BoxRec

How good was this guy? Somehow I haven't got any of his fights in my heavyweight collection but his pure record suggests he had talent and was a big puncher who only seemed to lose in decent company.

He almost beat that big lug Jorge Luis Gonzales about a decade ago. Pity

bollox wrote:He almost beat that big lug Jorge Luis Gonzales about a decade ago. Pity

And Snipes was on his last legs back then. Did he have big Jorge down in that fight?

Ah Mr Snipes, one of my favourite subjects.

Snipes was a big nicely built heavy. He was a very awkward & unpredictable style, would basicaly throw a jab, a few light right hand 'feelers', the out of no where- KABOOM!! He throw one of his rare but terrifying full force right hands.

He put together a nice winning streak in the early 80s, most notably knocking out granite jawed giant Larry Alexander in 2 rds, winning a 10 rd decision over heavily muscled ex-con & fellow undefeated prospect Jumbo Cummings, in a fight that was most famous for a despertae Cummings BITING Snipes!!

In his next fight Snipes beat reigning light heavy champ Eddie Mustafa Muhammad in an entertaining but one sided fight. Mustafa looked dangerosu but was as usual out of shape & didnt throw enough punches. I think Snipes right hand made a dent on him too.

Snipes then came off the floor twice to beat future champ Gerrie Coetzee in a wild brawl. If this fight had been scored on points then Coetzeewould have won, however it was in Jersey & scored on rounds, and because Snipes rallied on a tiring Coetzee down the stretch, he stole it.

Against Larry Holmes in 81 he decked Holmes bad (and i mean BAD) in the 7th rd. Holmes was hurt so bad most referees wouldhave stopped the fight (Lewis/McCall etc) and Mr Snipes would have been champ. But Holmes came back, survived the rd, and stopped Snipes controversially in the 11th (Snipes was staggered but did not go down & the fight should not have been stopped)

Thing with Snipes is, for some reason he didnt seem to concentrate in a fight very well. Fights that were there for him to win he seemed to find a way to lose, or at least let his opponent get into the fight when he had no business doing so.

In his 3 fights in 1982, he fought wild swinging Scott Frank in a brawl that should have been an easy fight. Snipes decked Frank late but this fight was declared a draw when it looked like Snipes won. He then had a very enteratining fight with undefeated Tim Witherspoon, where Snipes right hand did some serious dental damage to Spoon & had him out of action for nearly a yr. I though Spoon outboxed him fair & square but a lot of people think Snipes was robbed.

In hsi last fight of 82 he decked #1 contender Trevor Berbick twice in rd 1 & won an entertaining 10 rd decision. Berbick was coming off abig win over red hot Greg Page so this win elevated Snipes to #1.

In 83 Snipes fought Greg Page for the USBA belt on the undercard of Holmes/Witherspoon. Snipes got beat up in this fight & lost fair & square to the chubby but on form Page. In his next fight on the Coetzee/Dokes undercard he got cut & somehow let relic Alfredo Evangelista into the fight and BLEW a shocking decision(!!!)

Pattern followed in 84 where he dropped another upset decision to cruiserweight Ricky Parkey & after this he hung up his gloves for 2 yrs.

He came back in 86 and engaged in a long series of needlessly entertaining brawls. He bumped off a few stiffs then dropped a decision to Tyrell Biggs on the Bonecrusher/Spoon undercard. This was a good win for Biggs, because he had to ship some heavy hitting & decked Snipes HARD with a crushing right in the 3rd that would have knocked most heavies out clean.

In 87 he was back, put together a few entertaining wins & lost a 12 rd decision to Orlin Norris for the NABF belt where he was down in the 2nd & hurt bad. But as always, he got up and went the distance, and gave Norris a very hard time.

He scored a shock upset over hot South African prospect Johnny DuPlooy who basically collapsed in the 7th & walked back to his corner, quitting. He tried blast Snipes out but when he couldnt do it, and Snipes took him into deep water, DuPlooy losthis heart. Snipes was a veteran of hard gruelling wars & no way could DuPlooy out-man him inthis dept.

He followed this up with a 4 rd kayo of giant Lionel Washington in a ridiculously entertaining fight (where he knocked Washington clean out the ring at one point) and put together a string of wins that put him in the world top 10 once again. However in 1990 Snipes manager rejected half a million dollars to be Tysons comeback opponent, and instead got Snipes a fight for chump change against Jamie Howe where Snipes badly broke his right hand & was out of commision for two yrs. Snipes musthave eben very bitter about this.

