1985 Spinks vs Tokyo Tyson.

Good post. The Tyson that I saw in Tokyo was not prepared and was not the combination punching machine that we all were used to. That is not to take away from Douglas who fought brilliantly but I would say Tyson would have beaten him 9 times out of ten. Again, I think Tyson beats 85' Spinks almost always but Tokyo Mike gets beat to **** by 85' Spinks in my opinion. Tyson was not ready to fight past the mid rounds. Spinks was incredibly well conditioned by Mackie for the Holmes fights and I don't by for a second that Spinks was afraid of Tyson. Peiple act like he laid down against Tyson and he didn't. Watch his head hit the canvas when he gets knocked out. He was no scared, he just got ran over.

 

I agree 100% and that is my whole point. Tokyo Tyson was not properly prepared to defend the belt that night and that is on him. He went after Douglas to knock him out and was screwed once they got to the middle rounds.

 

Tyson`s combo speed was missing, look at his fight with Thomas, look how many two punch combo`s he threw, Tyson always said make two punches sound like one, b-boom, one punch followed instantly by the next, that was missing v Douglas and would have made it easier for Spinks to evade Mike`s sloppy punching he displayed v Douglas.

 

The point is that the Tyson that Douglas beat was still feared. Spinks for me showed that he was in fear when they actually met.

Yes, that Tyson was looking for the one big shot, but he still had ability to drop the hook and uppercut combo. Simply put, up until his incarceration, I don't trust Spinks to hold his mettle when he tastes Tyson's power. As sloppy and untrained as that version of Tyson was, I think he will land and once he lands, natural aggression and power will eliminate the confidence that Spinks would have built.

 

Fair enough, Tyson was not the same fluid, combination drills fighter. He was, however, still the naturally bigger fighter, the more aggressive fighter, carried much greater power, the better chin and more importantly, had the aura of being undefeated.

As great a fighter as Spinks was, he doesn't stand up to the most ferocious of hitters at HW and whilst well built up to the division, he doesn't carry the benefit of being a natural HW that is used to taking punches from elite punchers.

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face" - likewise, everyone thinks they're not scared until they taste the power and they realise they didn't train for that.

If Tokyo Tyson lands three or four punches solidly on Spinks, he's not going to continue bringing the fight to Tyson - he's going to have to go on the backfoot and it is extremely hard to outbox a monster hitter when you're worried about their power and they have the handspeed to land it.

 

Still Tyson by ko but takes him at least 7 rounds to get him.

 

You are all over this are hitting all the key notes.

I am convinced Spinks never thought he could beat Tyson. Even at his heavyweight best Tyson would have mulched him lets be honest.

As you say nobody was convinced Tyson was ready for the taking. Sure there'd been subtle signs he was losing the edge but he was still pole axing people on quick time. Spinks knew he had a limit at heavyweight hence choosing the guys he did after Holmes.

Fighting Holmes, let alone an old Holmes is not in the same stratosphere as walking to the ring to fight Tyson. His aura had not diminished one bit. Holmes is a boxer with average power while Tyson can leave you prone very very quickly. Sure jumping up to heavyweight and fighting Holmes was gutsy and the achievement immense but it's still light years away from having to face Mike.

At one time when questioned when he would fight Tyson, Spinks told the reporter why don't you go and fight him or words to that effect.

An aged Holmes hurt Spinks numerous times with right hands but was too old to follow up and he doesn't punch like Tyson anyway. Tyson would have Spinks struggling to survive or on the deck for the count whenever he hit him flush. Tyson needed barely any flush punches to KO Michael.

Spinks would not be able to do what the 6 3 1/2" 230 pound Douglas did. A big part of his win was letting his hands go with Tyson at various points and punishing him back. Spinks could not do this. He'd be conscious of survival all the time as Tyson would only be one punch away from a quick potential finish. Tyson having his own way offensively would be on the front foot and he would find him. Douglas stopped him in his tracks numerous times and gave him food for thought about what would be coming back.

Another point is that there was no great talk of Spinks bad knee's and the rest of it. Sure he'd had troubles but it was certainly not in the forefront going into Tyson. He'd had two fights post Holmes and had no real trouble at all.

I truly do not believe Spinks thought he could beat Tyson and don't think he ever would have.

 

Spinks was still too small and not strong enough. Tyson still would ko him but not that fast

 

I don't really see much reason to expect a significantly different result. Even the "Tokyo" version of Tyson knocks out a whole lot of former heavyweight champions early, imo. Still an extraordinary blend of speed and power.

 

85 Spinks probably wins. Tyson was totally unprepared that night in Tokyo.

 

It’s reasonable to assume that Tyson would beat Spinks under most circumstances. Especially the 1988 rendition of Tyson. Spinks was after all a slow starter and a man who spent most of his career under 200 lbs.. But I think it’s a little unfair to always chalk it up to a 91 second duration however. Michael had been off for twelve months and had only fought once within a twenty month period. His resolve appeared quite clearly as a man who had more or less decided to retire already by that point. The lucrative payday was the only thing pushing him into that ring and with retirement eminent, that paycheck was too big to pass up. Winning back the title and proving himself the best in the world hardly seemed a factor anymore. The Spinks of three years earlier and in the midst of a more active career with unfinished business to attend to, and Tyson might have had to work a little harder for that win

 

50/50. Spinks in 1985 was still healthy and in excellent condition. Spinks in 1988 just showed up for a payday much like Sergio Martinez did against Cotto, since both knew they were finished as fighters.

 

Their is absolutely nothing in their actual fight that suggests to me, that things would've been drastically different.

 

Lets get this straight, TOKYO TYSON WAS PRIME TYSON!!!!! People just like to discredit Douglas's win, the reason Tyson lost was because Douglas trained hard for the fight and showed his full potential that night and that version of Douglas was better than any Tyson

 

In that case, '85 Spinks was still better than Douglas, so i give it to Spinks by decision. He certainly has the tools to outbox Tyson and maybe even the chin to survive, but I don't believe he has enough power to knock Tyson out.