Liston v M. Spinks? Patterson all over again?

Hard to say whether he would freeze. If he wasn't **** scared he would last a while i reckon. Tyson was quite sharp against Spinks tho, beating him to the punch with great power at one point. sonny would never be that devastatingly quick.

 

No way Liston is a small, weak slow plodder next to Tyson. Spinks would school and humiliate Liston.

 

Liston would demolish Spinks in one round.

 

As much as I like Spinks and dislike Sonny I don't think it would bode well for Michael. Spinks was a slow starter while Liston was an absolute bull in the early rounds. If the Jinx could survive the early onslaught and get his game going mid to late rounds while Sonny steadily fades then we might see a fight. But frankly I have my doubts about it panning out that way.

 

Every punch Liston lands will move Spinks. Bad news for those follow up shots from Sonny & we're talking 2 hands and not just 1 punch. Those heavies with 2 big punches present a whole set of problems compared to the 1 armed guys.

 

Liston takes Spinks out early. This would've been Michael's fate against any of the alltime great heavies who were massive punchers. Spinks would last longer against the smoother 'boxer' type greats such as Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes (prime of course) but they would still have stopped him before the halfway mark.

 

I am in partial agreement about him ( probably ) losing early to Liston. But I'm not convinced that this would be his fate against every ATG puncher. I tend to think that this notion derives from his early defeat to Tyson and there are several things about that fight which can't be replicated in every fantasy match between spinks and a great puncher. For one thing Tyson was an exceptional champion in 1988 in the peak of his prime. He had an unusual combination of immense power, quick hands, lethal combinations, fast starting ability and an aura of intimidation about him. At the same time you had Spinks who was nearly 32 years of age, off for a full year and hadn't met a truly formidable opponent since Holmes. I think a 1985 version of Spinks matched against a great puncher ( not named Mike Tyson ) might have done a little better. Earnie Shavers was certainly an elite puncher and I'm not entirely sold on him beating Spinks given that Earnie had lost to guys on all different levels.

 

As you rightly say the difference is the speed. The end result would be the same imo, but probably a more protracted fight.

 

Good points raised here!

 

Who's alt are you?

 

Probably a quick win for Liston.

 

Spinks on points