Spinks is the only man in history to do what he did at LHW. Spinks is the only undefeated light heavyweight champion in boxing history. Something that can't be said about Tommy Loughran, John Henry Lewis, Billy Conn, Archie Moore, Bob Foster, or Roy Jones. In 101 years of crowning light heavyweight champion's, only one of them never tasted defeat while weighing 175 pounds, Michael Spinks. Spinks was also the first reigning light heavyweight champion to challenge and defeat the reigning heavyweight champion. Something past greats Billy Conn, Archie Moore, and Bob Foster all failed to do. Spinks the fighter was complete and could do it all. At 6' 2" Spinks was one of the biggest light heavyweight Champions in history. His fighting style is best described as being a boxer-puncher. He was a tremendous two handed puncher who could box and dictate with his jab and knew how to utilize his height and reach versus taller and shorter opponents. As he was forced to do in his Light Heavyweight unification bout with 5' 7" WBC Champ Dwight Muhammad Qawi, and against the 6' 6" hard hitting Gerry Cooney. His legacy was heavily tarnished by the one loss on his record: Mike Tyson. History should show that he was never off his feet prior and it took one of boxing’s hardest, fastest hitters ever to accomplish that knockdown and stoppage. In the last 16 fights of his career were all title fights in which he went 15-1, 11-0 at light heavyweight and 4-1 at heavyweight.
I'd bet on Moore, but the fight between Foster and Ward would be quite the nail biter. Moore is the most consistent over such a long career, but he also had some bad losses. If Spinks can beat Roy, he could pull off the whole thing too.
Spinks ko;s Jones, he's just too much for Roy Foster stops Ward late Canelo UD over Beterbiev Moore TKO 8 over Kovalev Moore Ko's Canelo in 9 Spinks SD over Foster Spinks stops Moore in 5 Only fight I'm not sure of is Foster and Spinks, Bob could definitely take Spinks.
Great match ups, George. I picked Spinks. Will definitely come back and go into some detail tomorrow.
Can you imagine seeing someone like Kovalev face off against Spinks? Or, Ward taking on Canelo? There are so many permutations and possibilities, and so many top quality guys, that it's hard to know what would happen. I want to do a little bit of research, principally on Bob Foster, as I'm not too familiar with his style, resume etc... That way I can make more informed choices and factual comments and not just leave guys out because I don't know them.
The Mongoose wins this! Some GREAT scraps here though, Spinks vs Jones would be a doozy (gotta go with Spinks - UD, or late stoppage) Kovalev was a beast in his prime (around Cleverly time), but with his body weakness, I think Moore would be too hard and get to Kov late. Canelo or Beterbiev would both lose handily to Bob Foster, leaving Moore to beat Foster in a classic final.
Some of this reminds me a bit of Rummy's points experiment, but in a H2H / Super 6 style tourney format, which is quite a fascinating way to examine things - if Rummy did a toureny experiment, would it gives us mostly the same names as the points one, or would teher be some interesting outliers? Even with the bracketing and 'styles make fights' it gives some food for thought, as maybe the winner depends on avoiding certain folks that "have their number" or whatever. Great stuff!
I think your last point is very important. George set up the brackets for the maximum potential and the interesting match ups that would follow as the series progressed would depend very much of who faced who. The old adage 'styles make fights' comes into play in these kind of face offs.
Spinks at 175 was a beast and IMO historically very underrated. He was great at that weight no doubt.
This content is protected Canelo vs Foster No level of chin can save you vs Bob Foster, Canelo's gonna be walking into the preferred range of the most dangerous light-heavyweight of all-time, and he isn't gonna last long. At some point, Canelo's gonna get the same treatment that Henry Hank did. Foster KO7 Moore vs Spinks Now here's a proper fight. Spinks seemingly has the advantage, with his game ending power and advantages in height and reach, but I tend to think Moore's style would perplex and annoy Michael. Eddie Davis' defensive prowess, cross-arm guard and straight counters did give Spinks a lot to worry about, and Moore's very proven vs tall fighters. He has the style to find his niche on the inside and work from there. While he didn't fight the rhythmless nightmare of his own era, he clearly knew how to disrupt and play with a fighter's rhythm. Listen to him talking about his rematch with Charles, and how he used what sounds like single over and underhooks to disturb Charles' offense. If he can make Charles uncomfortable in there, he can make anyone. Spinks didn't go to the body, or fight on the inside like Charles did. No, what Spinks has going for him is one of the best jabs ever, vast know-how of how to use an insane frame for a same-day era LHW, one of the most explosive offenses in light-heavyweight history and one of boxing's best minds in his corner. He and Futch would have to create a masterplan to beat Moore. I imagine it'd involve teeing up Moore like be did Qawi, looking to fire his cross down through Archie's guard, and set up his uppercut like he vs Johnson when Moore got low. It's a pick 'em, it really is. Both were insane technicians, physical freaks, among the greatest fighters ever and had styles wh iich potentially played into eachother's hands. It could go either way, but I tend to think Moore has the stye advantage and is a bit better overall.
