Lynn Ball, 17 wins and 5 losses with 12 wins by knockout, for Ball's North American Boxing Federation's Heavyweight title on January 30, 1982, as part of the program headlined by a WBC world Junior Middleweight championship bout between Puerto Rico's Wilfred Benitez and Panama's Roberto Duran at the Caesar's Palace Hotel in Las Vegas. Dokes became a regional champion by knocking Ball out in round one. Dokes made one more fight before his first world championship encounter with Weaver, beating the strong (24 wins, 3 losses, 14 knockouts wins) Thomas Franklyn "Franco" Thomas, stopping Thomas in five rounds in the main event of a program that took place on March 2, 1982, at the Playboy Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Regarded as a boxer with superb hand-speed by experts such as Eddie Futch and with decent punching power, Dokes, who was at the time secretly also battling with a drug addiction, had 25 wins, 0 losses and 1 draw (tie) in 26 previous contests, with 14 wins by knockout. First fight Weaver-Dokes I was held on Friday, December 10, 1982, at the Caesar's Palace Hotel's Sports Pavillion in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Caesar's Palace Hotel at the time was going through a "golden era in boxing" of their own, with such major fights as Larry Holmes vs. Muhammad Ali, (a program in which Dokes also participated, knocking out Tom Fischer in seven rounds), Salvador Sanchez vs. Wilfredo Gomez, Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns, Wilfred Benitez vs. Roberto Duran, Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney, the rematch between Aaron Pryor and Alexis Arguello, Marvin Hagler vs. Roberto Duran, Hearns vs. Duran, Hagler vs. Hearns Leonard vs. Hagler and others taking place at the property. The first Weaver-Dokes contest was televised by HBO's boxing show, HBO World Championship Boxing. HBO's narrators for it were Barry Tompkins, Larry Merchant and Sugar Ray Leonard, along with the man widely considered at the time to be the real Heavyweight champion, WBC and linear champion Larry Holmes, as a special guest. Chuck Hull was the ring announcer for the night, introducing the boxers to the public in attendance. The judges, assigned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, were Jerry Roth, Carol Polis and Mike Glienna. The referee was Joey Curtis. The fight, scheduled for fifteen-rounds, started very fast, as both boxers came out of their corners looking to throw many punches in combinations.