So what that Michael Spinks was a former light heavyweight!

The point is entirely lost on me. Mercer is a guy who lost to Jesse Ferguson and got a lucky split over Ossie Occosio. I am not bigging up either guy.

 

• A right to the chin put Lewis down in the second round. Lewis was up at the count of six, but he was wobbly. Lewis put his gloves up and stumbled into referee José Guadalupe Garcia, who stopped the fight.

 

I don't agree.

That was a perfect counter right hand from McCall and Lewis couldn't stand up straight wobbling back and forth 3 times.

I don't see much wrong with the stoppage TBH.

Lewis for me got up a bit too quickly and his brains were still scrambled. But you can't have no complaints if you can't even stand up straight after getting knocked down.

And despite McCall being a bit of headcase he has some solid wins.

Destroyed Maskaev in 1 round.

Knocked out Akinwande.

Stopped Damiani.

Along with his big win over Lewis of course.

 

Holmes was still undeniably a great fighter by that point, and regardless of how much Holmes had declined, Spinks was the man to take his 0, the man to defeat him when no-one else previously had. Also, we saw what Holmes went on to do after that fight, beating Mercer 7 years after the Spinks fight and competing at the top well into his 40s. At 35 he’d’ve surely been much better than at 42 when he beat Mercer.

He didn’t just beat Cooney, he dominated him from the off, and sure Cooney wasn’t in the best of condition, but Spinks couldn’t help that, all he knew was that he was fighting Gerry Cooney.

 

His eyes were clear and so was his mind, he was looking directly at the ref awaiting instruction. The stumble was because of the ref. He could've continued. Now I will also say, that loss did him good because I don't think he would've rebuilt the way that he did. That loss led to him becoming (IMO) one of the best HW's ever H2H

 

This is what I've been saying for years

 

Yeah, I know—it’s pretty funny, right?
It really comes down to context: Berbick got up faster than Lewis but wasn't ready; Lewis got up sooner than Douglas but wasn't ready. Were *all* the knockouts you’ve ever seen really after the ref finished counting? You guys are in bad shape—I used to think that way back when I was waiting for the next *Rocky* movie... a long, long time ago.

 

His stumble wasn't because of the referee he got up and was wobbling all over the place and couldn't walk in a straight line.

When the referee stops the fight you see Lewis's leg give way because he was still unsteady on his feet.

In actual fact Lewis had to lean on the referee to steady himself.

I've never understood why people make such a big deal over this stoppage.

It was a perfectly legitimate stoppage and Lewis gave no real indication to the referee he was in good shape to continue the way he was stumbling.

 

If you're trying to belittle Spinks, just know that it was the first time in history that a LHW champion challenged and beat a HW champion. The first time, and I think it had been attempted over 10 times before. From Archie Moore to Billy Conn. Imagine if a LHW champion today challenged and beat a HW champion.

 

He was good at heavyweight, but he beat an aging Holmes, and a Tangstad who probably had no business being in the ring with him.

 

He was a legend at light heavyweight, tough fighter, very skilled.
We all know that.
Beating Holmes (once in my opinion, but judges are the final say.
But still an achievement
Beating Cooney and Tangstad, fair enough defences, kept Spinks fight with Tyson alive.
He was given a decent chance by several highly respected pundits,he was seen as the best guy for the job against Tyson ( next to Holyfield)
But Tyson did what Tyson was best at back then, and Spinks never stood a chance once the bell rang.
The fight goes down in history as one of the fastest wins over a lineal champ, and gives that Mike Tyson a well deserved reputation.
Could anyone else do that to Spinks, that fast?..I highly doubt it.

 

Lennox Lewis vs Oliver McCall 1 // "Whose Moment of Glory" (Full Fight Highlights)
Lewis is wobbly on his legs when he gets up stumbles to the right and the referee is looking right into his eyes.I don't know how ,"catchweight boxing ,"could see Lewis' eyes were clear,unless he could see right through the back of his head to his face?

 

Spinks was easily an ATG at LHW.
But he did not do nearly enough at HW to be considered great there.
Beating a quite past prime Holmes in 1 close decision, & winning the second when the consensus is that he lost that fight or Holmes was robbed is not nearly qualifying as great.

Even Tunney who also had very limited HW action is not considered an ATG at anything but HW.
And he won almost every round against a Jack Dempsey who was younger than Holmes.

 

Memory served, a LHW champion only challenged for the HW title (& lost) 8 times, before, it was not attempted over 10 times.

As it describes in this article...
https://boxing-social.com/features/michael-spinks-my-two-fights-with-larry-holmes/