Is Tyson-Spinks the most underrated win at heavyweight?

At the time it happened, it was huge. But nowadays you have more and more people putting Spinks aside as some random blow-up that was a nobody at heavyweight and Tyson beating him is often disregarded.

Now I agree that Spinks had a padded and extremely thin record at heavyeight, but the man has a huge victory in the division. He had outboxed an undefeated Holmes. Holmes was past his best years and did win the second fight in my eyes, but to be frank, Holmes was still an elite fighter at the time. He came back in the 90's in his mid 40's and overweight to give Holyfield a tough fight and perform a boxing clinic against Mercer.

Spinks beating him is a bonafide, top-notch win, and I don't think it's even possible to dispute that.

Tyson however made Spinks look like he was in a completely different stratosphere as a boxer. It genuinely looked like he was beating down on some welterweight. I would agree that fear played a role in that, but still. That win in my eyes is pure quality and up to date is still one of the most impressive performances at heavyweight, ever.

Would you agree?

 

Yeah, but don't expect a lot of backup here.
They'll say Spinks was never more than a blown-up lightheavy, they'll say he was deeply intimidated, they'll say he had a bum knee, they'll say Spinks was never that good...

 

A lot of people were picking Spinks, & a lot picking Tyson were anticipating a difficult decision win based on Spinks quality & awkwardness, not a one round demolition job.

 

Great win, like Liston's defeats of Patterson. No one ever did that to Spinks.

 

The irony here of course is it probably took you longer to wax lyrical about the so called fight than it actually lasted.:rofl:rofl

 

Tyson was one of the best and a great person to boot :good

 

Great victory.

 

there was no way a 212 pounder who didn't punch hard was winning that night..Tyson could've beat Holmes and Spinks that night.Yes a great win but certainly not underrated.Spinks was not his best opponent..in that era..but it was his biggest fight.I would put Thomas/holmes and Tucker over spinks.Unfortunatly Tyson wanted to end the night early and spinks was the target.

 

Quick Tillis was a 208 lbs fighter without a particularly strong punch and he was a hairs breath away from popping Tysons cherry. Granted it was a green Tyson but still.

 

I draw some margin of parallel to Pacquiao-De la Hoya here. ODLH was the overwhelming favorite at the time and yet Pacquiao demolished him, only to have his victory detracted from by naysayers after the fact.

Tyson utterly obliterating a solid HW who had good names even if not a long list of them should be viewed in context of the match-up prior to the result. Was Tyson truly the favorite at the time, let alone to win in the fashion he did?

Great win for a great fighter. Better bait for rousing bitter trolls decades later.

 

Another Tyson windup thread by a newbie troll.

 

sometimes that happens when you put in a green prospect in with a very experienced gatekeeper/journeyman.

 

Tillis didn't even come close to beating Tyson.

 

He came closer than Tyson did to beating Danny Williams....