Larry Holmes vs Michael Spinks, Sept 21 1985, Larry thought he would tie Rocky Marciano's record with a victory over Michael to go 49-0, but Spinks ruined that goal by winning the IBF title on points on the 30th anniversary of Rocky Marciano's last title defense on Sept 21 1955, a TKO 9 over light heavyweight champion Archie Moore, to go 49-0, 43 KO's.
You know i think he was never really rated that highly. There was doubts at the time that he could beat a Howard Davis or a Rosario, they were always there. I think he did have some substance tho. He had a lot of heart and got the best out of himself it's just that he was never as good as some hoped. He gave Arguello a good battle but those in the know will understand that Arguello invested mightily in body shots early so as to put him away later and this tactic made for a close fight for a fair period of time.
I just think of the word "violence" when I see this fight. Two real men who wouldn't back down. It'd be a true dog fight determined by heart, IMHO.
Mouthwatering is the term I always use to describe the fights of the day. Leonard-Duran, Leonard-Hearns, Arguello-Pryor, Hagler-Hearns, literally made your mouth water. Nothing out there like that today. Maybe Crawford-Spence, but they will never fight. Fury-Wilder LOL
Probably the most anticipated fight of the 80s which never happened when first planned was Ray Leonard challenging middleweight king Marvin Hagler around 83 or so. They were already talking about the matchup in late 81 after Ray beat Tommy Hearns to unify the welterweight title and he had already won a light middleweight title before dropping back down to welterweight to beat Tommy. The plan was a couple more fights at light middleweight before facing Hagler. A detached retina suffered in one of those fights soon threw all the plans out the window and there was to be a big announcement at some charity event in to which Hagler himself was invited to in late 82 where everyone was waiting to hear Ray announce whether he would fight on or retire. He did retire but of course he did eventually fight Hagler in 87 but the fight would have been so much bigger had the two met as originally planned especially since both were still in their primes then.
One for each division; all potentially could have happened and were spoken of, but obviously some came closer to happening than others. One indeed happened in the 90s at a heavier weight. Tyson/Witherspoon Deleon/Qawi Hill/Williams Hearns/KinchenII Hagler/Graham Hilton (Matthew)/Hearns Honeyghan/Brown Whitaker/Taylor Chavez/Whitaker Mayweather/Mitchell Nelson/McGuigan Banke/Duarte Canizales (Orlando)/Perez Galaxy (Khaosai)/Moon Chitalada/McKenzie Yuh/Chang Lopez/Competition
" Had substance" He gave you his money worth like Hearns, Barkley, and many others. The press was drooling for him to be an extended champ. Could he have beaten Robin Blake or Tyrone Crawley? I enjoyed his guts ..... Big payday for any oppenent.
The June 13 1986 WBC Lightweight title bout between champion Hector Macho Camacho and challenger Edwin El Chapo Rosario in Madison Square Garden, televised live on HBO, many believed that Rosario had pulled it off. A lot of boxing fans believed that WBA champion Livingstone Bramble would neutralize Camacho's speed with his size. But fate showed otherwise when Edwin took apart Bramble on Sept 26 1986 with a very fast early stoppage. The next night on Showtime, Lloyd Honeyghan ripped the World Welterweight Title from Donald Curry..
