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I was looking at Michael Spinks accomplishments and was impressed. Unified 3 belts and the first light heavy to become linear heavyweight champ. I was curious in his place purely at 175 history. Its not a divison I am too historically knowladgeable about. What was his level of opposition like, any notable avoided opponents, how strong was the light heavyweight era then, how dominant was he and how does he rank with top light heavyweights of all time?
A very solid and capable fighter...his record is diminished a little by the dodgey decisions vs Holmes (but he hung with the guy who is an ATG at heavyweight which is not easy to do) and the way he "fought" Tyson....it seemed to me, he just took one for the good of the sport in that fight, just so Tyson could get the linear title.
Spinks was a GREAT light heavyweight though
Mike Spinks ranks right with Bob Foster as one of the ATG at Light Heavy, one quick glance at his record shows he avoided no one at Light Heavy or even Heavyweight for that matter. Unfortunately, his Heavyweight run will be remembered for Tyson's 90 second destruction which I believe, was a mismatch in styles. Everything Tyson did well mitigated what Spinks was able to do to others...Of course, being cold and scared didn't help either. He sure wasn't cold or scared at the after fight party though..lol.
Yaqui Lopez
Marvin Johnson
Dwight Muhammad Qawi
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
Vonzell Johnson
Murray Sutherland
Is an impressive list of opponents. But i felt he was a bit lucky in the Eddie Mustafa Muhammad fight. Because Eddie Mustafa Muhammad had weight problems i heard, and he was also winning the fight until he got thumbed in the eye. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad is also another very underrated Light Heavweight, who had great potential but he was far too lazy.
To be fair though Larry Holmes was quite badly faded at that time. Even the early 40's version of Larry Holmes, was better than the late 30's faded one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lyle
Larry Holmes even though he was one of my favorites, only just about scrapped through against Carl Williams. In which he looked like a shot fighter. Just before the Michael Spinks fight.
And in the 1st fight with Michael Spinks. He didn't look good and it was one of his worse performances out of his title fights. He hardly threw a right hand and was too cautious.
In the 2nd fight he was much more up for it, he was aggressive. He released the right hand, and he deserved a clear cut decision. That fight was not close and Larry Holmes easily won by 9 rounds to 6.