Weren’t even born then but I looked up some of the fighters that were around then an I would say maybe Benítez, Curry an macho Camacho. Spinks to me didn’t look particularly defensive minded to me. He was just awkward looking but maybe his offensive skills were so good at light heavie that opponents were too intimidated to really attack him like they would with other fighters.
I'd have probably Qawi, Starling, and maybe Camacho. Camacho was only as unhittable as he was because of speed and reflexes, but that counts too.
Height Reach Speed Chin KO power either hand Focused Well conditioned Big heart Despite not too many fights he has to be rated as one of the greats at 175 .. somewhere in the top ten, where I'm not sure ...
Good mentions. Curry was probably underrated at the time defensively as his rip roaring offense came on in a hurry. Camacho was greatly aided by his legs but that's all part of the package. My first post in here mentioned his laziness at times at 175 and also how he sometimes went thru the motions until woken up. He was simply that good at 175 and had great confidence in his chin. That laziness manifested a bit defensively but watch him when it mattered like against Qawi and his full talents were on display fighting Holmes as he couldn't boss him at heavyweight and he also had a suspect chin at that weight. I thought his defensive display against Holmes was brilliant.
Excellent mentions. Starling was also named by Futch and from memory, guessing a little, the other was probably Benitez. Benitez was considered comfortably the best defensive fighter of his day. Interestingly i don't ever remember Futch training really light guys, nor talking about them. He would have fitted in well here with most of us LOL
Spinks was a lot like a current fighter named Amir Khan for those of you who still watch boxing these days, with UFC being so much better in all the respects. Amir is a specialist who doesn't do that much very well except he's really great at darting in with his long legs and extremely fast hands and throwing very lovely combinations, which are lovely because they're so fast and not because of extraordinary power. Spinks would often jinx people with that kind of ambush speed, a style known in Japan by prominent trainer of Moe Amatsuka who coined it 'amBUSHIDO' in print. I would look up some of the amBUSHIDO vids and then watch Spinks again with all new eyes. You will really legitimately appreciate it. My recs for best videos on Youtube are called "The Forgotten Art of Ambush: How amBUSHIDO Changed The Boxing World" and "You amBUSHIDO'd My Battleshipt(sic)."
One of the most dominant boxers in his weight class ever (175 lbs). And he did not avoid any opponent. Of course, despite the historic success in the heavyweight division; the story changes. Michael Spinks had no chance against Mike Tyson, especially peak Mike Tyson. However, this does not diminish his greatness and achievements. I also doubt how the fight against Tony Tucker in 1987 would have gone when Spinks was stripped of the IBF belt. E Although I'm very sorry that we didn't see Spinks in the cruiserweight category. I think he would be a champion there too. The cruiserweight category was founded in 1986. We were denied the superfight Michael Spinks Vs. Evander Holyfield in the category up to 200 lbs. Who wouldn't like to watch that fight?
Down against Qawi; but they were stepping on one other's feet at the moment the punch landed to the body, so the KD was of the questionable variety.