Cory Spinks welterweight titles in 1997. Spinks went 29-2 in his first 31 contests, only losing to Antonio Díaz (regarded as a controversial decision by some boxing analysts and ringside observers) and Michele Piccirillo, whom he defeated by decision in a re-match. However, Spinks rose to boxing stardom by unifying the WBC, WBA, IBF, and "The Ring" and lineal welterweight titles on December 13, 2003, when he defeated Ricardo Mayorga by majority decision. Spinks was a 5 to 1 underdog going into the fight with Mayorga. The judges scored the fight 114-112, 117-109, 114-114, favoring Spinks. Spink' first Welterweight title defense came
William A. Spinks again, and while including French champion Edward Fournil, the bet specifically the top-three names in that era of the sport, namely Shaefer, Ives and George Franklin Slosson. The challenge was accepted by well-known Chicago pro Thomas Gallagher (in a match that future champion Ora Morningstar traveled all the way to Chicago to see). Spinks was apparently not a fan of upstart cueist Ives in particular. Days after issuing his caveat-laden challenge, Spinks was described by an onlooking journalist as "very uneasy until the seventeenth inning" as a spectator at the 14.2 balkline World Champion challenge between Ives and incumbent Schaefer;