Does Michael Spinks have a case for being ranked top 30 OAT, and above...

...the likes of Hearns, Hagler, Chavez, Pacquiao, Jones Jr, etc?


Light-heavyweight wins:

Yaqui Lopez
Marvin Johnson
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
Dwight Muhammad Qawi

Heavyweight wins:

Larry Holmes
Gerry Cooney


Not only was the guy one of the real lhw elite of all-time both ability-wise and resume-wise, but he holds one of the best hw wins of the modern era (Holmes 1), and is one of the few men to win both lhw and hw titles.


I'm starting to think Spinks deserves to be closer to the likes of Leonard and Whitaker than to the likes of the guys mentioned at the start of this post. Not sure though. Just pondering it now.

Thoughts? :bbb

 

I consider him in the same group as all of them, not top 30 for me though, but then only two of the guys you mentioned would probably make my top 30. Against that company, I'd probably rate him higher than Hagler and Hearns and maybe Chavez, or at least right next to the 3 of them. Pac and Jones a shade higher.

 

No he has nowhere near a case for being Top 30 all time.

Top 50 probably, but I'd say more around 60.

He surely has a solid resume though just not enough big names.


Yaqui Lopez
Larry Holmes x2
Gerry Cooney
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
Dwight Muhammad Qawi
Marvin Johnson
Steffan Tangstad
Eddie Davis
Johnny Davis


Solid resume but easily short compared to the boxers you mentioned. Take for instance Jones.



Bernard Hopkins
Reggie Johnson
Antonio Tarver
Thulani Malinga
Jorge Castro
James Toney
Eric Harding
Jorge Vaca
Montell Griffin
Clinton Woods
Thomas Tate
John Ruiz
Tony Thornton
Mike McCallum
Virgil Hill
Julio Cesar Gonzalez
Merqui Sosa

 

I think Spinks's is stronger than Jones's. It's not as deep, but his best wins are better. Holmes 1 is much better than any of Jones's wins, and his lhw comp was stronger than Jones's. Jones has the Toney and B-Hop wins, which are both excellent, Toney being better as he was peak whereas B-Hop in my opinion was not, but Spinks's win over Qawi is comparable.

I can actually see both sides of the argument though. Spinks's lhw and hw stints were better, but Jones has a clear edge in resume depth/longevity.

 

That´s an interesting comparison. Take their Top5 wins and Spinks has the edge. Take the Top10 and it´s close. Take the Top15 and Jones has the edge. Of course Spinks was the champ at lhw and hw, something Jones never managed to do but then Jones also held straps of the title at mw ans smw which makes a bit up for that. P4p I think it´s very close, I may give the edge to Jones because moving up from mw to hw, even so only for one fight, is quite a feat. Wouldn´t argue if people have it any other way. At lhw it´s quite clear that Spinks has the edge.

Pac is quite ahead of all of them so far. The only one I think should be considered for Top30.

 

Good post.

 

Spinks has a better resume than Jones Jr.
Some of those names commando used for Jones are not that good fighters.

Anyway, not everything is done on resume, but I'd probably rate Spinks above Roy Jones, Ray Leonard, Chavez and Hearns ..... and not far behind Hagler.
On my list.

I don't think he's top 30 of all-time though.

 

You rate Hagler above Leonard? :huh

 

Yes.

 

Spinks is clearly better then Jones IMO. Spinks dominated a much stronger light-heavyweight division IMO. Spink's win over Holmes is far better then beating John ruiz

And i believe Spinks is very clearly top 50 P4P. Top 30? I am not sure but he certainly has a case.

 

OK you're probably laughing at me putting Julio Cesar Gonzalez, and Jorge Vaca right? Yeah it was a bit of a stretch, but both alright fighters with decent wins.

If we are going that route though, Eddie Davis and Steffen Tangstad surely gets taken off Spinks wins.


Edit: Thanks for making this thread now though, I never really taken much time to analyze Spink's resume and he surely is top 50 of all time now.



How do you guys view Spinks second win over Holmes anyway? Do you consider it a win if you in fact do think he lost anyway? It was the official scoring and he did get the win, it was a close fight but I had Holmes winning by two points. I think it still should be considered a win though.

 

I find a lot of the time that people's reasoning for keeping Michael Spinks outside of that kind of company is because he got blasted out in 1 round by Mike Tyson, and they also make note of the fact that Larry Holmes was unmotivated when Spinks defeated him in the first encounter. Mike Tyson would most likely blast out most long-reigning Light Heavyweight in history, and the Holmes argument holds no weight. Holmes would go on to put in a good performance in the rematch and years later take Ray Mercer's zero. Spinks should deserve full credit not only for beating him but the manner in which he did, going into the jaws of the lion, and putting it on Larry Holmes. It's a monstrous victory, far exceeds any win on Jones Jr resume.

For those reasons, and the fact he had a much more impressive reign at 175lbs, I hold Michael Spinks in higher regard than Jones, and consider him to be top 35-40 material.

 

Top 10 wins between these fighters


1. Larry Holmes I
2. James Toney
3. John Ruiz
4. Dwight Muhammad Qawi
5/6. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad/Bernard Hopkins (Muhammad surely doesn't even have close to the resume Hopkins has but by the time he fought Spinks he had a lot more experience than Hopkins had against Jones) (Both terrific wins)
7. Virgil Hill
8. Marvin Johnson
9. Antonio Tarver
10. Gerry Cooney


11/12. Yaqui Lopez/Montell Griffin


Does it look about right?


If we are in fact including Larry Holmes II then it would go like this.

1. Larry Holmes
2. James Toney
3. Larry Holmes II

 

Ruiz is a grossly overrated win, and Yaqui Lopez was better than both Tarver and Hill for my money, although granted he was past his prime when Spinks took him out. Then again so was Hill when Roy took him out.