In 92 an old Snipes came back for one last try. He scraped a 10 rd dec over the then formidable Garing Lane (Snipes suffered a standing 8 count in the 8th rd & was nearly out of it), followed it up in 1993 with a 3 rd kayo of a stiff, & gothis final shot on the big stage, the undercard of Bowe/Holyfield II against intimidating Cuban giant Jorge Luis Gonzalez.

Snipes was pushing 40 & well past his best, but fornicating hell he gave it his all. He tried knock Gonzalezs block off & the story that Jorge dragged this fight out to punish Snipes is complete bullshit. Snipes was by far the best opponent Jorge ever beat & he basically was unable to work out how to knock out Snipes. Finally in the 10th rd Gonzalez knocked Snipes down & the ref stopped it when he shoudl ahve let Snipes continue.

Sorry to ramble on mate but i have all Snipes fights on videos and despite all the times he went down this guy was an iron man, and the only two stoppages on his long record should not have been stopped. This guy had so many entertaining fights and is one of the 80s most underated fighters.

Interesting, thanks for the info. I knew he must be an interesting character because he gave so many guys such a hard time. Sounds like the kind of bloke that we could really use to liven up the current heavyweight division.

overhand_right wrote:Ah Mr Snipes, one of my favourite subjects.

Snipes was a big nicely built heavy. He was a very awkward & unpredictable style, would basicaly throw a jab, a few light right hand 'feelers', the out of no where- KABOOM!! He throw one of his rare but terrifying full force right hands.

He put together a nice winning streak in the early 80s, most notably knocking out granite jawed giant Larry Alexander in 2 rds, winning a 10 rd decision over heavily muscled ex-con & fellow undefeated prospect Jumbo Cummings, in a fight that was most famous for a despertae Cummings BITING Snipes!!

In his next fight Snipes beat reigning light heavy champ Eddie Mustafa Muhammad in an entertaining but one sided fight. Mustafa looked dangerosu but was as usual out of shape & didnt throw enough punches. I think Snipes right hand made a dent on him too.

Snipes then came off the floor twice to beat future champ Gerrie Coetzee in a wild brawl. If this fight had been scored on points then Coetzeewould have won, however it was in Jersey & scored on rounds, and because Snipes rallied on a tiring Coetzee down the stretch, he stole it.

Against Larry Holmes in 81 he decked Holmes bad (and i mean BAD) in the 7th rd. Holmes was hurt so bad most referees wouldhave stopped the fight (Lewis/McCall etc) and Mr Snipes would have been champ. But Holmes came back, survived the rd, and stopped Snipes controversially in the 11th (Snipes was staggered but did not go down & the fight should not have been stopped)

Thing with Snipes is, for some reason he didnt seem to concentrate in a fight very well. Fights that were there for him to win he seemed to find a way to lose, or at least let his opponent get into the fight when he had no business doing so.

In his 3 fights in 1982, he fought wild swinging Scott Frank in a brawl that should have been an easy fight. Snipes decked Frank late but this fight was declared a draw when it looked like Snipes won. He then had a very enteratining fight with undefeated Tim Witherspoon, where Snipes right hand did some serious dental damage to Spoon & had him out of action for nearly a yr. I though Spoon outboxed him fair & square but a lot of people think Snipes was robbed.

In hsi last fight of 82 he decked #1 contender Trevor Berbick twice in rd 1 & won an entertaining 10 rd decision. Berbick was coming off abig win over red hot Greg Page so this win elevated Snipes to #1.

In 83 Snipes fought Greg Page for the USBA belt on the undercard of Holmes/Witherspoon. Snipes got beat up in this fight & lost fair & square to the chubby but on form Page. In his next fight on the Coetzee/Dokes undercard he got cut & somehow let relic Alfredo Evangelista into the fight and BLEW a shocking decision(!!!)

Pattern followed in 84 where he dropped another upset decision to cruiserweight Ricky Parkey & after this he hung up his gloves for 2 yrs.

He came back in 86 and engaged in a long series of needlessly entertaining brawls. He bumped off a few stiffs then dropped a decision to Tyrell Biggs on the Bonecrusher/Spoon undercard. This was a good win for Biggs, because he had to ship some heavy hitting & decked Snipes HARD with a crushing right in the 3rd that would have knocked most heavies out clean.

In 87 he was back, put together a few entertaining wins & lost a 12 rd decision to Orlin Norris for the NABF belt where he was down in the 2nd & hurt bad. But as always, he got up and went the distance, and gave Norris a very hard time.

