Who were some fighters who ultimately had ho-hum careers, but had one fight where they seemed like they could have beaten anybody. I'll go ahead: that's exactly my allure to Leon Spinks, and why I tend to overrate him. The version that fought Ali in the first fight-trained and sparred endlessly. He was ready for the toughest fight he could possibly win, but didn't ever approach boxing with the attitude again. Spinks of the 1st Ali fight would've beaten almost every heavyweight of the 80s imo and even some of the peak 70s fighters. What are some of your examples of this?
Not unstoppable since he lost, but Steve Mamakos is an example. He was a mediocre welterweight who fought Tony Zale for the middleweight title and actually gave Zale the hardest fight of his career. He was winning the fight until Zale stopped him in round 14.
You already took the first example that came to my mind when reading the thread title - Leon Spinks. A brief excerpt of Leon punching Ali on the ropes was interwoven into a not directly related doco I recently watched. Haven’t watched the fight in years - so it was very refreshing to again see such an intense Spinks, frenetically pounding away, seemingly indefatigable, smothering Ali. We know what Ali wasn’t by that stage and what he wasn’t for that fight in particular - but it doesn’t diminish Leon’s terrific performance in its own right but I wouldn’t say he was necessarily unstoppable for several of the HWs otherwise who were going around at the time.
Many might disagree, but the Willard of 1915, given a 45 round limit, might’ve been a very difficult guy to overcome for a number of better skilled HWs in and around his time.
I agree. Spinks while at his best, barely beat a shot Parkinson's-ridden Ali. Their are several from that era I'd favor over that version of Young.
That's true, Ali was not great at that point. I'm thinking more of Leon's performance and training ethic than his opponent ig. To a degree, I've always thought of Leon and Ali as equals that night, cuz Spinks was younger, stronger, more energetic but Ali was more experienced, and Leon had little experience fighting and zero going the long haul. The part of me that saw Leon as super formidable was not who he beat, but that he jumped up a lot of rounds in a war to win. It causes me to think he could have gotten far with that one-time kind of resolve.
Definitely. On that night in Tokyo Buster would have been a handful for any heavy in history. Not saying he would have beaten all the great ones but he'd have given them a damn good fight.
Good post. I mean we could’ve instead had the subject of being in the right place and the right time - and some might put Leon into that category. But then we only talk about those who realised success when they were perceived to be “in the right place at the right time”. Then there are all the others for whom it could also be argued that they were also presented with similar opportunities but still couldn’t deliver and/or didn’t bring their A game to the table. Leon did bring his A game - trained hard for it, he seized the day, the moment in time - hard to say how far that same commitment and resolve might’ve take him, but fair to reason that it likely would’ve taken him further than he did manage. And, imo, context notwithstanding, Leon came the closest of anyone to putting Ali down and out - Muhammad was clearly wobbled and absolutely on his last legs in the 15th round.
And Darryl Pinckney too and Darryl Pinckney, who had a losing record, did it to a prime jones and in three rounds!
Nobody, being honest. I think Leon Spinks would have been absolutely destroyed by Frazier, Marciano or Tyson. "Mediocre fighters" who have "one great night" always do so because of circumstances and styles.
The Spinks that beat Ali was nothing special, Ali just was worse that night. The fact that he lost to an older Ali in the rematch speaks to the caliber of fighter he was and I actually like Leon.
