Spinks apparently had a hard time dealing with Page's size when they sparred (for whatever that's worth): https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/michael-spinks-as-a-heavyweight.599440/
Page would be down in three It would depend on what part of his career Page had a good profile in Europe as he was one of the Americans that Eurosport would show some of his fights back in the day
But was this before Spinks built himself up to heavyweight? That could be a factor if Spinks was 170 pounds during the sparring session. I forgotten that I made that thread.... good find
At his best Page is too big, fast and powerful. Spinks is extremely canny and could last a while tho. Michael got Larry at the right time and had a nice style vs an aged slowing Holmes. I think Spinks would have struggled if he was fighting younger top 10'ers. Some wins some losses probably. If Page turned up listless Spinks would outwork him i reckon.
I’ll take the first ballot hof lineal heavyweight champ over the guy who lost most of his big fights, if those count as big fights.
Again, when was this "Page at his best" you keep insisting on? We could point to fights in nearly every year of Page's career where he looked like garbage. His "best" is always a one-off fight here or there, inevitably followed by close calls or losses. And he never fought a "great" fighter. Michael Spinks wasn't freaking Alfredo Evangelista or Marty Monroe. Spinks went undefeated his entire career until his final fight. Page was hit or miss year after year. Spinks beat better fighters than Page. Page never fought anyone as good as Spinks, let alone beat them.
Sparring with Greg Page, as the story goes, is what kept Spinks from going up in weight a few years earlier. Page was destructive against 60's sized heavys, and I say this feeling that Spinks was the most underrated fighter of my lifetime. This content is protected
I think Spinks would stay on Page and do more. Page would use his jab and movement throughout but Spinks would keep up with him and land the better combinations on route to winning a decision against Page who never seemed to do enough to beat the real good fighters.
No-one is saying Page was consistent. That was his problem. Page didn't fight a great fighter because Larry Holmes relinquished his title instead of fighting Page as a mandatory when demanded to by the WBC. Not much Page could do on that front. Of course not, they were bonafide natural heavyweights whilst Michael was a blown up light heavyweight, however good. LOL! Spinks had 5 heavyweight fights in his life. You know this fight would be at heavyweight yes? Spinks was a great great light heavyweight and just a good to almost very good heavyweight heavyweight. Talking heavyweight (which is the topic) the Holmes Spinks beat may have been better than Coetzee. He was well past it and had struggled against decent (and lesser) opposition for a while. He was aged and well into his career, it happens to them all. Stylistically Spinks was a bad match because Holmes had lost a lot of speed, loads of timing and no longer had that great stamina. It was age. Spinks gave him a lot of movement and plenty of speed. What had setting Holmes apart in recent challenges was guts and heart and Spinks negated that. Little doubt Holmes also took the 7-1 underdog somewhat lightly. He rectified tat in the rematch and should have got the decision. Tangstad isn't worth getting into and Cooney never beat a top flight heavyweight while active let alone inactive. We don't need to mention Tyson, everyone knows what happened there and no shame in that. I was never sold on Spinks at heavyweight. I don't think his chin would stand up. Holmes almost dropped him with a tired right hand late in the piece and he barely took anything solid at heavyweight until the juggernaut that was Tyson. The Holmes win is a superb win but it was simply a matter of time until Larry finally lost. Quite a few ever picked Marvis Frazier to beat him. Larry beating Mercer years later just shows he could still match it with guys that suited him. He was eons from what he'd been. Mercer may not have won a round back in the day.
Page, 8th round stoppage, too much skill, hell, too much everything for Michael. And Spinks better be happy this Page wasn't even the best Page, or there would be a murder. Seriously.