If Leon Spinks had been disciplined and well-managed...

I don't think he ever would have been a great fighter. He didn't have that good of a punch. Didn't have that good of a chin. He was an aggressive fighter but not really strong or quick enough to really give the top guys a scare. He did accomplish a lot. You have to give him credit. He took it to Ali in a way Ken Norton or Jimmy Young, more skilled fighters, didn't do. He deserved the title in the 1st Ali fight and became undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Not many fighters ever did that.

 

IF they had kept Leon at cruiserweight, maybe an all-time great, and possibly the first undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champ, before Holyfield.

 

I agree had he been in cruiser division could of done alot better held titles and been at the top longer, he was bearly a 200 pounder, too small for greatness in the heavyweights. One thing though he was in good fights ,if he wasnt winning he was getting knocked out.lol

 

Personally I don't think he'd be a great fighter, period, regardless of division. Not at cruiser and certainly not at heavyweight.

I think he'd have done quite well at cruiserweight, probably win a belt and be in the mix for a few years, but I don't think he'd distinguish himself at the weight and elevate himself beyond many of the ABC champions of that division.

Heavyweights? Forget it.

 

he wouldn't be leon spinks

 

I still think guys like Carlos DeLeon and Dwight Qawi beat him. He was an average fighter who had one hell of a night in 1978. Good for him.

 

I don't think he was ever going to be "great." He was better than average but could've been a solid, consistent contender if he had been more disciplined.

He, like Michael, was a very awkward fighter to deal with. Leon quickly moved in with erratic headmovement and threw punches in bunches. It made him kind of obnoxious for people to fight, but those in the upper tier would've always beaten him.

 

Agreed.


The pedigree of the guys turning pro in 76 to 78 was too big of a mountain for Leon. You had Tate from that 76 timeframe. And Knoetze and Coetzee from South Africa.

78 was what--Page/Dokes/Pinklon Thomas/Cooney/. A guy on the outskirts was Berbick. He would have always been a tough matchup for Leon and Trevor was never looked on with the same upside of the other guys. Cobb was even getting in the sport then.

Weaver was a regional fighter in 78, but was out there with his best work yet to come. Larry Holmes would always be a horrible matchup. Duane Bobick would have been an interesting fight.

But the contemporaries of Leon would have made for shark infested waters. He sure got smoked by Coetzee quick when he faced a hitter, with that style.

He was a guy on par with other guys like Scott Ledoux and Evangelista and so forth. I wanted to see Leon take on Dino Dennis and I think that's a tough tough fight for both guys. Some of those so called journeymen from back then had some tools which may have presented problems--guys like Koranicki and Chaplin and guys like that were capable of an upset or a draw even, just like Ledoux had.

But the thought of Leon getting 3 wins in a row once he faces say top 15 opposition just doesn't look good. I think a guy like a Leroy Jones could decision him.

But he certainly did catch lightning in a bottle on one night in 1978, didn't he? So many guy's blow their opportunities and Leon Spinks took advantage of his on that one night and became world champion.

 

This seems to have two parts to the question.

1) Discipline - Leon was a Marine.

2) Well-managed - A well-managed first year pro isn't thrown in with fringe pretenders after only five fights. No way any 7-1-1 fighter should have been matched against Coetzee.

For Olympic gold medalists, it takes on average four years for them to become the number one heavyweight contender. Leon should have been in pure learning phase for those first two years. He shouldn't have been facing anything near world class until he was at least 15-0. By 79, he might have been ready to start facing guys like LeDoux, Righetti, Mercado, Evangelista, etc. Defeat four or five solid journeymen and only then does one start looking at top ten caliber foes.

IF Leon hits 20 or 25-0 by the end of 1980 and just maybe, he'd have been ready for a title shot.

 

Leon Spinks is a great tale about taking your gap-toothed fighter up the ranks a little too quickly..

 

He would have been a champion, though not at heavyweight.

 

Spinks was a fluke.
He benefited from Ali's manager neglecting to pay the judges enough.

 

Good point! Larry was later on but still the point is well said. Leon could have won the second Ali go also if his managment had any clue to how he should have been trained for it,,,that was bad, bad stuff.