Ex-champion Dokes locked in solitary after injuring inmate

Monday, July 19, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Michael Dokes, serving prison time for a 1998 assault, is in solitary confinement at Indian Springs' Southern Desert Correctional Center for allegedly breaking the jaw of another inmate during an unsanctioned sparring session, sources inside the prison say.

Prison officials declined to comment about the incident -- or even confirm it happened -- saying that disciplinary actions of inmates are not public record.

However, an inmate and prison employee independently confirmed that Dokes, a 45-year-old hard-luck prizefighter once plagued by drug problems, has been in the prison's Unit 8 -- "the hole" -- since the incident about two weeks ago.

The inmate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the incident occurred in the prison gym, where inmates are allowed to work out and shadow box, but not allowed to spar with each other. The inmate said at least three corrections officers witnessed the sparring session.

An employee, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it is common knowledge in the prison that Dokes will spar with anyone to give them an opportunity to boast that they worked out with a former world champ. The only condition is that potential sparring partners not hit Dokes in the face.

The employee said an inmate punched Dokes in the face during the sparring session and Dokes punched the man in the face. At first, the other inmate said he was OK, then later it was learned his jaw was broken, the employee said, noting that the gym supervisor had gone to the bathroom at the time of the incident.

The injured inmate, the employee said, has since been transferred to the High Desert State Prison, also at Indian Springs -- a higher security-level facility, where a Las Vegas inmate died apparently from wounds sustained during a racial brawl last week in which 18 others were injured.

The Southern Desert Correctional Center employee said speculation at the prison is that Dokes could be transferred to the state maximum security prison at Ely for his part in the incident.

It is not known whether prison officials intend to file additional charges against Dokes, who was sent to prison in 2000 for four to 15 years for assaulting his ex-girlfriend.

Howard Skolnik, associate director of the Department of Prisons, said Friday he could neither confirm nor deny claims that Dokes injured anyone during an alleged sparring session earlier this month.

"I can tell you that Michael Dokes was not involved in any sanctioned prison sparring session because sparring is not allowed at the prison," Skolnik said, noting the prison system dropped its boxing program several years ago because of insurance liability concerns.

Skolnik said Dokes has been a well-behaved inmate.

Noted Las Vegas gambler and sports handicapper Lem Banker, a friend of Dokes for about 15 years, said Dokes has told him on more than one occasion that he was running the prison's boxing program.

"I feel real bad about what is happening to Michael because he should never have been in such a position to begin with," Banker said. "He should have been out on parole by now.

"It's a shame that many people know about Michael's bad rap but they don't know about the good things he has done. He loves kids. Michael did volunteer work with cancer-stricken children through the Make A Wish Foundation."

Banker, former honorary chairman of Make A Wish, said that after Dokes kicked his drug habit, he made public appearances at youth events, where he handed out autographed photos, showed off his championship belt and encouraged kids not to not use drugs to avoid the same mistakes he had made.

Dokes, who fought professionally from 1976 until 1997, winning several regional titles and a version of the world title in the early 1980s, earned purses that totaled more than a million dollars for his 64 pro fights. But after years of drug use and two felony drug convictions he claimed to be broke.

After he was arrested and charged with beating and confining his then-live-in girlfriend for more than six hours in August 1998 -- police at the time said the woman's nose, eye socket and jaw were broken -- Dokes told the court he had no money to pay for his defense. He was given the services of a Clark County deputy public defender who worked out a plea bargain with prosecutors.

Dokes pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping, attempted murder and battery with intent to commit sexual assault. In exchange, he avoided charges that he sexually assaulted the woman after the beating -- charges that would have carried a mandatory life prison term had he been convicted.

Even with the plea deal, Dokes had faced the possibility of a maximum 20 to 50 years in prison.

When he eventually is freed from prison Dokes will be on supervised parole for the rest of his life because of the battery with intent to commit sexual assault conviction.

The recent incident is yet another low point in the roller-coaster life of the man once nicknamed "Dynamite" Dokes, an Akron, Ohio, native who won his first 17 pro fights but later lost some high-profile bouts to some of boxing's biggest names of the 1990s. He ended his ring career with 56 wins, 33 by knockout, six losses and two draws.

Before his assault arrest, Dokes attempted to make a ring comeback as a professional wrestler known as "The Player" in Buffalo Jim Barrier's Las Vegas-based Buffalo Wrestling Association.