He scored a shock upset over hot South African prospect Johnny DuPlooy who basically collapsed in the 7th & walked back to his corner, quitting. He tried blast Snipes out but when he couldnt do it, and Snipes took him into deep water, DuPlooy losthis heart. Snipes was a veteran of hard gruelling wars & no way could DuPlooy out-man him inthis dept.

He followed this up with a 4 rd kayo of giant Lionel Washington in a ridiculously entertaining fight (where he knocked Washington clean out the ring at one point) and put together a string of wins that put him in the world top 10 once again. However in 1990 Snipes manager rejected half a million dollars to be Tysons comeback opponent, and instead got Snipes a fight for chump change against Jamie Howe where Snipes badly broke his right hand & was out of commision for two yrs. Snipes musthave eben very bitter about this.

In 92 an old Snipes came back for one last try. He scraped a 10 rd dec over the then formidable Garing Lane (Snipes suffered a standing 8 count in the 8th rd & was nearly out of it), followed it up in 1993 with a 3 rd kayo of a stiff, & gothis final shot on the big stage, the undercard of Bowe/Holyfield II against intimidating Cuban giant Jorge Luis Gonzalez.

Snipes was pushing 40 & well past his best, but fornicating hell he gave it his all. He tried knock Gonzalezs block off & the story that Jorge dragged this fight out to punish Snipes is complete bullshit. Snipes was by far the best opponent Jorge ever beat & he basically was unable to work out how to knock out Snipes. Finally in the 10th rd Gonzalez knocked Snipes down & the ref stopped it when he shoudl ahve let Snipes continue.

Sorry to ramble on mate but i have all Snipes fights on videos and despite all the times he went down this guy was an iron man, and the only two stoppages on his long record should not have been stopped. This guy had so many entertaining fights and is one of the 80s most underated fighters.

Good run down of Snipes career, a fighter I always enjoyed watching, great punch, and I agree that the stoppage loss to Holmes was outrageous... Renaldo was hurt but should have been given the chance to continue after making such a great fight.
Have to disagree with you on the Gonzarlez fight though, I remember it well and Snipes was game as anything but just couldn't dent Gonzarlez, and the big lug basically used Snipes as a punchbag all night, it was a very one-sided fight and sad to see especially as Gonzarlez kept smiling and leering at Renaldo who kept trying but was totally out powered and seemed to have little reflexes and no power.
This fight was a reason why I was so pleased when Bowe stompted Gonzarlez, who had taken such a visible delight in pounding a shot snipes.

silkov wrote:....I was so pleased when Bowe stompted Gonzarlez, who had taken such a visible delight in pounding a shot snipes.

Hee hee, yes I think quite a lot of people were quite pleased when Bowe battered the leering Gonzalez every which way. I remember his preposturous hairstyle hanging around his head as he slumped to the canvas. I have to confess to feeling something similar when Vitali Klitschko battered Herbie Hide into obscurity in 1999 after all the ridiculous things Herbie had been saying about Lewis, Holyfield, etc who were always "running scared"

Another tit-bit on Mr Snipes

In his 1990 fight against journeyman Jamie Howe he broke his right hand, hence I assume that is why he didn't fight again for another two years.

Also I agree the stoppage against Holmes was a joke. I am sure though it had nothing to do with the upcoming Mega Bucks fight with Cooney.

Another bit of Mr Snipes trivia is that he was taken to hospital after the Holmes fight, not because of anything done by the Champ but because whilst in the ring after the 'stoppage' his cornerman was cutting Snipes gloves off, slipped and sliced Snipes wrist open.

Chopping Right wrote:

silkov wrote:....I was so pleased when Bowe stompted Gonzarlez, who had taken such a visible delight in pounding a shot snipes.

Hee hee, yes I think quite a lot of people were quite pleased when Bowe battered the leering Gonzalez every which way. I remember his preposturous hairstyle hanging around his head as he slumped to the canvas. I have to confess to feeling something similar when Vitali Klitschko battered Herbie Hide into obscurity in 1999 after all the ridiculous things Herbie had been saying about Lewis, Holyfield, etc who were always "running scared"

Yes, both Hide and Gonzarlez were bullies, against Snipes Gonzarlez realised he was up against a basically shot fighter who lacked the armoury to hurt him and he took delight in battering Snipes... who was brave beyond the call of duty. I'm sure a peak Snipes would have koed Gonzarlez in about 5 rounds.
Hide has always been laughingly overrated... remember Barry Hearn saying that he would be a legend to rival Muhammad Ali!!!........aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!... :x :x :x :x :x :x

silkov wrote:Hide has always been laughingly overrated... remember Barry Hearn saying that he would be a legend to rival Muhammad Ali!!!........aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!... :x :x :x :x :x :x

Good old Herbie, he was always good for a laugh. I think I might run up a new thread on the British forum on the subjectl

If Snipes was active today I've little doubt he'd be champion... infact I'd say that for most of the top 10 heavies of the early 80s!.
Todays Heavyweights are so bad I can see it but don't wanna believe it!!!.

