Michael Spinks Vs. Evander Holyfield at cruiserweight (190lbs)

One of the best fights that should have been.

I see a distance fight with Michael's 'Spinks Jinx' scoring a knockdown but Evander's superior speed and workrate winning by clear,albeit close,decision. An absolute war.

 

Spinks might snatch a decision win because of his greater experience.

 

If Holyfield doesn't lean on his amateur experience and box with all his tools and physical advantages he loses. If he gets wild or too defensively irresponsible Spinks will win. I favor Spinks at that stage in their career but think Holyfield could definitely get it done.

 

Spinks never fought at Cruiserweight but we can speculate that he would easily carry the weight as he fought as a 205 lb. Heavyweight.

Spinks has the better movement and overall boxing ability. Holyfield is much more busy.

Spinks would have to use all of his guile to try to shut down Holyfield's offense.

If Spinks can make Holyfield respect his power he could win this.

But my hunch is that he would not have the same power at 190 as he did at 175.

He would try to move and land bursts of punches.

It would probably not be an exciting fight

If I have to bet I'll go with Holyfield by decision as he can fight at a fast pace for 15 rounds.

 

Tough to pick a winner in this one. I think if Spinks is able to dictate the distance/space, he would win by decision. On the other hand, I could see Evander using his physicality and aggression to bully Spinks and either stop him late or simply win more rounds with his output.

 

C,mon, now... Holyfield. If Holyfield wants a brawl because he's bored, and pulls his punches again, the fight might last.

Also.. you know, as everybody knows, they have a common opponent.

 

32 year old Spinks starched by absolute prime Tyson. Holyfield outlasted significantly faded Tyson

How they faired against Tyson really has no bearing on this Cruiserweight match up.

 

The 1988 version of Holyfield wins a decision.

 

Spinks has the overall better boxing ability? I am not so sure about that.

 

I think this would go fifteen rounds . Holyfield was obvious a proven Cruiser while Spinks never fought there. But Evander was a very young fighter with not that many bouts in that weight class. And Spinks also excelled at world level both above and below cruiser. It’s fair to say he might due well there. Not totally sold one way or the other . I’m thinking it would be close

 

This is a great matchup. There's lots to consider.

Holyfield was only 18 fights deep when he left Cruiserweight. While one can't say he was "green" as such Spinks had more experience vs higher end opponents.

Holyfield would not be the roided up heavyweight version. Their heavyweight fights are irrelevant, to state the obvious. The version we would see would be the latest cruiserweight versions.

The version of Spinks would be the one who trained up to 199 3/4 pounds for Holmes under Mackie Shilstone. Instead of adding 25 pounds, he'd be adding 15.

Spinks liked to cruise, he liked to start slow and set the pace. He could do this (at 175) because of his ridiculous power. Holyfield at cruiser was more frenetic than Spinks, he fought at a higher pace.

Saad caught it earlier, a lot will depend on how Spinks power carries up. He hit good at heavyweight but nothing remotely like he did at 175. It's obvious that his power would carry up substantially better at 190, but how much better exactly? Qawi did buzz Holyfield at times and Spinks will sure as hell hit waaaay harder than Qawi at 190. Qawi does however land a lot and goes hard to the body.

Spinks will look to set his pace with his brilliant and underrated jab. Holyfield will look to up the ante. We know both can go 15 rounds. Spinks has proven it multiple times and Holyfield sure showed it vs Qawi.

Take a look at the corner matchup, the great Eddie Futch against his former understudy, the great George Benton.

The kneejerk reaction will be Holyfield, but i can't split them.

 

Spinks has the potential to pull of a MD, if his heart was in it, and he catches Holyfield before the DeLeon fight.

 

Spinks has the potential to pull of a MD, if his heart was in it, and he catches Holyfield before the DeLeon fight.

 

If it’s prime vs prime just at 190 Holyfield should get a hard fought decision. It could be a split decision or even a draw. If it’s Holyfield when he was a cruiserweight vs the Spinks that beat Holmes then Spinks wins a close one vs the less experienced Holyfield.