Cornelius "K9" Bundrage retained his IBF light middleweight title Saturday night with a seventh-round TKO against Cory Spinks at the Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino in Indio, Calif.
By Tom Casino,, Showtime
Cornelius Bundrage, left, connects with a hard left to the jaw of Cory Spinks en route to a 7th-round TKO victory Saturday night.
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Bundrage knocked Spinks down three times in the seventh round, putting him through the ropes on one occasion, before referee Rey Corona stopped it at 2:32 of the round.
It was a rematch of their first fight in August 2010, when Bundrage took Spinks' title with a sixth-round TKO. He has not relinquished the belt.
Bundrage (32-1, 19 KOs) overpowered Spinks (39-7, 11 KOs) from the start, putting him on the canvas with an overhand right near the end of the first round. Spinks seemed to get his legs under him in the middle rounds, but by the seventh round, he had nothing left, and Bundrage took control.
"I never get credit for my wins," Bundrage said. "They always say it's this, that and this. But I ain't the champ for nothing."
Bundrage landed 66 power shots to Spinks' 40, and connected on 97 of 301 total punches for a 32% connect rate. Spinks landed 75 of 247 total punches (30%).
Amazingly, Spinks led on two of the three scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Gwen Adair and Robert Byrdhad Spinks up 57-56, and Fernando Villarreal had Bundrage ahead 57-56.
After his first-round knockdown, Bundrage said, "It took awhile for me to get going, but once I got going, it all worked out for the best.
"I felt like I was going to get him, that's why I was kind of hardheaded. I knew in my mind I was going to get him, because you can't stand up to all that fight."
Spinks, a two-time 154-pound champion, said "My stuff just wasn't coming off like I trained it to be. The best man won tonight. I take my hat off to him."
Bundrage, 39, asked who he wanted next, said, "The Black Rocky, Ironman against Canelo, let's get it on. He's a fighter, I'm a fighter, let's get it on."
However, Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer said Friday that it would not be Bundrage against Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on Sept. 15 at the MGM Grand.
But he did say he said he would consider making a Bundrage-Erislandy Lara fight if both won on Saturday.
Lara (17-1-1, 11 KOs), the Cuban defector fighting on the undercard, won a unanimous 10-round decision against bloodied Freddy Hernandez in a 154-pound fight.
Schaefer told USA TODAY Sports that the winner of Lara-Bundrage might then be in line for a fight against Alvarez, the undefeated 21-year-old superstar.
Spinks, meanwhile, said he was not calling it a career. "I still hold a good future. I'm not going to stop my career," he said. "I'm better than that. It was just his night tonight."
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