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Spinks puts old family jinx on bad-boy Mayorga

On a night with plenty of stars, it was a new one named Cory Spinks who shined the brightest.

Spinks, the 25-year-old son of former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, used patience and superior quickness to pull off a Spinks Jinx-style upset over welterweight bad boy Ricardo Mayorga on Saturday night.

In doing so, he won a title -- and brought his famous Dad to tears.

The young Spinks, a clever lefty who doesn't hit especially hard but doesn't rattle easily either, captured the WBA crown with a majority 12-round decision in simple but surprising fashion.

Reacting calmly to Mayorga's flailing, unorthodox assaults, Spinks picked his spots and used radar-like anticipation to avoid getting hit, frustrating the fighter who has frustrated so many others.

Spinks (32-2) went down at least three times, most on tangled feet as he retreated from wild-swinging Mayorga flurries. Once, Mayorga landed a solid right to Spinks' abdomen as he backpedaled and Spinks fell down, but referee Tony Orlando ruled it no knockdown.

The victory brought Leon Spinks to tears in his son's corner. Uncle Michael Spinks, another former champion in the family, was among the sellout crowd of 12,346 who watched the eight-fight card in Boardwalk Hall.

"I loved it," a beaming Leon Spinks said afterward. "I knew he could do it if he put his mind to it."

Mayorga, who was riding high off consecutive victories over Vernon Forrest, said afterward Orlando cost him the fight, between the no-knockdown call and the two points he deducted from Mayorga for hitting low and hitting late.

Spinks, meanwhile, is looking forward to bigger things.

"I don't mind giving Mayorga a rematch but doesn't Shane Mosley and Spinks sound a little better?" he said.

Spinks' victory highlighted a night that also saw middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins stage his 17th successful title defense, which was another punishing, workmanlike victory -- this time over a game William Joppy.

Joppy, a 33-year-old WBA champion, withstood a beating that left his cheekbones grotesquely swollen and raised a knot on his forehead, bravely going the 12-round distance. With the unanimous decision, Hopkins ran his record to 43-2-1.
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