Qawi Pounds Leon Spinks, Retains Cruiserweight Title on TKO in Sixth

RENO — Dwight Muhammad Qawi stalked and taunted Leon Spinks, repeatedly tying him up against the ropes before stopping him in the sixth round to retain the World Boxing Assn. cruiserweight championship Saturday.

Qawi, 26-2-1 with 15 knockouts, frequently grinned and exposed his chin to draw the former heavyweight champion’s punches, then answered with a flurry of his own while keeping Spinks pinned in a corner or on the ropes.

Referee Mills Lane stopped the bout with four seconds left in the sixth round of the scheduled 15-rounder while Qawi was pummeling his almost defenseless challenger.

“Qawi was really unloading, hitting real solid,” Lane said. “The last two or three shots buckled Spinks’ knees.”

Spinks said he thought that Lane stopped the fight at the right time.

“Every time a fighter goes into the ring, he has a strategy,” Spinks said. “Mine didn’t work for me.”

Spinks, who had to lose 1 3/4 pounds the night before to make his weight of 191 3/4 pounds, had a six-inch height advantage and four-inch reach advantage on his opponent. The 5-foot 7-inch Qawi, formerly Dwight Braxton, weighed 189 pounds in the first defense of the crown he won last July 27 with an 11th-round knockout of Piet Crous in South Africa.