Michael Dokes

Template:Short description Template:Infobox boxer

Michael Marshall Dokes (August 10, 1958 – August 11, 2012) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 1997, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1982 to 1983. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the heavyweight division at the 1975 Pan American Games.

Amateur careerEdit

Dokes won a silver medal at the 1975 Pan American Games. He lost a 5–0 decision to Teófilo Stevenson in the finals. He also lost a close decision to John Tate in the Olympic trials in 1976, after which he turned professional.

Amateur accomplishmentsEdit

1975 National AAU Heavyweight Champion
1976 National Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion, beating future pro champs John Tate and Greg Page en route.
As an underage 15-year-old, made it to the finals of both the 1974 National Golden Gloves and the National AAU tournaments. He lost to Leon Spinks in AAU final, and future Mike Tyson trainer Bobby Stewart in the Golden Gloves final.
Won 1974 North American championships.
Beat Marvin Stinson, who won the 1976 National AAU Heavyweight Championship.

Professional careerEdit

Dokes turned professional in 1976. He received national exposure in a televised exhibition with Muhammad Ali in 1977, which saw Ali clown and mug while slipping Dokes's punches, but also revealed glimpses of Dokes's potential.<ref>Template:YouTube</ref> He came to real prominence in 1979 by defeating veteran contender Jimmy Young. His career faltered slightly after fighting to a draw with Ossie Ocasio, but Dokes returned to knock out Ocasio in one round soon thereafter. By early 1982, after a first-round knockout of Lynn Ball to win the NABF title, Dokes was in line for a title shot. He was ranked #2 by the WBC and #3 by the WBA. Dokes became WBA heavyweight champion in 1982 by knocking out Mike Weaver in the first round in a match held weeks after the Ray Mancini-Duk Koo Kim lightweight title fight that ended in Kim's death. Because of Nevada State Athletic Commission instructions to referee Joey Curtis regarding the stoppage of the fight in light of the incident, some felt it was premature. In the rematch, Dokes retained his title on a majority draw (tie).

Dokes's reign as the WBA title holder was short-lived. He lost his title by a tenth-round knockout to Gerrie Coetzee. He was later knocked out by future champion Evander Holyfield.

Dokes was knocked out by Donovan Ruddock in 1990. In 1993, Dokes faced newly crowned heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe in his first title defense since defeating Evander Holyfield. Bowe won by TKO in the first round. Although Dokes and his team protested that the fight was stopped prematurely, it was obvious that Dokes was in no condition to continue after taking a vicious barrage of punches from the heavy-hitting Bowe. After a nearly three-year hiatus, Dokes returned to the ring winning three of five matches over a two-year period before retiring for good in 1997.

Life after boxingEdit

In 1999 Dokes was sentenced to between four and 15 years in prison after being convicted of an attack on his fiancée in August 1998. Late in 2008, Dokes was released on parole.<ref>Gambling Magazine Template:Webarchive</ref> Dokes died of liver cancer at a hospice in Akron in August 2012, a day after his 54th birthday.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Professional boxing recordEdit

