Cleveland Williams vs Leon Spinks

Evangelista was - remarkably - ranked #3 by the WBC when he got his shot at Larry Holmes. Not when he fought Spinks, though - by that time he'd lost the European title and that cost him his top 10 spot.

As for Lopez, I've never actually seen him listed in any ratings, but I've read that he was ranked 10th by the WBC when he fought Spinks. Of course, it's not as if Spinks actually beat him. He got a draw, and he would have lost if Lopez hadn't been docked a point for butting.

Overall, Spinks has a fringe contender's record, which is nothing to be ashamed of. It just looks bad when set against that one famous night against an ageing, overweight, disinterested Muhammad Ali.

 

Pretty funny Chok gives Spinks credit for a guy who was just barely ranked by the skin of his teeth by one organization while simultaneously downplaying Williams draw with Machen and refuses to credit him for it whatsoever.

 

Even going by the Ring Annual ratings Evangelista was rated #9 and Bernardo Mercado, winner over Shavers and Trevor Berbick, was also rated # 9 when Leon fought him. But look who they were beating around that time checking Boxrec and they conceivably could be rated even higher by governing bodies if you can access their rankings. Eddie Lopez took an unbeaten John Tate to a MD decision and also took an unbeaten Cooney the distance. Eddie was a tough hombre and no set up.

 

but how bad does it look in relation to this match up? Why must williams resume rate above Leon’s “nothing to be ashamed of” level?

By comparison Williams was but a top contender for a fleeting moment when he was worthy enough to draw with Machen the gatekeeper. Hardly eclipsing Leon’s achievements. At least Leon stopped mercado and Evangelista.

 

Oh so now we're using the Ring Annual ratings?

Omelio Agramonte (ranked number 9 in 1949)
Young Jack Johnson (Ranked number 9 in 1955)
Wayne Bethea (Ranked number 10 in 1956)
Alex Miteff (ranked number 9 in 1957, number 10 in 1959, number 8 in 1961)
Dick Richardson (Number 9 in 1960)
Billy Daniels (Number 8 in 1962)
Ernie Terrell (Number 3 in 1963, and 1964, number 1 in 1965 and 1966, number 10 in 1967, Number 6 in 1972 (this one admittedly surprised me. It appears he found his way back into the ratings after knocking out the WBA's number 5 contender in Garcia))
Roger Rischer (Number 8 in 1964)
John Holman (number 4 in 1955).

Wow! I never noticed the disparity between Williams' and Spinks' was THIS great! Excellent work Chok!

 

Concerning Mercer, I watched the live telecast of his bout with Damiani, and Francesco really boxed Ray's ears off before a light left uppercut with elbow follow through from Mercer grazed the tip of Damaini's nose, shattering it. Ray should've learned from that, the fact he was extremely lucky to win (the Italian had it easily clinched on the cards, 79-74, 79-74 and 78-74), but Mercer didn't learn, spotted the first three rounds to Morrison, still didn't learn he couldn't always come back from behind to win, then Holmes literally took him to school with a result that should have surprised nobody.

Yeah, there's no way anybody should rate Mercer highly except with respect to his overall chin and body punch resistance at his prime.

I do wonder how Ray would be regarded if Witherspoon had been his final match.