ATG: Who Rank Higher? JOnes or Spinks

I have Spinks a bit higher...I think he is actually better. Beat the better names at lightheavy (lets face it thats where Roy chose to carve out the biggest chunk of his career). Has a better heavyweight career.

I just dont think that Jones did enough outside heavy and light heavy to warrant having him over Spinks. The Hopkins win was still very good but not as significant as some make out because it was before Hopkins arguably was hitting his best form. Toney I think is just overrated anyway, massive win though, I aint doubting that.
Spinks beat all his rivals in a relatively light heavy strong era, Jones left a couple behind in a comparatively weaker one.

Spinks "beat" the undisputed champ at heavy, the best guy there, Roy cherrypicked the weakest titlist..I feel Spinks won at least one of those fights against Holmes, he at least showed he was on par with him in both. Spinks had a few defenses then took on Tyson in his prime, when Michael was clearly out of his. Roy went back down to struggle past Tarver.

H2H Spinks beats Roy I feel..for reasons I have gone over a thousand times before, so I wont bore anyone with them again.

That being said its close for me..I dont have a problem with people having Roy over Spinks..but they should be within a reasonable range of each other.

 

I appreciate both fighters, but in terms of greatness it's Jones by some distance for me.

 

I like Spinks, but this is a no brainer. Jones by a long shot.

 

At light heavy Spinks, overall Jones.

 

Couldn't be put better.

Battling from LHW to HW doesn't have much on going from MW to HW, in a P4P sense.

 

Yeah but old man McCallum, De Valle, Hill, Griffin, Woods over Qawi, Lopez, Sutherland, Wassaja, EMM ..No way.

I respect Ruiz and in hindsight that win is a little more significant now..But he was the weakest champ at the time and besides Valeuev has been one of the weakest heavyweight champs in the last 15 years. Taking on Holmes for the undisputed belt and at least defending it a couple of times is far more significant.

Besides Hopkins and Toney I dont feel Jones had a very deep resume at 160-168 anyway. Not enough to overcome the gulf in competition at heavy and light heavy.

Roy's legacy will always be tainted by the roids thing aswell...Not that it matters to much in this discussion.

I just cant see how Spinks' achievments "doesnt have much" on Roy's considering the fighters they beat to get there.

 

"Besides" Toney and Hopkin's. As if beating two of the best fighters of the past few decades isn't impressive enough, especially in the ways he defeated both.

When a fighter wins so casually against other ATG's it's seemingly expected for him to do even more. As if he should have stayed at HW for years to validate his greatness, blasted out heavyweights left and right.

Would that have validated his wins over Toney and Hopkin's more?

He did what he did. You act like Virgil Hill and Castro aren't damned good wins for him also.

 

For me RJJ

 

This is a well-crafted post... and not just because I agree.

 

I disagree with this part "I feel Spinks won at least one of those fights against Holmes, he at least showed he was on par with him in both"

Spinks wasn't on par with Holmes during the rematch. It's the words "at least" which I disagree with. He won the first fight, but definitely not the second. Spinks surpassed being on par with Holmes for the first fight as he beat him beyond any doubt. But he wasn't 'at least' on par with him for the rematch.

Just my opinion.

 

You have a valid point...I dont think I was acting like that at all though, I just feel that both sought to define themselves as great lightheavyweights and Spinks by some margin beat Roy in this part of the comparison.

Now as for their wins outside 175...Roy's win over Ruiz doesnt have much on two(at least one) wins over Holmes and two defences against middle of the pack contenders of the undisputed title, so not much of a comparison there.
Hopkins and Toney are as good as any wins on Spinks record, better I think.

Roy might have better p4p credentials considering his wider range of weights he fought at but I just feel Spinks having one of the best 175 resumes ever, with a superior heavyweight record to Roy holding 2 wins on paper over an ATG heavy, adding to that I think he would beat Roy in a H2H fight, gets him the higher placing...but not by much.

As I have stated before I dont have a problem with people having Roy higher I just think its madness to have him considerably higher. I have them within like 4 spots of each other on my alltime list.

 

I mean in an overall sense...Spinks won a fight, Holmes won a fight, both fights were competitive.

The series was a draw, even, a par round for both.

When I say "at least", some argue Spinks won both, some argue Holmes won both, most argue they had one a piece...No matter what way you feel about it Spinks showed he was at the same level as Holmes, hence "at least on par".