I have Snipes V Holmes on tape and though I haven't watched it in a while I remember something about Holmes being interviewed at ringside and someone - maybe Holmes himself - is combing out his hair with an afro comb when sSipes joins him (possibly uninvited) and a fight breaks out.

Anyone else remember this? I might have to dig the tape out and watch it again to confirm this (it was a good figh and would be worht seeing again anyway).

KOJOE90 wrote:Another tit-bit on Mr Snipes

In his 1990 fight against journeyman Jamie Howe he broke his right hand, hence I assume that is why he didn't fight again for another two years.

Yeh Joe- i already mentioned this. This was the fight Snipes manager gave him for chump change after turning down half a mil to fight Tyson.

Snipes had the stamina, toughness and big punch to wax most of the heavweight jokers today. Can you imagine him against Wlad? Mr Snipes would put him to sleep inside 2 rds.

As for Gonzalez- i disagree with you guys. I know Gonzalez was obviously winning, however he was at times exhausted & visibly out of ideas. He couldnt figure out how to put Snipes away. He wasnt 'dragging it out to torture him' which is the popular story on the fight.

Yeah anyone who could give a prime Holmes such a hellish struggle would definitely crush Klitschko, Ruiz, Byrd et al. No way do the 2 lumbering frankenstiens have the stamina to brawl with Snipes.

overhand_right wrote:

KOJOE90 wrote:Another tit-bit on Mr Snipes

In his 1990 fight against journeyman Jamie Howe he broke his right hand, hence I assume that is why he didn't fight again for another two years.

Yeh Joe- i already mentioned this. This was the fight Snipes manager gave him for chump change after turning down half a mil to fight Tyson..

Sorry missed that.

P.S. Overhand did you know Greg Page is out of hospital after his recent relapse?

overhand_right wrote:Ah Mr Snipes, one of my favourite subjects.

Snipes was a big nicely built heavy. He was a very awkward & unpredictable style, would basicaly throw a jab, a few light right hand 'feelers', the out of no where- KABOOM!! He throw one of his rare but terrifying full force right hands.

He put together a nice winning streak in the early 80s, most notably knocking out granite jawed giant Larry Alexander in 2 rds, winning a 10 rd decision over heavily muscled ex-con & fellow undefeated prospect Jumbo Cummings, in a fight that was most famous for a despertae Cummings BITING Snipes!!

In his next fight Snipes beat reigning light heavy champ Eddie Mustafa Muhammad in an entertaining but one sided fight. Mustafa looked dangerosu but was as usual out of shape & didnt throw enough punches. I think Snipes right hand made a dent on him too.

Snipes then came off the floor twice to beat future champ Gerrie Coetzee in a wild brawl. If this fight had been scored on points then Coetzeewould have won, however it was in Jersey & scored on rounds, and because Snipes rallied on a tiring Coetzee down the stretch, he stole it.

Against Larry Holmes in 81 he decked Holmes bad (and i mean BAD) in the 7th rd. Holmes was hurt so bad most referees wouldhave stopped the fight (Lewis/McCall etc) and Mr Snipes would have been champ. But Holmes came back, survived the rd, and stopped Snipes controversially in the 11th (Snipes was staggered but did not go down & the fight should not have been stopped)

Thing with Snipes is, for some reason he didnt seem to concentrate in a fight very well. Fights that were there for him to win he seemed to find a way to lose, or at least let his opponent get into the fight when he had no business doing so.

In his 3 fights in 1982, he fought wild swinging Scott Frank in a brawl that should have been an easy fight. Snipes decked Frank late but this fight was declared a draw when it looked like Snipes won. He then had a very enteratining fight with undefeated Tim Witherspoon, where Snipes right hand did some serious dental damage to Spoon & had him out of action for nearly a yr. I though Spoon outboxed him fair & square but a lot of people think Snipes was robbed.

