12.05.06 – Sylvester Stallone may want to cast 168 pounder Joey “The KO Kid” Spina in the next installment of his Rocky series. In one of the most dramatic, come from behind KO’s in recent memory, Spina stopped The Contender alumni Jesse Brinkley in the 11th round on ESPN 2’s Wednesday Night Fights..
Spina, behind on all three scorecards received some blunt instruction from his trainer, former light heavyweight champion, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, “You’re behind, Joey. You need to knock him out to win.!”
With a scowl on his face and malice in his heart, Spina walked down a tiring Jesse Brinkley. As Brinkley stepped straight back, Spina stepped in with his version of the Mickey Ward left hook to the body.
With a reaction that looked more like he was shot or stabbed, Brinkley stumbled backwards looking at his right side as if there was a shank sticking out.
Seizing the moment, Spina pounced on Brinkley and landed several well placed shots, punctuated with a right hook to the body that dropped Brinkley to a knee.
In what looked like a time-out during the NBA playoffs, Brinkley was afforded an unusual and unexplainable amount of time to recover as his corner rinsed and replaced his mouthpiece that Brinkley spat-out during the body assault. Referee Mike Ortega and the commission should be chided, not only for the extended break, but for allowing Brinkley’s corner to offer instructions and, get this, water!
Alas, the extended respite would not be enough to save Brinkley. Spina jumped right on Brinkley as the action resumed and pounded a helpless Brinkley as referee Mike Ortega called a halt to the action at 1:50 of round 11.
“I told everyone that I was not going to lose this fight,” said a bruised and battered Spina. “I worked too hard for this, harder than he did and you were going to have to kill me to beat me.”
According to insiders, Spina may have fractured four fingers on his left hand in training which might explain why he took two weeks off from sparring.
So what’s next for the KO Kid? “I need to get back in the gym and work on the things I did wrong,” said a humble Spina. “As far as opponents, I said I wanted to fight all the Contenders and beat them one-by-one. It’ll be up to my managers and we’ll do what makes sense for my career.”
To that point, Spina’s co-manager, Patrick Doljanin added, “Joey redefined courage, guts, grit and determination. My business partner Albert Falcon and I will sit down with Joey and Mustafa and discuss what our next move is.”
“Joey’s stock went up from this performance and he’s bankable in terms of everything he brings to the table, including the intangibles. It’s all about dollars and cents. Simply put: if it makes dollars, it makes sense.”