He was absolutely a great fighter .. he had size, reach, speed, power, chin and heart ... how very top I'm not sure because he really didn't have that many fights and it's a bit hard for me to gage that against guys like Moore, Charles, Foster, Loughlin, Tunney, Greb, etc .. what did he have about twenty five fights or so at 175 ? In those bouts some terrific wins like the KO's of Marvin Johnson and Yaqi Lopez, defeating a weight drained but great Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and of course decisioning Qwai who was another great fighter at 175 .. Here's a clip of Archie Moore being interviewed and him saying that he felt Mike Spinks was greater than Ezzard Charles if you can believe that coming form Moore ... This content is protected . (3:30 mark )
I've got him at #3, behind Charles and Moore. I thought Davis edged him to be fair, but apart from that his run at 175 was superb and required him to show ever facet to his game, which he did consistently. Showed his power against Johnson, his skill against Eddie and no little grit and determination against Qawi. Left a shadow over the division once he'd left it which remained until Jones Jr. well over a decade later.
Great question. I like Michael Spinks, he was a great LHW and I never saw him outclassed in a fight…other than his final fight (which was Heavyweight) which was against Tyson. The fight didn’t last long enough for him to be outclassed as such, he was actually blitzed before he could even find his bearings! But apart from that he had a perfect record despite fighting some great fighters such as Johnson and Qawi. He’s in the top 2/3 of those I actually saw. But Moore and Charles would probably be seen as greater.
I think Ezzard Charles as number 1 is pretty much set in stone, I'm not sure I'd rate Bob Foster as top 5 as much as I enjoy watching him fight. I always thought his resume was a bit so and so. As for Michael Spinks I'd say top 5 for me aswell.
Hmm. I’d rate him high, I don’t know about higher then Tunney, Harold, Moore and Charles. But I’m not a fifth a historian then anyone here I’m not clever enough for this stuff.
