BoxRec

December.10.1982 Caesar's Palace Las Vegas,Nevada.
Michael Dokes wins the WBA Heavyweight Championship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLUGIpxSpS0

Quick KO by Dokes.

Great perfomance by the Michael.

One of the worst stoppages in history.Weaver was a notorious slow starter.
Though I would of picked Dokes to win.I don't think that this was the way it should of happened.
I think Weaver would of came back in the second through seventh rounds giving Dokes plenty
of trouble.Pressuring him.But in the end it would of been a 9th -11th round tko victory for Dokes.

One of the worst stoppages in heavyweight championship history. This came a few weeks after Larry Holmes nearly beat Tex Cobb to death for the better part of an hour on prime time television. And Keith Jackson was calling Weaver-Dokes because Howard Cosell (the voice of Boxing on ABC) refused to call another boxing match again and demanded boxing be banned in the U.S. (after Holmes-Cobb).

The referee was feeling the pressure of all that was going on in the sport leading up to that night and just straight up blew it.

Can you imagine if Pulev dropped Wlad in the first, and Wlad got up at two, and Pulev landed a couple more shots and they stopped it ... the hell that would come down?

They fought again five months later (because people were so pissed about the outcome of this) and went toe-to-toe for 15 rounds.

Caractacus wrote:December.10.1982 Caesar's Palace Las Vegas,Nevada.
Michael Dokes wins the WBA Heavyweight Championship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLUGIpxSpS0

Dokes wasnt a big puncher,but he was a terrific banger
as they say,its the punch that you dont see that can hurt you or knock you out.
check out the left Dokes lands on Weaver at :25
followed up by another left 2 seconds later that decks Weaver.
looks to me like Weaver may have been looking to the referee.
Dokes lands another really hard left at 1:02 that really clanged Weaver's cranium.

Probably should not have been stopped; though it was getting close. Weaver wasn't fighting back.
Actually McCall-Lewis was worse. At least Weaver got a chance to fight back after getting decked.

To Dokes' credit, though he looked pretty sharp.

I saw no problem with the stoppage.
(unless you wanted to see Mike Weaver get pummled from pillar to post
for an additional 1:57 seconds).

Ambling Alp II wrote:Probably should not have been stopped; though it was getting close. Weaver wasn't fighting back.
Actually McCall-Lewis was worse. At least Weaver got a chance to fight back after getting decked.

To Dokes' credit, though he looked pretty sharp.

I've never understood why some people think Lewis-McCall was a poor stoppage. Lewis was all over the place at 6 and 7, still staggering at 9, and stumbling into the referee (is a fighter considered up if they're leaning on the ref?) at what probably would've been 10 had the ref not stopped the count to evaluate him. Even after the fight he was still wobbling.

The stoppage was premature, but he was definitely hurt and not punching back. And some of those follow-up hooks to the head were landing pretty clean. If a guy is too buzzed to punch back he should take a knee because you are putting the ref in a difficult situation.

Probably would have been better to stop the fight the first time Dokes looked like was going to throw a punch Weaver's way. That's the way to go with a safety first approach. Now the fact that the ref let it go so long calls into question just how much hitting should be allowed in boxing. The way I saw it, Dokes was hitting Weaver a lot, right in the middle of a boxing match. In fact it seemed that that's what he was up to right from when the bell rang.

crusader wrote:

Ambling Alp II wrote:Probably should not have been stopped; though it was getting close. Weaver wasn't fighting back.
Actually McCall-Lewis was worse. At least Weaver got a chance to fight back after getting decked.

To Dokes' credit, though he looked pretty sharp.

I've never understood why some people think Lewis-McCall was a poor stoppage. Lewis was all over the place at 6 and 7, still staggering at 9, and stumbling into the referee (is a fighter considered up if they're leaning on the ref?) at what probably would've been 10 had the ref not stopped the count to evaluate him. Even after the fight he was still wobbling.

I think it was a poor stoppage because the ref asked Lewis if he was OK? Lewis had the presence of mind to put his gloves up to say he wanted to continue. He also had the presence of mind to complain immediately when the fight was stopped. If he was way gone he wouldn't have done that.

If the ref asks a fighter he want to continue, he should let him if the fighter indicates yes. Otherwise, why ask the question?
It also shows that referee wasn't sure either way if the fight should be stopped. He obviously had some doubt.

Maybe McCall finishes off. However, maybe Lewis holds on, and regroups. And of course sometimes a guy gets excited after a knockdown and doesn't put the guy away. I just think Lewis deserved a chance.
Don't really want to sabotage this thread with the Lewis-McCall fight. We can start a different thread about that fight if people want to talk about it.

dempseyfire wrote:The stoppage was premature, but he was definitely hurt and not punching back. And some of those follow-up hooks to the head were landing pretty clean. If a guy is too buzzed to punch back he should take a knee because you are putting the ref in a difficult situation.

That's kind of what I think. It was probably slight premature. The referee probably should have waited just a bit longer. If Dokes continued to hammer him, then it should have been stopped.

However, Weaver was not punching back. He needed to do something to show he was capable of defending himself. It wasn't a horrible call.

Poor stoppage, Weaver was a notoriously slow starter so I wouldn't have been at all surprised if he finished him a bit later. Mike was crazy like that, his chin was very reachable early and once he heated up he could eat bombs. Kirkland is like that now.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Poor stoppage, Weaver was a notoriously slow starter so I wouldn't have been at all surprised if he finished him a bit later. Mike was crazy like that, his chin was very reachable early and once he heated up he could eat bombs. Kirkland is like that now.

But Dokes was also a crazy mofo, and a little bit more than Weaver.That fight was his unless he screwed it up someway.

Dubblechin wrote:One of the worst stoppages in heavyweight championship history. This came a few weeks after Larry Holmes nearly beat Tex Cobb to death for the better part of an hour on prime time television. And Keith Jackson was calling Weaver-Dokes because Howard Cosell (the voice of Boxing on ABC) refused to call another boxing match again and demanded boxing be banned in the U.S. (after Holmes-Cobb).

The referee was feeling the pressure of all that was going on in the sport leading up to that night and just straight up blew it.

Can you imagine if Pulev dropped Wlad in the first, and Wlad got up at two, and Pulev landed a couple more shots and they stopped it ... the hell that would come down?

They fought again five months later (because people were so pissed about the outcome of this) and went toe-to-toe for 15 rounds.

I always felt that was one of the greatest exaggerations--- Cobb lost every round, yes, but it wasnt a one sided slaughter like alot of people made it out to be. However, because Cosell cried and moaned, and the fact Du Ku Kim died as well against Mancini, boxing was really getting criticized in the press. I dont know if that was the reason behind the "premature" stoppage of Dokes/Weaver, though. Personally, if you aint firing back and just allowing someone to hit you--- then you bet your ass you're gonna lose on a TKO.

Lewis is totally out of it at the point of the McCall stoppage. His eyes are glazed, mouth hanging open, his legs are jelly even after it has been waved off. Had the ref stepped aside, instead of propping him up, he would have likely fallen over and all this would be a non-debate.

Over 2 minutes left in that round, with McCall on terrifying form, fired up and bloodthirsty, and Lewis dazed and wobbly? Probably preserved his career, not taking any further punches in that state.

There is a filmed interview, I can't quite picture the specific period in my mind, certainly he is still an active fighter, where Lewis admits he was hurt by the punch and still hurt "for a long time".