Did Holmes cherry pick Michael Spinks?

I go along with that. Nobody,least of all Holmes,expected that it would be a light-heavy champion,albeit a great one,would be the man who ended Larry's unbeaten record.

 

Yes Holmes started cherry picking after the Witherspoon fight in 83.

Holmes said himself he had no intentions of fighting the most dangerous contenders towards the end of his reign.

 

Comparatively speaking, yes. Holmes wasn’t the first heavyweight champion to select the king at 175 as a challenger. But given how many other qualified opponents ( including fellow belt holders ) were around, it had to be seen as a softer touch. He was but ONE win away from tying the famous 49-0 record held by Rocky Marciano, and likely attempting the path of least resistance to get there.

 

Holmes was a 6-1 favorite against Spinks to put the expectations in order.

He was also 6-1 fave over Witherspoon. If memory serves it was 9-1 over Williams. 4-1 over Frazier. Frank would have been astronomical, 4-1 over Bey. Las Vegas wouldn't post odds on the Holmes - Bonecrusher winner, instead they went 13-10 Crusher wouldn't last more than 7 rounds.

 

The one thing going in I sure liked w/ Mike spinks was his pedigree. Amatuer and pro and the guy knew how to win fights. Very successful run at lh as well--a true champion.

Larry was fighting guys that were barely 10 round fighters. Minimal experience. So he could circle and jab and they couldn't catch him. But Mike Spinks had the best legs Holmes had ever fought in his career. Fighting a guy w/ legs and big fight experience and an undefeated champion was a whole different set of credentials----and I liked Spinks chances going in.

Especially after that Carl Williams fight and figured Larry at that stage would not be any better. Most folks just passed over that result and didn't think a 175 guy had a chance just based simply on weight.

And remember Futch had said Mike Spinks was going to be a very tough fight for Larry Holmes. Most just ignored what he had said.

 

Plenty of fine points. Holmes also took him lightly IMO and that was a bad thing to do at that career stage against a guy that, as you said, sure knew how to win.

 

Yes, of course. He told Spinks that his jab would feel like a LHW's right hand. He thought he was going to waltz into a 49th victory.

You have to put things in context. Early in his reign, Larry fought the best he could get his hands on. By this time, he had dropped a belt rather than fight Page, had openly turned down Thomas, had bragged about fighting little guys for big money, and stated that he was going to walk away from the sport unless they gave him guys he could beat. And he sure as hell wasn't giving Carl Williams a rematch any time soon.

 

Yes

Most observers thought he wanted an easy mark to catch Marciano.

Spinks weighed 170 in his previous fight,

 

Of course he did. He could've fought Thomas instead.

 

He also had a spine injury. Not a good night for him, definitely.

 

Most definately. He wanted to equal Marciano´s mark and lets not forget he hammered Spinks´ former heavyweight champion brother Leon in 3 painful rounds.

Glad Spinks won (the Marciano remark about the jockstrap was a real low from Holmes)though I thought he was lucky in the return.

Michael Spinks was a class act especially when you take into account his hard upbringing.

 

The backfire couldn’t have happened to a more obnoxious Champion. Lovely stuff.