By: Jim Amato
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.