Michael spinks vs Jersey Joe Walcott

Obviously have him top ten but hold men like
Ali
Louis
Lewis
Foreman
Marciano
Liston
Those I have above him always and men like
Frazier Tyson and Holmes compete for that 6-9 spot. I think most had Holmes in that territory for a long time until very recently. Any fighter that would normally place in the top ten has an argument for top five. Think the top two slots are filled 2-8 is debatable.

 

Hard one for me to call because Spinks has a thin (but impressive) resume at heavyweight and Walcott’s ‘prime’ really boils down to a couple of fights.

I’l step out on a limb and say Michael jabs his way to a decision with his awkward, herky-jerky style — not an exciting fight to watch regardless.

 

Walcott wins on a split decision, each had a style that could be possible problems for the other, but Jersey had enough to pull it out.

 

Let me ask you, was that Holmes a top 5 HW of all time?

Could we also say Rocky had a win over a top 1 or 2 HW ever in Louis?

We could, but that would be disingenuous. Louis career rating is vastly different than his rating against Marciano.

The Holmes that fought Spinks wasn't top 5 or even 15 for my money.

 

It's a different situation. Holmes went on to win at world level years after he lost to Spinks. He's the only person who beat a near prime Larry Holmes. Nobody else can say that.

Regardless of whether was a top five, fifteen to two hundred heavyweight, he was the number one fighter in the world and an all-time great somewhat near his prime and far bigger. It's an all-time great win.

 

I agree with almost everything you said, but that doesn't change the fact that Spinks didn't beat a prime Homes. He wasn't prime, imo took Spinks too lightly, was overconfident, and the pressure of the Number likely got to him. Yes, it's a great win, yes he took the belt from the champion, but it doesn't factor in nearly as much from a h2h perspective. I thought Holmes won the rematch, which again illustrates the point of Holmes being more focused that time around. It factors in very well from an overall resume perspective, a LHW moving up to HW and beating the champion, a great champion; but we saw others before Spinks show that Holmes might possibly there for the taking soon. It seems you agree Holmes wasn't a top 5 hw of all time that night, which was my only point really, so I guess we agree.