Template:BoxingRecordSummary

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
61	Template:No2Loss	Template:Nowrap	Paul Phillips	TKO	2 (10)	Oct 11, 1997	Template:Small
60	Template:No2Loss	53–5–2	Louis Monaco	PTS	10	Apr 5, 1997	Template:Small
59	Template:Yes2Win	53–4–2	Doug Davis	PTS	10	Dec 10, 1996	Template:Small
58	Template:Yes2Win	52–4–2	Dave Fiddler	KO	2 (10)	Jul 27, 1996	Template:Small
57	Template:Yes2Win	51–4–2	Dave Slaughter	KO	3	Nov 18, 1995	Template:Small
56	Template:No2Loss	50–4–2	Riddick Bowe	TKO	1 (12), Template:Small	Feb 6, 1993	Template:Small	Template:Small
55	Template:Yes2Win	50–3–2	Barry Forbes	UD	10	Oct 27, 1992	Template:Small
54	Template:Yes2Win	49–3–2	Jose Ribalta	UD	10	Oct 6, 1992	Template:Small
53	Template:Yes2Win	48–3–2	Jesse Ferguson	UD	10	Jul 28, 1992	Template:Small
52	Template:Yes2Win	47–3–2	Danny Sutton	KO	3 (10), Template:Small	Apr 16, 1992	Template:Small
51	Template:Yes2Win	46–3–2	Percell Davis	RTD	5 (10), Template:Small	Mar 21, 1992	Template:Small
50	Template:Yes2Win	45–3–2	Danny Wofford	TKO	9 (10), Template:Small	Feb 14, 1992	Template:Small
49	Template:Yes2Win	44–3–2	Danny Stonewalker	TKO	6 (10), Template:Small	Jan 21, 1992	Template:Small
48	Template:Yes2Win	43–3–2	Tyrone Armstrong	KO	4 (10), Template:Small	Dec 27, 1991	Template:Small
47	Template:Yes2Win	42–3–2	John Morton	PTS	8	Nov 29, 1991	Template:Small
46	Template:No2Loss	41–3–2	Donovan Ruddock	KO	4 (12), Template:Small	Apr 4, 1990	Template:Small	Template:Small
45	Template:Yes2Win	41–2–2	Jorge Alfredo Dascola	TKO	11 (12), Template:Small	Feb 5, 1990	Template:Small	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	40–2–2	Lionel Washington	TKO	8 (12), Template:Small	Nov 13, 1989	Template:Small	Template:Small
43	Template:Yes2Win	39–2–2	Wesley Watson	TKO	3 (10), Template:Small	Aug 24, 1989	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	38–2–2	Bobby Crabtree	KO	1 (10), Template:Small	Jul 13, 1989	Template:Small
41	Template:No2Loss	37–2–2	Evander Holyfield	TKO	10 (12), Template:Small	Mar 11, 1989	Template:Small	Template:Small
40	Template:Yes2Win	37–1–2	Rocky Sekorski	UD	12	Dec 9, 1988	Template:Small	Template:Small
39	Template:Yes2Win	36–1–2	Curtis Isaac	TKO	4 (10), Template:Small	Oct 27, 1988	Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	35–1–2	Manoel De Almeida	RTD	4 (10), Template:Small	Jul 28, 1988	Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	34–1–2	Andrew Stokes	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	Jun 27, 1988	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	33–1–2	James Pritchard	TKO	7 (12), Template:Small	Apr 28, 1988	Template:Small	Template:Small
35	Template:Yes2Win	32–1–2	Eddie Richardson	TKO	10 (10), Template:Small	Feb 24, 1988	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	31–1–2	Ken Lakusta	TKO	7 (10), Template:Small	Jan 22, 1988	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	30–1–2	Kevin Porter	TKO	5 (10), Template:Small	Dec 17, 1987	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	29–1–2	Randall Cobb	Template:Abbr	4 (12), Template:Small	Mar 15, 1985	Template:Small	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	28–1–2	Young Louis	TKO	2 (10), Template:Small	Feb 16, 1985	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	27–1–2	Mike Jameson	UD	10	Aug 31, 1984	Template:Small
29	Template:No2Loss	26–1–2	Gerrie Coetzee	KO	10 (15), Template:Small	Sep 23, 1983	Template:Small	Template:Small
28	Template:DrawDraw	26–0–2	Mike Weaver	Template:Abbr	15	May 20, 1983	Template:Small	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	26–0–1	Mike Weaver	TKO	1 (15), Template:Small	Dec 10, 1982	Template:Small	Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	25–0–1	Tommy Franco Thomas	KO	5 (12), Template:Small	Mar 20, 1982	Template:Small	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	24–0–1	Lynn Ball	TKO	1 (12), Template:Small	Jan 30, 1982	Template:Small	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	23–0–1	George Chaplin	UD	10	Nov 6, 1981	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	22–0–1	Harry Terrell	KO	1 (10), Template:Small	Aug 9, 1981	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	21–0–1	John L. Gardner	KO	4 (10), Template:Small	Jun 12, 1981	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	20–0–1	Randall Cobb	Template:Abbr	10	Mar 22, 1981	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	19–0–1	Tom Fischer	TKO	7 (10), Template:Small	Oct 2, 1980	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	18–0–1	Ossie Ocasio	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	Jun 27, 1980	Template:Small
18	Template:DrawDraw	17–0–1	Ossie Ocasio	Template:Abbr	10	Apr 19, 1980	Template:Small
17	Template:Yes2Win	17–0	Lucien Rodriguez	UD	10	Feb 10, 1980	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	16–0	Earl Tripp	KO	1 (10), Template:Small	Jan 13, 1980	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	15–0	Jimmy Young	UD	10	Sep 28, 1979	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	14–0	Willie McIntyre	KO	2 (10), Template:Small	Jul 20, 1979	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	13–0	Greg Sorrentino	KO	3 (10)	May 12, 1979	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	12–0	Wendell Bailey	Template:Abbr	10	Mar 23, 1979	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	11–0	Ira Martin	TKO	8 (8), Template:Small	Dec 8, 1978	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	10–0	Eugene Green	UD	8	Oct 27, 1978	Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	9–0	Terry Mims	UD	8	Sep 26, 1978	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	8–0	Dan Johnson	UD	6	Apr 29, 1978	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	7–0	Abdul Khan	Template:Abbr	8	Mar 25, 1978	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	George Holden	Template:Abbr	2 (8)	Mar 3, 1978	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Ed Turner	PTS	6	Apr 10, 1977	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Charlie Jordan	TKO	3 (4)	Mar 6, 1977	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Dave Wilson	Template:Abbr	4	Jan 29, 1977	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Sergio Rodriguez	Template:Abbr	2	Jan 16, 1977	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Al Byrd	Template:Abbr	2 (4), Template:Small	Oct 15, 1976	Template:Small

Exhibition boxing recordEdit

Template:BoxingRecordSummary

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
1	Template:N/A	0–0 Template:Small	Template:Flagicon Muhammad Ali	Template:N/A	3	Apr 16, 1977	Template:Flagicon Template:Small	Template:Small

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Portal

Template:Boxrec