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
Michael Spinks vs. Dwight Muhammad Qawi dramatic backgrounds: two months before, Spinks' longtime girlfriend, who was the mother of his only daughter, had died after a car accident. On fight night, Spinks' two-year-old daughter, unaware that her mother had died, walked into Spinks' locker room and asked when would her mother show up to see the fight. Spinks cried, but he was able to keep his composure. Qawi had been better known to most fans as Dwight Braxton. He still had not talked much in public about his name change and his Muslim faith. About seven days before the fight, he revealed that his doctors had