Sims Gets Off the Floor to Win Decision Over Calvin in 10 Rounds

Walter Sims of North Hollywood had no idea where he was 2 minutes 20 seconds into the first round of his lightweight boxing match Thursday night against Chris Calvin.

One thing seemed certain: He wasn’t on his way to the Forum tournament semifinals.

Guess again.

After surviving two first-round knockdowns at the hands of Calvin, the second one apparently putting him just a punch or two away from elimination, Sims rallied to win a unanimous 10-round decision over Calvin before a crowd of 3,605.

Sims lost the second round while he struggled to push the cobwebs from his mind, then floored Calvin in the third with a right hand.

Calvin never regained momentum, and the decision was sealed in the seventh round when Calvin, a Nashville fireman, suffered an injury to his right hand. His manager, James Mullins, said the hand was broken.

That the fight went the distance was an upset. Sims, 134 1/2 pounds, is 21-3-2, including 14 knockouts. He had won his last four fights by knockout.

Calvin (22-5-2) has 21 knockouts.

The three score cards showed Sims a winner by margins of 95-94, 96-91 and 96-91.

In Thursday’s main event, New Yorker Larry Alexander, 227 1/2 pounds, won a unanimous 12-round decision and the Forum heavyweight tournament by beating Mark Wills, 215, of Van Nuys.

Alexander is 31-10-3; Wills is 10-6-1. There were no knockdowns in the fight.

In the other lightweight tournament quarterfinal match Thursday, Alvin Hayes (27-2, 24 knockouts) of Detroit won a fifth-round TKO victory over Edwin Curet (21-6-1, 10 knockouts) of Brockton, Mass.