how does michael spinks do in the 40s and 50s

Spinks would do well but he wouldn't be undefeated and maybe not even the LH champ, not with that kind of talent that was around at the time. Still, he'd be in the mix. Try as I might though I can't see him competing against a prime Joe Louis.

 

Spinks was dominant in one of the best and deepest eras in LH history.

Anyone who has scalps like Yaqui Lopez, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Dwight Qawi and Marvin Johnson on his wall is going to thrive in any time period.

 

I believe he could have fared well in both divisions at that time, and would ultimately win some and lose some. In order to fit in with the norms of the time Spinks would have to fight a lot more often than he did in his actual era and under tougher circumstances. Therefore I don't see him being undefeated.

 

Magoo brings up a good point that's often overlooked and that is that fighters of today or the recent past would be fighting more frequently than they are accustomed to if they want to stay in the mix and get a title shot....Or hold onto thier title. That has a lot to do in estimating whether or not a modern fighter would do well in an earlier era. Plus the top fighters faced each other often even if they fought wars against one another. This obviously increases the chances of losing and of accumulating wear and tear on the body. No taking a year off and then setting up training camps...at least not on a regular basis. Spinks had 32 fights his entire career...compare that to guys like Loughran, Moore and Charles who all had well over 100 fights in thier careers. It puts things in perspective a bit I think.

 

I don't think Spinks has to give ground to anyone at 175. He could hang with anyone in any era at that weight, imo.

At heavyweight...well it's a bit strange really because he would not be able to bulk up like he did in his own era since fighters virtually never touched a weight back then. Certainly, it was never part of any greater strategy.
So it would be 175 lb. Spinks. I think he does pretty well, but an older Louis would beat him and after some trouble, so would Marciano.
He may get lucky enough to wear the strap in between those two though, for a while. Hard to say.
But at 175 he'd be among the very best, no question.

 

they would be tough era's for Spinks because he would be in much deeper than his era. He would have probably suffered a few bad losses and been stopped by the likes of Ezzard Charles,Archie Moore not to mention Joe Louis who would destroy M. Spinx and if he was in the 50's Marciano may take longer than Tyson but it would be a more brutal beating.

So if he can bounce back from serious losses (he did not vs Tyson) he may be a solid competitor but he would have some serious losses at light-heavyweight and get murdered crossing the line

 

Eddie Gregory was still a better fighter.