A Lightheavy That Gives Mike Tyson A Better Fight Than Spinks??

I won't name multiple as I feel that takes the fun out of these type of threads and it's more interesting to see how many varieties other people will add. I'll just name one:

Virgil Hill; he had the dimensions of a smallish HW and the jab and skill set to make it a chess match for a few rounds. (I do think Mike would eventually prove too strong and brutish though)

 

Jack Dillon.Harold Johnson.

 

Wow, I really want to say Archie Moore, just because he was so tricky and smart.

 

A lot could. Some might even beat Tyson. Unfortunately Spinks was damaged goods going into the Tyson fight, since both his knees were shot.

 

Wait. Are we talking about the 1988 version of Mike Tyson?
If we're talking about that version of Tyson, a lot of lightweights could put up a better fight than Michael Spinks, given the kind of fight Spinks put up.
But make no mistake that some Conn, Moore, Moorer, Langford, Foster, John Henry Lewis...could win.

 

Now I want to see Jack Dillon vs. Mike Tyson

 

Harry Greb would probably make it a round or two.

 

I actually think Bivol might last a few rounds before Tyson caught up to him.

 

The problem here is Tyson in his prime wasn't just fast hands and power (which he was) but also he had some pretty fast feet so he's catching up to these smaller guys quicker than they may expect.

As far as rated light heavys that do better than Spinks, probably a lot as the bar is really low here. How many end up on the wrong end of a 10 count? Probably most, if not all.

Ezzard Charles I think has the best chance as he's proven at heavy and light heavy. I still wouldn't favor him

Archie Moore is another but he fought a guy that was slightly similar and that ended poorly for him.

There's a reason why so few light heavys have had success against top heavyweights of their era.

 

Matthew Franklin

 

I wish I was a proud Kulak

 

So, there was this LHW who won a Bronze in the Olympics, made his pro debut as a LHW...

There was also this other LHW who won a gold in the Olympics back in the day...