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 career 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 accomplishments 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 career 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. 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 four 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 boxing 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.Gambling Magazine Dokes died of liver cancer at a hospice in Akron in August 2012, a day after his 54th birthday.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes61LossPaul PhillipsTKO2 (10)Oct 11, 199760Loss53–5–2Louis MonacoPTS10Apr 5, 199759Win53–4–2Doug DavisPTS10Dec 10, 199658Win52–4–2Dave FiddlerKO2 (10)Jul 27, 199657Win51–4–2Dave SlaughterKO3Nov 18, 199556Loss50–4–2Riddick BoweTKO1 (12), Feb 6, 199355Win50–3–2Barry ForbesUD10Oct 27, 199254Win49–3–2Jose RibaltaUD10Oct 6, 199253Win48–3–2Jesse FergusonUD10Jul 28, 199252Win47–3–2Danny SuttonKO3 (10), Apr 16, 199251Win46–3–2Percell DavisRTD5 (10), Mar 21, 199250Win45–3–2Danny WoffordTKO9 (10), Feb 14, 199249Win44–3–2Danny StonewalkerTKO6 (10), Jan 21, 199248Win43–3–2Tyrone ArmstrongKO4 (10), Dec 27, 199147Win42–3–2John MortonPTS8Nov 29, 199146Loss41–3–2Donovan RuddockKO4 (12), Apr 4, 199045Win41–2–2Jorge Alfredo DascolaTKO11 (12), Feb 5, 199044Win40–2–2Lionel WashingtonTKO8 (12), Nov 13, 198943Win39–2–2Wesley WatsonTKO3 (10), Aug 24, 198942Win38–2–2Bobby CrabtreeKO1 (10), Jul 13, 198941Loss37–2–2Evander HolyfieldTKO10 (12), Mar 11, 198940Win37–1–2Rocky SekorskiUD12Dec 9, 198839Win36–1–2Curtis IsaacTKO4 (10), Oct 27, 198838Win35–1–2Manoel De AlmeidaRTD4 (10), Jul 28, 198837Win34–1–2Andrew StokesTKO1 (10), Jun 27, 198836Win33–1–2James PritchardTKO7 (12), Apr 28, 198835Win32–1–2Eddie RichardsonTKO10 (10), Feb 24, 198834Win31–1–2Ken LakustaTKO7 (10), Jan 22, 198833Win30–1–2Kevin PorterTKO5 (10), Dec 17, 198732Win29–1–2Randall Cobb4 (12), Mar 15, 198531Win28–1–2Young LouisTKO2 (10), Feb 16, 198530Win27–1–2Mike JamesonUD10Aug 31, 198429Loss26–1–2Gerrie CoetzeeKO10 (15), Sep 23, 198328Draw26–0–2Mike Weaver15May 20, 198327Win26–0–1Mike WeaverTKO1 (15), Dec 10, 198226Win25–0–1Tommy Franco ThomasKO5 (12), Mar 20, 198225Win24–0–1Lynn BallTKO1 (12), Jan 30, 198224Win23–0–1George ChaplinUD10Nov 6, 198123Win22–0–1Harry TerrellKO1 (10), Aug 9, 198122Win21–0–1John L. GardnerKO4 (10), Jun 12, 198121Win20–0–1Randall Cobb10Mar 22, 198120Win19–0–1Tom FischerTKO7 (10), Oct 2, 198019Win18–0–1Ossie OcasioTKO1 (10), Jun 27, 198018Draw17–0–1Ossie Ocasio10Apr 19, 198017Win17–0Lucien RodriguezUD10Feb 10, 198016Win16–0Earl TrippKO1 (10), Jan 13, 198015Win15–0Jimmy YoungUD10Sep 28, 197914Win14–0Willie McIntyreKO2 (10), Jul 20, 197913Win13–0Greg SorrentinoKO3 (10)May 12, 197912Win12–0Wendell Bailey 10Mar 23, 197911Win11–0Ira MartinTKO8 (8), Dec 8, 197810Win10–0Eugene GreenUD8Oct 27, 19789Win9–0Terry MimsUD8Sep 26, 19788Win8–0Dan JohnsonUD6Apr 29, 19787Win7–0Abdul Khan8Mar 25, 19786Win6–0George Holden2 (8)Mar 3, 19785Win5–0Ed TurnerPTS6Apr 10, 19774Win4–0Charlie JordanTKO3 (4)Mar 6, 19773Win3–0Dave Wilson4Jan 29, 19772Win2–0Sergio Rodriguez2Jan 16, 19771Win1–0Al Byrd2 (4), Oct 15, 1976

Exhibition boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes10–0 Muhammad Ali3Apr 16, 1977

References

External links