegas,NV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r86ySB6c9v4

Il duce! Welcome home.I missed u

Caractacus wrote:Did you know that Michael Dokes also use to design and make his own clothes too?
well,its true!

Yes he did and he used to put on quite a show during the GG tournaments at the old Armory. Am boxing back then was so popular then that the Akron area GG took place over multiple nights because there were so many competitors. Dokes would always show up early dressed to the teeth and looking like a pimp. And then after he beat up his opponent he would shower and quickly change back and hang out with the crowd that was left. He was an interesting character as well as a gifted athlete. Unfortunately, he feel into partying, which certainly wasn't uncommon then, but he continued it through most of his adult life and never was able to develop into the type of fighter he could have been.

Of course, I think a prime Dokes would have had a good chance to rule the current HW division. A younger Wlad may have been too much for him, but Dokes was an aggressive fighter who liked to throw body punches and I think the current Wlad would have had a lot of problems with him. In fact a prime Dokes would have been tough for any version of Wlad.

Dokes was a very inconsistent fighter. (Probably at least in part to the drugs). He really struggled with George Chaplin and Ocasio in their first fight. However, at times he was really good. He blew Ocasio away in the rematch for example. How about giving a prime Holyfield all that he could handle? Outside of Bowe, that was probably Holyfield's toughest fight during his prime.

Cobb was as good, but his chin and workrate made him a tough opponent for most guys.

Ambling Alp II wrote:...(Probably at least in part to the drugs)...

Possibly the understatement of the decade.

Ambling Alp II wrote:Dokes was a very inconsistent fighter. (Probably at least in part to the drugs). He really struggled with George Chaplin and Ocasio in their first fight. However, at times he was really good. He blew Ocasio away in the rematch for example. How about giving a prime Holyfield all that he could handle? Outside of Bowe, that was probably Holyfield's toughest fight during his prime.

Cobb was as good, but his chin and workrate made him a tough opponent for most guys.

Dokes definitely had unrealized potential. There weren't too many 6'3", 217 lb men in heavyweight history who had hand speed like that, combined with that work rate, power and boxing skill. In some ways he was the all around package that people wait for to come around maybe two or three times within a lifetime. But as you say, poor lifestyle habits, bad management and perhaps some other factors as well caused him to miss the parade..

check out this article from Boxing.com from 2012.

http://www.boxing.com/high_times_michae ... erson.html

I dunno either man,

but did you know back in 1986
a movie was in production to be titled TEX GIBB
and its star was to be Tex Cobb?

I think the reason the movie was never made was because Richard Pryor
pulled his money out the deal with a production company with Jim Brown at the last minute.

drunkenpiper36 wrote:

Ambling Alp II wrote:Dokes was a very inconsistent fighter. (Probably at least in part to the drugs). He really struggled with George Chaplin and Ocasio in their first fight. However, at times he was really good. He blew Ocasio away in the rematch for example. How about giving a prime Holyfield all that he could handle? Outside of Bowe, that was probably Holyfield's toughest fight during his prime.

Cobb was as good, but his chin and workrate made him a tough opponent for most guys.

Dokes definitely had unrealized potential. There weren't too many 6'3", 217 lb men in heavyweight history who had hand speed like that, combined with that work rate, power and boxing skill. In some ways he was the all around package that people wait for to come around maybe two or three times within a lifetime. But as you say, poor lifestyle habits, bad management and perhaps some other factors as well caused him to miss the parade..

Michael Dokes was not a legit 6'3". More like 6'2" tops.And his power was a bit overrated.

Ambling Alp II wrote:Cobb was as good, but his chin and workrate made him a tough opponent for most guys.

Cobbs abilities were several notches below Dokes. Dokes lack of "focus" is what caused him problems.

The more I watch of Cobb the more I'm actually impressed with the man. All things considered, that he didn't have an amateur background and he dived head in, and in his first 15 or so bouts was taking on Ken Norton and Shavers... I seem to recall, Dokes said Cobb was his toughest opponent during his prime. Cobb's problem was he was just an arm puncher, and wide open. He didn't have the power to keep guys off, or to make them stop doing their tactics. I personally think he was robbed in the Norton fight--- and I think the "one-sided" Holmes fight is a bit overblown, cus it wasn't that horrible as Cosell made it out to be.

Did you hear Tex Cobb talk in that interview?
Reminds me of the men in my neighbourhood how they use to talk back when I was a kid in the 1960's.
They spoke their mind without any fear of the PC crowd,
without being mean or hateful.
They told it'Like it is"
I dont remember too many angst ridden metro-sexuals in my neighbourhood back then,

Caractacus wrote:March.22.1981
Caesars Palace,Las Vegas,NV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r86ySB6c9v4

That interview with Michael Dokes sort of reminded me of this old skit from TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZVnve5wG0A

Nile4000 wrote: Michael Dokes was not a legit 6'3". More like 6'2" tops.And his power was a bit overrated.

Dokes is probably the most overrated boxer on this forum. He was pretty good in his short prime but come on, he had his hands full with the likes of Cobb and Ocasio. He did well against Holyfield but no version of Dokes, with or without drugs, beats a prime Holyfield. I also thought he lost the Weaver rematch. All in all I rate Dokes on par with Tubbs and Thomas, a notch below Witherspoon and of course not in the same league as Holmes or Holyfield.

hhaehre wrote:

Nile4000 wrote: Michael Dokes was not a legit 6'3". More like 6'2" tops.And his power was a bit overrated.

Dokes is probably the most overrated boxer on this forum. He was pretty good in his short prime but come on, he had his hands full with the likes of Cobb and Ocasio. He did well against Holyfield but no version of Dokes, with or without drugs, beats a prime Holyfield. I also thought he lost the Weaver rematch. All in all I rate Dokes on par with Tubbs and Thomas, a notch below Witherspoon and of course not in the same league as Holmes or Holyfield.

Dokes... in my view... is probably the most under-rated, and under-appreciated heavyweight of modern times.

The potential was all there. Everyone who faced Dokes said he had the fastest hands in the business. Only Dokes, got in the way of Dokes. Period. If an older, slower, off the drugs version gave Holyfield the greatest heavyweight fight of the 1980s... could you imagine what the prime, not on the drugs, version would of done? We wouldnt be talking Holyfield probably today. Maybe even Tyson for that matter.

well Dokes did have one problem.Fast hands but no real power.
I remember reading a newspaper article after the Dokes vs Lucian Rodriquez bout in 1980,
afterwards Rodriquez said somethin like Dokes would never be a champion because he
couldnt put any leverage in his punches.
He said Alfredo Evangalista had punched harder then Dokes.

HomicideHenry wrote: The potential was all there. Everyone who faced Dokes said he had the fastest hands in the business. Only Dokes, got in the way of Dokes. Period. If an older, slower, off the drugs version gave Holyfield the greatest heavyweight fight of the 1980s... could you imagine what the prime, not on the drugs, version would of done? We wouldnt be talking Holyfield probably today. Maybe even Tyson for that matter.

I guess we differ greatly on Dokes. Holyfield was better than Dokes at pretty much everything and Tyson would have knocked him out. In which fight do you think Dokes was at his best?

Fast but not quick enough to hit Ali

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlYtRRrY6iQ