175: James Toney vs Michael Spinks

I think Ottke beats Spinks quite handily and James aspires to mimicking a lot of Ottkeesque stuff for sure. Good call, Blade. :good

 

Michael Spinks has got to be one of the most overrated fighters of all time. At LHW and at HW.

An in shape, focused James Toney wears him down and knocks him out. Unfortunately Toney was seldom in shape at LHW, though I feel that this was his natural weight. Toney is/was a natural SMW/LHW. Spinks might win a decision against a weight-drained, lazy Toney.

 

They dont fight similar at all really, I cant see how you came to that conclusion...and Spinks won that fairly clearly.

This in shape and focused Toney is becoming a mythical creature...In reality even when James was supposedly at his very best he still tended to make things hard for himself against fighters inferior to Spinks, with nowhere near the physical advantages Michael brings the the table.

He often had to come from behind or only just got home...He beat some very good fighters, and beat them well. But no one like Spinks.

Toney will wait and wait for a openings against guy who wont tire, who will keep the fight at range with piston like jabs and who will have him pissing blood the next day from body shots.

James will make Spinks miss a lot and might make him look a bit sloppy in close...but Spinks often looked sloppy, is was part of the unconventional style he had that made him so hard to knock off...And Toney wont get close to knocking him off.

 

Spinks easy UD

 

:admin**** me! Only on the gf!

 

Mustafa and Toney fight in a stationary style and don't give an inch.They methodically come forward without a real pressure style.Also Mustafa slips the jab like and throws the right uppercut similar to Toney.

In see Toney catching Spinks with clean shots because Spinks can be hit.Spinks also likes to flurry on the inside, you can bet that Tony would take advantage with countershots.

The fight will be very close because Spinks is busy and will move in and out. Depends on who the judges like.And besdised, Ediie gave Spinks all he could handle in their fight.

 

too bad for james to win all these big fights..he has to be
1) focused
2) in shape

Toney Lost to Montell Griffin at light heavy
he also lost to Montell griffin at light heavy (again)
he lost to Drake Thadzi who had 8 losses at lght heavy

the question was at 175 .....

michael spinks was always
1)focused
2) in shape

while spinks beat guys like
Dwiaght muhammad qawi
em muhammad
knocking out marvin johnson
knocking out yauqi lopez

spinks was a gold medalist
unified the light heavweight division
was in 10 world title fights

hows he overrated again?

 

What has Michael Spinks ever done that is so great? The best LHW ever, don't make me laugh... Michael Spinks hardly makes the top10 all time LHW list.
He fought a bunch of stiffs there, small wonder he stayed undefeated... the Quawi, Johnsen and Muhammad wins were good, I give him that.

About his run at HW: the 2 fights with Larry Holmes were among Holmes worst performances he ever gave, but Holmes still won both fights (but he got robbed).
Tangstad was a B-level fighter, while Cooney was a good win - although Cooney didn't bring his A game that night.
Spinks then got annihilated in a few seconds by Tyson. Great.

In other words: Michael Spinks is a bum

 

Not what bothers me. The thing that bothers me is that people thinks Toney is going to be ko'd. Not happening. I see Spinks getting the better of Toney and winning by decision. Noting this is against Toney so I'll be more descriptive, no controversial decision. Spinks was incredible at lt hvy it would be hard to go against him in fantasy mathups at that weight.

 

I'm a fan of Toney but to be fair he didn't fight in one of the greatest light heavy eras that Spinks did. I do admit he wouldn't have Spinks' success at that era either.

 

What's this crap about "Eddie gave Spinks all he could handle"? That tends to happen when you get two world class fighters in the same ring together, but it does seem to have escaped some of you that Spinks still won the fight fairly handily.

Can I see your top 10 Light Heavyweight list?

If you think Mustafa Muhammad, Muhammad Qawi, Marvin Johnson, Murray Sutherland, Eddie Davis, and Yaqui Lopez were stiffs than I really don't know what to tell you.

Small wonder he stayed undefeated? No one really came close to beating him besides Eddie Davis, and even that fight wasn't as close as often advertised.

Revisionist history. Nobody on the planet thought Michael Spinks was going to beat Larry Holmes, and how are we about to penalize Spinks for his opponent turning in a lackluster performance? Did it not occur to you that maybe Spinks' constant movement and awkwardness had something to do with that? I suppose this is how you deal with all of Toney's shortcomings, pull out as many excuses out of your ass to suit your agenda.

Yeah, let's see that top 10 list.

 

It won't take that long. I believe a very good classical boxer beats a very good unorthodox boxer just about every time out the gate. Spinks won't land many of his wierd punches from weird angles against Toney's more than excellent defense, Toney's straighter, sharper punches and counters will land on Spinks. It's that simple. He probably won't hurt Spinks much, but he'll land his shots and get his respect.

I'm not saying it's set in stone, you don't have to act like you're defending your mother in every debate. I just think Toney has a superior skillset, and the Spinks Jinx won't get through often enough to bother him. He'll just box him to death and take the decision.

 

Yeah, I really doubt Toney gets stopped.

Toney's one of the toughest guys I've ever seen in there.

 

Both fight in cool, calm matter within punching range and are very comfortable there...but Eddie is a tall straight up boxer who fights square, more often than not he puts up the tight ear muffs or parrys to defend himself...Toney is stocky dude who uses the shoulder roll and more upperbody movement..Different styles, different physical attributes.
Toney's style might actually give Spinks more trouble on paper but to use the EMM fight to argue this one for James is clutching at straws.

Eddie gave Spinks a tough fight especially early but took a bit of punishment down the track, getting dropped heavily and having his eye close..I dont see Toney willing to walk through that sort of artillery, he would be pretty defensive and pretty much sleep walk through a lot of the fight, frustrated...I consider a Eddie better fighter at 175 anyway.

Spinks was actually not that easy to tag...He was excellent at slipping punches, had great upperbody movement and was very good at mainting the distance, he just looked a little awkward doing it...doesnt mean he was any less effective at it though.