Ken Norton vs Leon Spinks who wins

Well, I don't follow sports news or social media. And I have no reason to continually look at the wikipedia article about Leon anymore. Sure, I loved him, but I don't think about him every day.
I'm working on the arm lol.

 

Ask Duane Bobick .. Spinks came out fast straight in .. he was not remotely ready with eight fights to go against a still prime Norton ..

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He survived against a poorly trained, light punching old Ali .. look at what happened to him against Coetzee ...

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Norton would have flattened him fast and decisively ..,,

 

That was the only time on film that Norton was able to accomplish such a quick victory.

 

"Ali is the greatest, but Spinks is the latest, so Ali's got to give it up!"

Turned out to be true!

 

Yes and the timing was very close to when they would have fought .. here's my question. Post Ali, who else did Leon Spinks ever beat ?

 

I don't really want to get into a resume battle, cuz that's definitely a losing one for Spinks. I think in styles.

 

.......and this is telling it like it is.

 

Bernardo Mercado was pretty highly rated, was coming off a win over the always dangerous Shavers and was considered to be a good bet to defeat Leon when they met in a title eliminator, by virtue of being a severe power puncher. Leon took his best shot in the first, overwhelmed him and left him defenseless against the ropes in the 9th.

As to a hypothetical Spinks-Norton match-up, this isn't taking place until late 1978 at the earliest; and Norton was starting to decline at that point. In 1979, Norton would get blasted out in by Shavers, and then dropped twice and nearly stopped by Scott Ledoux en route to a draw. Even against Stephens, he was thrown off early by the journeyman's pressure before finding the range and lowering the boom. Against a fighter who at that point had faster hands, it's not at all out of the question that Spinks beats Norton to the punch early, gets him in trouble, and puts him away if the fight is held in 1979. Norton was bigger, but Spinks was faster so it's at worst a 50/50 proposition for Spinks, imo. Think I might actually pick Spinks if the fight were to take place then.

If the fight takes place in 1978...Norton's a little fresher, but he's still coming off a grueling 15 rounder against Jimmy Young and is approaching the twilight of his career and still facing a younger, faster guy. Not a guaranteed outcome even then, because Norton did well against guys who stood straight up, and performed less well against guys who fought out of a crouch or who could take the battle to him.

Prime for Prime, Norton wins....But Norton wouldn't be in his prime when he got the chance to meet Spinks.

 

For the sake of reference, here's a reminder of how Norton looked in 1979...

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But Gerry Coetzee could hit like a truck

 

It's not resume it's really a matter of level of opposition ... Spinks was decisively beaten up by Holmes, Coetzee, Qwai and DeLeon .. I think his biggest win post Ali was Mercado , a nice win but not top tier .. Leon became one off those guys that regressed rather than graduated as a fighter .. a huge part of this was simply his lack of discipline .. his man child behavior was legendary ... that aside , Norton was much more experienced, still in his prime, bigger, stronger, better conditioned and a bigger puncher .. Leon had a ton of guts and came to fight but between being rushed into contender status against world class caliber and his own lack of focus he never graduated as a fighter ..

 

Was Norton in his prime when a hypothetical matchup with Leon would take place, though? He certainly wasn't by the start of 1979, for reasons mentioned in a previous post.

Moreover, with the exception of Bobick (who just wasn't as good as Spinks and started far more slowly), how many guys did Norton ever really wipe out? Most of his stoppages were the result of accumulation. He wasn't feather fisted....But he also wasn't really a one hitter quitter like some of his other contemporaries.

 

I will concede these points.

 

I know that's the tag line but really who did he KO but Leon , a drugged out Dokes who came into the ring high on coke ? He dsidsn't KO Weaver, an often stopped fighter or Tate, another guy without a great chin .. he didn't stop Thomas or Page or Snipes .. my point is yes Gerrie was a good puncher but not some legendary bomber , kinda of over rated , hand injuries or not .. bottom line I am not knocking Leon .. he was a warrior but more than anything he was the right man at a the right time .. he had an immortal moment but any shot he had of being a serious professional went out the window with the victory because he was not ready professionally skill wise and would never be mentally strong and disciplined enough ..

 

With all due respect to the late Leon Spinks, he and Ken Norton were to have fought sometime in 1978 following Leon's victory over Muhammad Ali on Feb 15 1978. Norton had defeated Jimmy Young on Nov 5 1977 by a split 15 round decision. By Leon opting to give Ali a rematch on Sept 15 1978, Norton was awarded the WBC title. Ken had far greater experience, Ken sadly by TKO 5