Respecting "Mister" Snipes
By Jim Amato - August 12, 2010
He came within an
eyelash of upsetting the great Larry Holmes and
winning the heavyweight championship of the world.
For the better part of the 1980's he was ranked in
the top ten. By the time his career ended he had
crossed gloves with no less then eight men who at
one time held the moniker, world champion.
Renaldo "Mister" Snipes
was born on August 15, 1956, in Houston, Texas. He
fought out of Yonkers, N.Y. as he turned pro in
1978. He won his first twenty two bouts, as he
progressed quickly up in the rankings. In 1980,
Snipes halted Larry Alexander and Dwain Bonds. In
1981, Snipes made his move. He defeated the powerful
Floyd "Jumbo" Cummings. Then Snipes outscored light
heavyweight champion Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. Snipes
next met the hard punching Gerrie Coetzee. Snipes
was awarded what I felt was a terrible decision over
the South African.
The win over Coetzee
enabled Snipes to get a shot at WBC titleholder
Larry Holmes. The fight took place November 6, 1981,
in Pittsburgh. Holmes, a heavy favorite, dominated
most of the first six rounds. In round seven,
though, Snipes lightning struck and down went
Holmes. Larry gamely got up but he was in bad shape.
Somehow, Holmes would survive the round, much like
he did when Earnie Shavers had decked him in an
earlier fight. Holmes regained control of the bout
over the next few rounds. In the eleventh, Holmes
hurt Snipes badly and was all over him forcing the
referee to wave the fight off. Although Snipes was
in trouble, it seemed a bit unfair to Snipes that
the referee halted the contest, yet when Snipes had
Holmes reeling after a knockdown, he allowed Holmes
to go on.
Regardless of the loss
to Holmes, Snipes stayed in the mix in 1982, drawing
with rugged Scott Frank, losing a decision to
"Terrible" Tim Witherspoon and then defeating Trevor
Berbick. In 1983, he was defeated by Greg Page and
Alfredo Evangelista. In 1984, Snipes was outpointed
by future cruiser weight king Rickey Parkey. A 1986
loss to Olympian Tyrell Biggs pretty much pushed
Renaldo out of any title fight consideration. In
1988, Snipes lost to another future cruiser weight
champion in Orlin Norris.
Snipes would make one
more attempt to resurrect his career as he put
together a ten fight win streak that included a KO
win over Johnny DuPlooy. Finally, in 1993, Renaldo's
career came to an end as he was soundly beaten and
stopped by an up and coming Jorge Luis Gonzalez.
Renaldo finished his
highly respectable career with 48 fights. His final
ledger was 39-8-1. He scored 22 knockouts while he
was only stopped twice, by Holmes and Gonzalez. That
says a lot considering the competition he met. The
eight champions he met were Holmes, Coetzee, Page,
Witherspoon, Berbick, Norris, Parkey and Eddie
Mustafa Muhammad. He also met three others that
fought for the heavyweight title in Scott Frank,
Evangelista and Biggs. Needless to say, Mr. Snipes
traveled in some pretty fast company.
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