Spinks edges Latimore for IBF junior middleweight crown

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AFP) - Cory Spinks survived an early knockdown and captured the vacant International Boxing Federation junior middleweight world title here Friday with a 12-round split decision over Deandre Latimore.

Spinks, 31 and a former four-time world champion, was coming off two defeats in his last two bouts.

But he did enough to get the nod from two judges, 115-112 and 114-113, while the third saw it 115-112 for Latimore.

"I'm a little upset," Latimore said of the decision. "I dropped him in the first round. If the scorecards ended up that way it should have been in my favor."

Spinks improved to 37-5 with 11 victories inside the distance. Latimore fell to 19-2 with 16 knockouts.

The 23-year-old Latimore knocked Spinks down in the first, but said he wasn't surprised that his opponent bounced back.

"I knew he had the experience," he said. "I dropped him, and I should have dropped him again."

"I wasn't hurt, it was like I tripped or something," Spinks insisted of the knockdown.

While Latimore was strong in the early going, Spinks outboxed him in the middle rounds. While both were cut and appeared weary in the closing rounds, Latimore believed he had done enough.

"About the eighth or ninth round, I started throwing my punches more," said Latimore, who earned his first world title shot by winning his past eight fights since a third-round knockout loss to Ian Gardner in 2007.

"I slacked up a little bit in the middle rounds - that was my fault…

"I just thought I should have come out with the decision."

But Spinks said he did what was necessary in the 12th.

"I just knew I had to come out and perform that last round," he said. "I knew what I had to do, and I did it. I'm proud of myself."