Could Spinks have made middle weight?

I don't know, but he could have made 168 without missing a step.

 

Hard to see it otherwise.

 

He fought as a middleweight in the amateurs but I think it was a division he was destined to outgrow. He might have been able to slim down for one fight only in the pros but not sure it was in his best interest. He was tall and had a big frame for that weight class.

 

His frame was too big to hold Middleweight comfortably.

 

He was a big 175 not so sure he could have made160....he fought in the same day weight in era which meant he was as small and as strong as he could reasonably get

 

It would have been like when Chris Byrd went down to light heavyweight. It would have drained him and took everything out of him.

 

Spinks could make middleweight today. Super middle no doubt.
People need to stop fixating on frame, composition and build when talking about making weight today. It's water weight.

 

Absolutely. Body composition plays no part here nor frame it is a matter of up in the air guesses on how he would handle todays "boiling" methods the average cut suggests he would be fine.

 

Dieting down? Probably not. Cutting the weight? yes.

 

Don’t know ask him

probably look like an Ephiopian though

 

It still makes sense to talk about all those things-in the context of the unfortunate decades long, dangerous & historically discontinuous act of allowing ay before weigh ins & rehydration.
We just need to move the needle back re: what weights he could make & excel at before same ay weigh ins.
So yes, since it is under 10% difference between MW & the LHW limit, he should be fine.