CORY SPINKS vs DEANDRE LATIMORE

A skilled former champion takes on a determined younger boxer in a civic pride type of fight in St. Louis on Friday when veteran ex-champ Cory Spinks faces the relatively inexperienced but very confident Deandre Latimore for the vacant IBF junior middleweight title.

The meeting of St. Louis southpaws tops the bill on ShoBox, and it is an excellent match because although Latimore is not well known outside of the hard-core fight fraternity he seems to have great potential.

The question here is whether the fight has come a little too soon for the 23-year-old Latimore. Spinks, 31, has been a world champion in two weight divisions and he has fought at a much higher level than his opponent, over a long period of time.

Having beaten the likes of Zab Judah, Roman Karmazin and Ricardo Mayorga, as well as winning a championship fight against Michele Piccirillo in Italy, Spinks naturally feels he doesn’t have too much to worry about from Latimore.

“I’m going to take Deandre to school and show him the ropes,” Spinks said at a workout for the media in St. Louis this week. “I’m going to prepare him for what he can expect in his next fight and every fight after that.”

In other words, Spinks plans to give Latimore a boxing lesson that will be an educational but losing experience for the younger man.

This could happen. Spinks is a boxer of considerable skill, with slick moves and classy combinations. He has never been a hard hitter — he hasn’t stopped anyone in eight years — but he can confound an opponent with his cleverness. There are those who believe that Spinks did enough to beat Jermain Taylor in their middleweight title fight, and certainly he had the naturally bigger man looking uncertain and unimpressive for much of the fight. In his last fight, Spinks lost another heartbreaker of a split decision when losing his 154-pound title to Verno Phillips, and this was a verdict that surprised many people. (As I recall, the broadcaster Bob Sheridan had Spinks winning 11 of the 12 rounds.)

Latimore, meanwhile, has had just one bout at the world-class level, although that was a highly impressive performance when he stopped Sechew Powell in seven rounds in June of last year. Powell was the clear betting favourite but, while Latimore fought superbly, I did note while watching on Wednesday Night Fights that Powell had a “lethargic look” — and after the fight Powell tested positive for marijuana, which removes some of the gloss from Latimore’s win.

Nevertheless, Latimore fought a terrific fight, very aggressive and sharp, and he showed the improvement he has made since moving to Las Vegas to be trained by veteran Kenny Adams. Powell, who had trainer Buddy McGirt in the corner, did seem to rock Latimore with some hard left-hand shots, but he could never contain Latimore’s irrepressible drive for victory.

It was a huge win for Latimore, who had been boxing in relative obscurity up to then and who had been knocked out in three rounds by the cagey veteran Ian Gardner in his only loss.

Spinks seems to feel he has the psychological advantage as well as being the veteran and the bigger name, because he was a champion while Latimore was a novice who looked up to him. Spinks clearly sees this as master versus pupil type of fight. Latimore, though, says that the days of deference have long gone.

“He was one of my idols when I was coming up and he’s still one of my idols, but I’m the new kid on the block right now,” Latimore said over the phone from Las Vegas this week before leaving for St. Louis.

He said he will fight the same sort of fight that he did when he stopped Powell. “My mentality was that nothing was going to stop me,” he said of that fight. Training with Kenny Adams has, he said, made a big difference. “I’ve learned the boxing game and I’ve got it down pat now, and I’m ready to put it in play,” he said. “I’ve still got a little learning to do but I’m real close to becoming the whole package, that perfect boxer.”

Latimore had only modest success as an amateur but said: “I had a pro style all along, but I just needed someone to bring it out of me.”

The KO loss to Ian Gardner two years ago was, he said, simply due to inexperience. “I wasn’t even ready for that fight,” he said. “He knew all the tricks of the trade, and I was like: ‘Man, what is this? What do I now?’ ”

When Latimore was getting ready for the fight with Powell he sparred with Gardner. “He let me know that I was a way better fighter than when we fought, and that I was going to win that fight,” Latimore said.

Latimore seems to possess an innate will to win, and this, as well as his youthful energy, might be a big factor in Friday’s fight. He plans to keep on top of Spinks and not let him get comfortable. “I can’t let him set up, or he’ll pitty-pat me all day long and beat me,” Latimore said. “I’ll take it to him and make him fight my fight, not try to do too much but just enough to where I’m throwing more punches than he is and landing more, and that way I’ll get each round.”

Spinks, whose promoter, Don King, stages the show, is at a difficult stage in his career. If he loses to a little-known fighter such as Latimore it will not only a be a massive setback it might even mean the end of his career as a world-class fighter. His back is to the wall and I would think that he will be putting everything he has into winning this fight. Latimore, though, might have the right ingredients to win — the pressure, talent, punching power and, maybe most of all, the hunger for success.

Although I have Spinks as the favourite, I am going to go with Latimore for an upset victory. I think he can surprise Spinks with his strength and intensity. I can see Latimore aggressively letting his punches go, up and down, and keeping right after Spinks in such a vigorous way that he will overcome the older man’s smooth moves while pressing ahead for a close decision win.