Michael Spinks as a heavyweight

He was very good.

He just faced a peak Tyson who was younger, faster, and much more powerful. Plus, he was mentally not up to the task, either. A one year layoff didn't help, either.

It's hard to say, though, that the version of Spinks that was blown out by Tyson would have done well against any ATG Heavies. He looked horrible. Yes, much of that may have been the opponent, but he could have regressed somewhat from the level he showed against Holmes.

 

Spinks is hard to place at heavyweight because quite simply he avoided contenders and we don't have a foolproof barometer to go on. He spared numerous contenders and certainly admitted he was struggling and at one point considered pulling the pin on his plans for the division.

His effort against Holmes in their initial encounter was very good but we are talking about a Holmes who yhad been on the downslide for years and had long been considered ripe for the taking. He had avoided the tough fights for some time and thought he was again against Spinks who was a 6-1 underdog. Spinks fought well and was tactically perfect. I think it would be fair to say Holmes vastly underestimated Michael and was surprised to say the least. He came in looking in better shape and mental condition in the rematch where the majority i think believe Holmes won, tho not exactly impressively.

I don't think Spinks was going to last long at heavyweight and he probably knew it too. He took an easy defense and then went straight for the big money vs Cooney instead of Tucker. Cooney had fought for a total of 1.26s in the previous 3 years and tho a threat power wise was going to struggle against Spinks elusiveness and sharpness. It was an impressive performance but Cooney's credentials of that time are obviously very questionable.

Basically if Spinks fought a few top 10 contenders i think he would have been vulnerable. I think he would likely get by a Berbick but Page, Witherspoon and Thomas would have been favored to beat him. I don't think his durability would hold up at Heavyweight over time.

You could push him toward very good, i think he'd beat some contenders and lose to some. I think he'd be treading on eggshells vs good hitters and would not be able to afford defensive mistakes.

 

Copied this down from a Spinks interview in an early 80s Ring issue (forget which one), where Spinks talks about doing well against Cobb and Witherspoon in sparring but struggling against Greg Page:

“I hit Tex Cobb and he told me, “You had me blinkin’ there, buddy,;” laughs Michael. “He said I put a dip in his knees. “I worked with Witherspoon in ’82 and I did fairy well. I did extremely well, to tell you the truth. He knew I was there and I got respect. I was impressed with my performance.”

“I’d have to say Page gave me more problems than the other two. He’s just too big. He tried to hurt me. I landed some good punches, but Page just had too much body. Between Witherspoon and Page, I don’t think Witherspoon hits as hard as Page.”

 

Pretty sure i copied that into here ages ago at one point. Certainly good insights.

 

FYI, just found the issue (July 1984, p. 24 & p.26)

 

Great work Kev.

 

The heavyweight division will always be more challenging to any man than the light heavyweight title or cruiserweight title, the competition in its consistently been better.
I'e always been impressed by not natural heavyweights that go into the division, sprinks natural weight would be light heavyweight, but he still beat some bad@ss big dudes. Sprinks has never really been impressive to watch, nothing really going for him but he would always find a way to win. Tyson took everything from him when we saw sprinks scarred out his mind. It was phenomenal that he managed to beat holmes, but he was never as good a fighter as Holmes. But I agree the Tyson fight did give him a unfair rep. Although it wasn't anything phenomenal to watch it is impressive that he beat Holmes and cooney

 

I rate him just ahead of Tunney. He moved up in weight and twice beat a better and more active dominant Champion and followed it with an emphatic victory over a once-beaten, dangerous title challenger.

 

Michael Spinks was like John Ruiz. He would probably hold his own against
all smaller HW Champions but a Tyson , David Tua , Sonny Liston fighter
would blast him out early every time.

 

Can't rate him as a heavyweight.

His 4-1 record above 175 pounds is flimsy.
An exceptional debut at the weight, outpointing an ageing Holmes and that's it ....

He was lucky to get the decision in the rematch.

Tangstad and Cooney were crap.

He showed nothing against Tyson.

That's the lot.

 

Absolutely.

And there were those sparring stories about the guy having major problems with heavies. And I still cannot believe Futch used Alex Stewart as his main sparring partner for the Tyson bout. That's who you would use for a bout against a contender like a David Bey. Hardly the guy to prepare for what Tyson was going to bring into the ring when the bell rang for round 1.