In hsi last fight of 82 he decked #1 contender Trevor Berbick twice in rd 1 & won an entertaining 10 rd decision. Berbick was coming off abig win over red hot Greg Page so this win elevated Snipes to #1.

In 83 Snipes fought Greg Page for the USBA belt on the undercard of Holmes/Witherspoon. Snipes got beat up in this fight & lost fair & square to the chubby but on form Page. In his next fight on the Coetzee/Dokes undercard he got cut & somehow let relic Alfredo Evangelista into the fight and BLEW a shocking decision(!!!)

Pattern followed in 84 where he dropped another upset decision to cruiserweight Ricky Parkey & after this he hung up his gloves for 2 yrs.

He came back in 86 and engaged in a long series of needlessly entertaining brawls. He bumped off a few stiffs then dropped a decision to Tyrell Biggs on the Bonecrusher/Spoon undercard. This was a good win for Biggs, because he had to ship some heavy hitting & decked Snipes HARD with a crushing right in the 3rd that would have knocked most heavies out clean.

In 87 he was back, put together a few entertaining wins & lost a 12 rd decision to Orlin Norris for the NABF belt where he was down in the 2nd & hurt bad. But as always, he got up and went the distance, and gave Norris a very hard time.

He scored a shock upset over hot South African prospect Johnny DuPlooy who basically collapsed in the 7th & walked back to his corner, quitting. He tried blast Snipes out but when he couldnt do it, and Snipes took him into deep water, DuPlooy losthis heart. Snipes was a veteran of hard gruelling wars & no way could DuPlooy out-man him inthis dept.

He followed this up with a 4 rd kayo of giant Lionel Washington in a ridiculously entertaining fight (where he knocked Washington clean out the ring at one point) and put together a string of wins that put him in the world top 10 once again. However in 1990 Snipes manager rejected half a million dollars to be Tysons comeback opponent, and instead got Snipes a fight for chump change against Jamie Howe where Snipes badly broke his right hand & was out of commision for two yrs. Snipes musthave eben very bitter about this.

In 92 an old Snipes came back for one last try. He scraped a 10 rd dec over the then formidable Garing Lane (Snipes suffered a standing 8 count in the 8th rd & was nearly out of it), followed it up in 1993 with a 3 rd kayo of a stiff, & gothis final shot on the big stage, the undercard of Bowe/Holyfield II against intimidating Cuban giant Jorge Luis Gonzalez.

Snipes was pushing 40 & well past his best, but fornicating hell he gave it his all. He tried knock Gonzalezs block off & the story that Jorge dragged this fight out to punish Snipes is complete bullshit. Snipes was by far the best opponent Jorge ever beat & he basically was unable to work out how to knock out Snipes. Finally in the 10th rd Gonzalez knocked Snipes down & the ref stopped it when he shoudl ahve let Snipes continue.

Sorry to ramble on mate but i have all Snipes fights on videos and despite all the times he went down this guy was an iron man, and the only two stoppages on his long record should not have been stopped. This guy had so many entertaining fights and is one of the 80s most underated fighters.

Renaldo "Mr" Snipes had a cult like following, an appeal.

Don't know what it was exactly, but i always liked him.

I remember that fight you mentioned, he punched some 7 foot guy right into the ringside seats, i think i have it on tape somewhere, a truly classic Snipes moment.

Was Holmes more hurt against Snipes than he was in the second fight with Earnie Shavers? Surely it's not possible, but then I haven't seen the knockdown against Snipes.

Chopping Right wrote:Was Holmes more hurt against Snipes than he was in the second fight with Earnie Shavers? Surely it's not possible, but then I haven't seen the knockdown against Snipes.

I think Holmes was more hurt with Shavers, the reason Holmes was so shaky getting up against Snipes as he got up too fast and he headbutted the corner post falling over. Snipes had Holmes hur for about 10 seconds until he got his legs back. Shavers knocked down Holmes with an overhand right while Snipes floored Holmes with a straight righthand through the middle which totally stunned Holmes.

Chopping Right wrote:Was Holmes more hurt against Snipes than he was in the second fight with Earnie Shavers? Surely it's not possible, but then I haven't seen the knockdown against Snipes.

I would say he appeared more hurt by the Shavers shot.

Chopping Right wrote:How good was this guy? Somehow I haven't got any of his fights in my heavyweight collection but his pure record suggests he had talent and was a big puncher who only seemed to lose in decent company.

Good enough to floor Holmes, beat Berbick, have a close fight with Witherspoon, and give Page a tough going in the later rounds.