He was really excellent. I think Spinks' greatest win EVER was over EMM. Eddie was that good a fighter imo,
Also bearing in mind that Eddie was severely weight drained in that one. Mustafa was comfortably leading after the first 7 before running out of steam and also had to contend with a terribly swelling left eye that may or may not have been caused by an elbow. Boxrec actually gives the proof of the pudding here. Eddie had moved up to 201 3/4 very very unsightly pounds to fight Renaldo Snipes on the 17th May and fought Spinks 2 months and 1 day after at 175. They actually had a later than normal weigh in (which Eddie wanted from memory) around lunch time. Eddie then had to lose 1 3/4 pounds after coming in heavy in 2hrs. When he then made weight everything celebrated except Eddie who knew it would make things tougher. In keeping with the above i'd nominate Qawi as his best at 175. Admittedly tho Spinks was absolute peak for Qawi while he wasn't fully seasoned for Mustafa.
Absolutely HG. I wouldn't have Burns, Charles, Thomas and Holmes in there and also see Tunney well below Ali as opposed to an equal. I'm not sure if Tunney ever stopped a heavyweight contender in his life prior to his last fight. Ali was fighting and stopping much bigger men. Charles would have a better argument as he stopped some good more sizable men but i don't think there's much in it. Not much in it with Thomas but Ali stopped myriads more top contenders and Weaver was very likely at that vulnerable stage. Did Thomas ever knock out anyone besides Weaver with an actual right hand? Holmes and Ali were close with slightly different kinds of power. Holmes right hand was slightly more of a clubbing punch when he went for finishes and he winged it again and again. If you look at his stoppages barely anyone was ever counted out and actually finished on their feet despite Holmes often having free reign to swing with gay abandon. Peak Ali had crisper more sudden power for mine but again there's not much between them at any rate. Both could get it done and did on a lot of occasions between them. You could add Weaver to your list as he hit harder than at least half a dozen of them. Bonecrusher Smith too i reckon as well as Joshua.
I forgot about the crazy weight swings with Eddie. The victory over Quawi was very impressive, I just remember being disappointed by the fight as a watch. I was expecting a FOTC. I honestly think if Spinks had stayed at light heavy he might have ended up the greatest at the weight ever.
Yes many expected a war but Futch came up with a much less risky strategy and albeit a lot more boring. Qawi loved an aggressive opponent and was brilliant at countering right hand hence Spinks prioritizing the left and throwing the right mostly when Qawi had. Spinks negated a heckuva lot of Qawi's offense. Spinks would have reigned a fair while that's for sure and there weren't many threats on the horizon. As a matter of fact it was a long long time until we saw another top shelf light heavy.
I stopped after a while but Weaver, Bonecrusher, Joshua all without question .. I disagree with Burns who could seriously crack and flattened big men, Thomas who was simply much heavier handed and Holmes who edges him, less of an arm puncher, look at what they both did to Leon ( Ali was 35 but landed dozens of flush shots ) .. I feel Tunney was right in there with him based on the number he did on Carpentier, Gibbons, the beatings he put on Dempsey while managing to keep a faded but still dangerous Jack off him and of course Heeney .. anyway the macro point is not to dis Ali wool was an exceptional fighter but to scale the result of Liston 2 and I stand by my position on that ..
