How bad was the version of Spinks V Tyson?

Physically he was in the best shape of his life, but mentally he was a car wreck, he didn't want to fight Mike and mentally his heart was in another orbit.... Tyson was just money on the table, he couldn't turn it away... too great an offer..........

 

It's so easy to label Spinks as "awful" for Tyson, but there are many variables to consider.

Spinks did not like or enjoy his chosen profession. He simply could not wait to get out. It didn't matter if he was bad, good or great at it, it was never in his heart. He could fight yes, and he was a great at 175...but don't confuse his greatness at any point with enjoyment or "love".

The whole concept of moving up to heavyweight was to cash-out. Spinks averaged 100K per light heavy title defense. For Holmes he got 1.1 million and rest assured he wasn't certain he would prevail. It was a golden business opportunity. He may have looked "ugly" edging past a flat, aging great in Holmes, but even at that point it was understood that Holmes was the best. This was a bigger, more valuable feat than beating John Ruiz.

When he won, bad as it may have looked, he was in line for the equivalent of twenty more paydays based on his light heavyweight title defense average. When they gave him that, it was about filling as many buckets with the flowing gravy as possible....and each time they went into a match it was understood that it may be the last time. The experiment had gone well but the merry go-round would at some point stop.

Yes, for Tyson Spinks came in off of a year of inactivity. It was the only logical fight left; the grand payout. Spinks may never have believed he could win, and he entered the ring scared and seemed to have lost his composure, but he lost it swinging....not running and holding.

There was a lot of shrewdness in Spinks laying his chips on the table in the spring of 1985. It was a hand he'd play out well for three years.

At his most natural weight, nobody touched him.

 

He wasnt bad he just got KTFO, it happens and allot of Sub-210lb HWs would be treated the same way by Tyson

 

I can certainly agree that Spinks was not thrilled about fighting Tyson and that his motivation partially contributed to such an early defeat. However, as much as I empathize with Spink's anxiety, we have to remember that he was a professional fighter and was being paid multi-millions of dollars in order to show up as such. Whatever adjustment that needed to be made, he had an obligation to give the fans his best, and frankly I don't think he produced. Now, even if he was in the greatest form of his career with every intention of knocking Tyson's block off, defeat still would have been inevitable. The problem that I have, is that there wasn't a single sign of a heart beat from Spinks, even in the pre-fight interview.........

 

Spinks was only pushing age 32 in 1988, and he was big as ever but solid at 212 pounds........ However, truth is, Spinks froze like a rabbit in the spotlight......... Spinks was scared shitless of Tyson............. Still, Tyson was peaked and on fire in 1988......
:bbb

MR.BILL

 

You make good points. But I still stand for my impression that Spinks was simply "awful" that night.

Sure, he was out of his depth at that weight. Sure he didn't enjoy the fight. Sure, he was just for the money. Sure, he was just an experiment. Sure, he was very probably going to be killed by Tyson all the same.

I agree with all that.

But at then of the day if you are a fighter and you accept a fight, then you must try to do precisely that: fight. I don't care if that is for love or for money. I can be naive, but my opinion is that a professional fighter MUST try to do his best and give some effort, regardless the odds. If he can't or doesn't want, then he better doesn't step into the ring :bart

I didn't see that with Spinks that night. He was more like a tomato can ready to take a dive, than a champion.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to grill Spinks, because perhaps it is true that we don't know the whole story, but sometimes I feel that he gets a sort of "free pass" in this one just because he was facing a monster Tyson that would have probably knocked anybody and everybody that night.

But had Spinks pulled a performance like that against any other fighter of that era, that would have been nothing short of a con job :nono

 

Spinks Tucker for the lineal title could have been.

How does that one pan out?

Tucker was denied two deserved title shots.

 

Let's not judge Michael too harshly. He froze. Fear can do strange things to a man.

 

I'm not saying he feasted on light heavies, i'm saying he was the ultimate destroyer of them. He had the chin to handle anything they could muster, had the power to near take their head off but more to my point had the speed to compete with them on that level as well. Conn, Spinks, Charles, all of them, i see destruction.

 

I agree. His speed created openings against smaller men that maybe would not be there for other heavyweights.

 

Exactly, and it was a two fisted attack. Light Heavies would also lack the natural strength to clinch/stink/hug/nullify his attacking forays. Tucker, Smith and especially Holyfield all somewhat staved off his attack via these means.

 

Scared or not, a 90 second knockout of an undefeated champion is still pretty damn impressive.

 

When ? :huh

The last time I checked he was given a few undeserved title shots, by virtue of the corrupt alphabet organization ratings and phoney eliminators, likely due to the fact he was signed up partially or fully to the right promoter.

 

How can you tell in 89 seconds??? Spinks couldnt do anything. He missed just about every punch he threw because Tyson was at his best. It doesnt matter how bad you think Spinks looked, just like Holmes, noone had blew him out as badly and quickly as Tyson did.

 

I think Spinks is being sold way short here.

1. He had a TON to gain by beating Tyson. Just think if he had won... Seriously, think about it.

2. I disagree he "didn't want this fight". If he didn't want Tyson, why was he attending Tyson's championship fights and talking up a future fight with Tyson? He was doing this as far back as Tyson/Tucker.

I also think Spinks "looking scared" of Tyson in the ring that night is way over exaggerated, and played out. He looked like that at ALL of his fights. He was never an aggressive hothead. He always had a somewhat calm, mundane look on his face.