What is Michael Spinks' legacy if he retires after beating Larry Holmes twice?

He would obviously be seen in a better light amongst casual boxing fans, i do think he is remembered too much for the Mike Tyson loss. And people sometimes forget how great he was at Light Heavyweight.

As for ranking i don't think his ranking would alter much in the all time rankings, people would still say he got 2 gifts vs Larry Holmes. Although me personally i think Spinks won 1st fight clearly and Holmes won 2nd fight clearly. And you would have some people arguing he retired early and possibly avoided some fighters.

But overall as i said amongst casuals he would be seen in a better light, and obviously an undefeated streak always looks nice on paper. And the Mike Tyson loss wouldn't be such a vivid memory in his career.

 

He beat a past it Holmes once. Holmes beat him. So, as a heavyweight he was very good, certainly not great. As a light heavy he might have been top 5 ATG.

 

His legacy would be $18.5M lighter in his bank account for not fighting Tyson, Cooney and Tangstad.

 

A great light heavyweight who beat the shell of a great heavyweight.

 

That Tyson fight was so much money, it would be difficult to have passed up just to try to preserve legacy. I'm pretty sure Spinks knew he was walking into that ring to face an execution, but again, it was so much money.

 

Holmes was hardly a shell. He beat a prime Ray Mercer 10 years after losing to Spinks and gave a prime Holyfield a competitive fight. He also damn near beat Oliver Mccall which would have made him a heavyweight champion again.

I'm not saying 85' Holmes was the best version of him but he was not a shell of himself.

 

Larry was no shell. He hadn't retired and was six years younger than the guy who beat Mercer and gave prime Holyfield a decent fight.

Larry wasn't an old 35 - at least, not by 80s standards when the top dogs had had quite long amateur careers and lengthy drug habits. He'd had a short amateur career and had preserved himself by taking less taxing challenges than he might have done. He wasn't what he was but wasn't that far gone.

That both Williams and Spinks gave him such fits and were then blown away by Tyson in lass than a round combined shows what an attacking force that early version of Tyson was. It has been forgotten or rewritten but at the age of 21, 22, 23 he was blowing away men who had given an ATG - albeit one at the end of his reign - hell. And Tyson dispatched them like they were nothing. I remember the period, just about. Mike Tyson was a terror. I don't think losing to him takes anything from the legacy of Michael Spinks, even in that devastating fashion.

 

Retiring undefeated always has an appeal. And in Michael’s case he was never even floored by that point. My guess is he would be even more highly regarded. But boxing history is a strange thing and hence so are the perceptions of its fans. Leaving the game with only 29 fights and without the proposition of taking on anyone else at heavyweight he might have been subject to some criticism too. All of this is speculation mind you, but we’ve seen it before

 

You mean if he really beat Holmes in that second fight, instead of Larry getting his well deserved second title?

If he'd convincingly beaten Larry in the 2nd fight, I would still have seen him as.....

well, as a heavyweight, Michael Spinks was a great light heavyweight.

The Holmes he beat wasn't even the Holmes who dominated the hell out of Tex Cobb.

 

Very different I suspect.

Certainly nobody would expect him to lose to Tyson in 90 seconds.

 

He wasn't the best version for sure, didn't fight Page or Thomas, or rematch Williams, or Witherspoon.

 

Still, shouldn't have lost to Michael, though.

 

A little better than what it is. He accomplished so much in his career both as an amateur and a pro. Despite his ko loss to Tyson he's still an ATG and my number 1 AtG at lightheavyweight.

 

Mine as well. In fact, Michael Spinks is my favorite boxer of all time. I actually thought that if his knee held out, that he was going to outbox Mike Tyson and win a decision. Heheh.