Is M.Spinks legacy tainted by tyson defeat??

$22 Million? That is what £100 in todays money.

Seriously I agree Spinks is a great and has nothing to be ashamed of in any of his performances.

 

Spinks was a great fighter. I believe he was intimidated in this fight, but he had good reason. His opponent, as it turns out, was very intimidating.

Any fighter moving up usually does better against a boxer than a puncher, let alone one of the most prolific knockout artists the heavyweight scene has ever harbored. It was surprising, but in hindsight, explainable.

While Spinks would always do well against heavyweights like Holmes, Ken Norton, Chris Byrd, even comeback Ali, his poison is heavy hitters like David Tua, Foreman, Tyson, Lewis.

He just can't take the knock of a big heavweight puncher, and there's no shame in that. He went far 'nuff.

 

And that is a spot on post.

 

Agreed on all acounts.

 

Michael Spinks always puzzles me, hes like my 2nd favourite fighter but there were so many fights he could have taken to increase his historical rating, but he chose not to. Like he could have fought for carlos de leon's cruiserweight belt, he could have beaten some of the 80s heavyweights like page, coetzee, dokes, weaver, etc. Even if he would have lost to some of them it wouldnt have been that bad honestly i mean ezzard and archie lost to some of the heavyweights of thier era, bob foster lost to every heavyweight. The only heavyweights i would have favoured over him were tucker, witherspoon and probably pinklon, the rest he would have beaten.

 

I suppose it was tainted, in a way, if one thinks he ever really beat an ATG HW like Larry Holmes during Holmes' prime, and in turn got his head knocked off by a prime Tyson.

Does that taint what he accomplished as a LHW, nah.

Tyson never beat a prime Holmes either.

 

Holmes prime was loooooong gone.

 

As duo will tell ya, Spinks was never HUGE on boxing and just got in, did what he had to and got out. He had some injury drama's too and was realistic to know it was going to be a hard slog from there in at heavyweight. He was never going to win the title with Tyson at the helm.

I actually applaud him for getting out at the perfect time. He gave himself a shot at Heavyweight immortality (More really after being the first ever 175 king to reign above) then got out after failing.

 

This is a great way of looking at it, JT! Wish I would have thought of it :smoke

I sometimes wish he would have just stayed at LHW, but at least he gave it a good try at HW. Can't fault a guy for trying!

 

Well one of the best things he ever did was move to Heavyweight. He made history in becoming the first ever to win both 175 titles and the Heavyweight one as well. BIG feat. He could have stayed at 175 and reigned for many years but set the bar high for himself and took on a much greater challenge. He was a massive underdog vs Holmes. It's sad he went out on a hammering, but the career he had behind was all conquering.

 

It also set him up financially for life and I'd imagine he is now much better off for it. Always bad to hear about broken down fighters who have nothing, Spinks won't be one of them.

 

Spinks has both his health AND his wealth. Great fighter, and a smart one.

 

I've always considered him up there with Tunney and Marciano for getting out at the right time. I'd put Hagler in that exclusive club too.