Scott was a very good LHW contender who many expected to be champion. But due to his being incarcerated, he was denied a title shot. Many of his fights were held were he was incarcerated at, the Rahway State Prison (where the original Scared Straight was filmed). Scott and Spinks shared a common opponent in Dwight Qawi who was a fellow inmate at Rahway with Scott. Apparently they sparred together when Qawi was an inmate at Rahway. This content is protected This is Scott vs future Spinks victim Eddie Muhammad. How would Scott fare against Michael Spinks?
Hard to pick against Michael here. He had the skills to school Scott, and the power to keep him honest. Spinks by late KO>
Scott really was never that good. I watched all of his bouts live on TV. Spinks would have knocked him out.
Scott is being underrated, here. Of course he was very good. Spinks and Scott shared more than just Qawi as a common opponent He beat Gregory and Yaqui Lopez - easily, well before Spinks beat those same opponents, when each was a sitting #1 contender. from Boxrec: "On October 24, 1978, Scott fought Eddie Gregory (later Eddie Mustafa Muhammad), the WBA's No. 1-ranked light heavyweight contender. The fight, televised live on HBO, took place in the same auditorium at Rahway where seven years earlier convicts waged a bloody riot and seized six hostages, including the warden. There were over 450 paying customers from outside the prison walls and the inmate population watched on three large screens set up in the Drill Hall. Scott, a 4 to 1 underdog, won by a 10-round unanimous decision. Pat Putnam of Sports Illustrated reported: Scott took charge from the start, swarming over Gregory at close quarters, firing punishing hooks from both sides. In the fourth round, he raised an ugly lump under Gregory's left eye. . . . Scott won the fifth round, then coasted through the sixth and seventh, which he lost on all cards. From Round 8 on, he resumed command and never let up. Always it was the same: inside and savage. At the end, with his corner screaming for him to go for a knockout, Gregory was barely able to hang on. Harold Lederman, who was one of the official judges at ringside, said in 2012: "On that day, I thought James Scott was the greatest light heavyweight I ever saw in my life. That's how great he was. On that one day when he beat Gregory, he was the best light heavyweight I ever saw. I never saw a performance like that — anywhere. I don't think Bob Foster was as good as that. I don't think Archie Moore was that good." After the fight, People, Esquire, the New York Times and Sports Illustrated swarmed Rahway and circulated Scott's story across the country; television networks CBS and NBC clamored to get Scott and Rahway back on TV; and Rahway was flooded with letters from around the world addressed to the prison's most famous inmate. On March 10, 1979, Scott knocked out Richie Kates in 10 rounds. Scott won his next two fights, knocking out Bunny Johnson and Ennio Cometti, and rose to No. 2 in the WBA rankings. In September 1979, Victor Galindez was stripped of the WBA light heavyweight title for allegedly breaking a contract to defend it against Marvin Johnson. Yaqui Lopez was the No. 1 contender and Murad Muhammad already had a fight between Scott and Lopez scheduled for December 1. Muhammad asked that the bout be changed to a 15-round championship fight for the vacant WBA title. However, faced with the reality of a potential champion behind bars, the WBA, for the first time, raised the issue of Scott's criminal record. Suddenly, they concluded that the notion of a jailhouse fighter set a bad example for the sport, and fighting in prison put his opponents at a disadvantage. At its annual convention, the WBA voted 60 to 1 to strip Scott of his ranking. The organization also voted to reinstate Galindez as light heavyweight champion after he apologized and agreed to fight Marvin Johnson. Scott briefly retired in protest." It appears the WBA, which had coddled a fading Galindez - they let him simply refuse to enter the ring on the day of his rematch with Mike Rossman - suddenly became "moral." Yes, Lederman was probably engaging in hyperbole. But, peak Scott beat two sitting world #1 contenders, both of whom got title shots afterwards, with one winning a world title. And he knocked out a guy who had almost beat Galindez. Being denied a title shot by the WBA after twice beating it's #1 contender and then being stripped of a rating, had to have demoralized Scott. Even if it didn't, Perry's statement that "Scott was never that good" doesn't hold water. His resume clearly shows he was, for a short period of time, in 78-79, a real title threat. No way Spinks is koing him. Spinks had to go the distance with all his best opposition - Braxton, Gregory and Eddie Davis. Scott was very durable and never stopped. He was outpointed by a very physically strong and prime Jerry Martin who had the right style to smother Scott on the inside, and by Braxton. Spinks would use his unorthodox style and physical advantages to box his way to a decision.
