Michael Spinks vs. Ingemar Johansson-Who Wins?

I will go with Michael Spinks by Decision win. Ingemar Johansson might make it interesting once or twice.

 

Spinks by close decision though he likely is staggered a few times with Igno's bingo.

 

Don't normally go for Ingo, but my God was that right something else.

Spinks's durability is relatively unproven at heavyweight.

Tyson only needed 6 punches to knock his lights out.

Spinks obviously didn't hit nearly as hard as Tyson but I don't think he has to.

Ingo via brutal KO after trailing on the cards.

 

It’s one of those fights where a lot of money would go down on Spinks & I’d be tempted to lay a few dollars down on Johansson, honestly.

 

Michael was a counterpuncher, and too smart to be drawn into Ingo's retreating traps. I also don't think he catches the slow starting Jinx cold. Was Cooney a bigger puncher than Ingo?

Anyhow, Michael had one punch knockout power in both hands. His left hooks turned Mustafa Wassaja into a bobblehead doll, his right uppercut off the ropes sounded like a shotgun blast on Jerry Celestine, one left hook put out Marvin Johnson for I forget how long. (Nobody else ever did anything like that to Marvin), and his jab turned Ranquello into a crimson mess.

Larry Holmes was extremely angry and still extremely dangerous for their rematch, yet couldn't put Michael down or out. Ingo is not a fast starting Tyson either.

The Jinx had too many tools in his arsenal, was too skilled, too unorthodox and too well conditioned for Ingo to succeed against. Moments before he put Marvin Johnson's lights completely out, he deflated the guy completely with a right to the gut. That's sometimes forgotten about Michael, that he was also a dangerous body puncher.

 

Did Cooney hit Spinks even with a half decent punch? It was a woeful version of Cooney, the worst one we ever saw in the ring after getting some pro fights under his belt.

He had one punch ATG KO power in both hands at 175 but he didn't remotely approach that at heavyweight. His best punches didn't move Holmes tho some landed unseen. He hit Cooney with myriads of flush punches at the end of their bout yet Cooney was stopped on his feet still coherent. I do think he had reasonable pop at Heavyweight tho, i certainly wouldn't call him light hitting

Spinks ran away from Holmes for the first four rounds to take the sting out of him. Across their pair of fights Holmes, a good puncher but not a big one hurt Spinks multiple times with single right hands. His age and Spinks superb canniness and will to win kept things from escalating.

I actually do agree with your prediction, i favor Spinks for the reasons you state just now. I also think he'd have just enough power at Heavyweight to gain Ingo's attention and possibly even take him out. I'm not counting Ingo out but i do favor The Jinx.

 

Cooneys KO rate was 20% higher and he had an 81 inch reach to Ingos 72. Hes also got the more exclusive knockouts. Jimmy Young, Norton and Lyle were old but these were guys who got through the 70s while mostly only getting stopped by George and/or Shavers. Johanssons got power too but his displays are against smaller people(Machen and Patterson) and were less consistant.

Cooneys more powerful than Johansson(and Tyson) but he was also relying on that power more and wasn't as good a fighter. Cooney might hit harder than Ingo but he didn't actually catch Spinks. Tyson did and Spinks folded immediately.


This is one of those hypotheticals where I would pick Spinks if the Tyson fight never happened. The Cooney and Tangstad KOs prove Spinks's power did translate at HW to a degree and he probably does have the power to take Ingo out. Something to consider is that in both Patterson losses Ingo landed first and Patterson had to weather the storm. London knocked out Johansson with 1 punch but it was a hail mary in the final seconds of a fight he was losing 11-0(hence why it doesn't count).

 

Spinks Jinxes him, round 3-4 one punch brutal knockout with the first few rounds being cagey, but Spinks finds an unexpected opening to finish the fight suddenly.

 

I would take resounding wins vs prime Machen & Patterson over the victories Cooney posted against the corpses of Young, Norton & Lyle any day.

 

Ingo has nothing for Spinks but a right hand, and he's not landing it on the awkward spinks.

 

I really can't imagine Johansson pulling this one off, and it has nothing to do with Spinks being durable or some dumb **** like that. We got a clear illustration of Spinks' durability during his two fights with Holmes, and he got rattled bad by multiple of Larry's rights (Odd observation, but I think that Larry's true power seemed to come out as he started to age, mostly because he couldn't move like he used to, so he planted his feet more often), so if Ingo hits, it is mostly likely game over for Michael- But at the same time, I see The Hammer of Thor being jinxed here. Spinks would be much too awkward for him.

 

That might just be all he needs.

 

Bigger?

Potentially.

More dangerous?

Absolutely not.

 

I agree. Especially the version Spinks faced. Worst Cooney I've ever seen. Even against Foreman, he looked far better.