Michael Spinks and his reign as Heavyweight Champ - Questions

I think Michael did the best given the situation. No way was he beating TNT Tucker. So he took the path he did.

 

Spinks made the most money he possibly could have made, I guess that was pretty good

 

I don't think anybody thought Tucker was any more of a risk to Spinks at the time than Cooney or Tangstad.

Tucker was just a kid with in unbeaten record and a silly haircut. We had to wait to see him versus Tyson to see if his win over Douglas even translated into world level or not. Turns out it did. Nobody Knew this when Spinks was a champ.

In fact It was a bit silly that the IBF had Tucker as a mandatory challenger to Spinks out of beating beating Otis Bates and James Broad!

 

Maybe it was a bit on the silly side, but Tucker had also beaten Jimmy Young and Eddie Lopez. And I'm sure Michael has seen a couple of Tony's fights, and realized he had mad potential, he'd been a pro since 1980.

 

Cooney and Spinks is an awkward one. One of those where there is soooo much money on offer above the mandatory that it's hard to resist even with the so called title on the line. Most everyone still recognised spinks anyway and as said earlier if Spinks didn't jump on the bout Tyson probably would have got the money. On top of this it's not like tucker had won ay eliminators or stamped himself on the division before the bout was signed.

 

Ironically Cooney followed a similar blueprint and made all the same mistakes that he had leading into the Holmes fight. Poor quality opponents and a sizable layoff prior to the title fight was never going to help him. You have to think it was all about money again, KO some average guys take no risks and get the big money yet again. Another quick buck was made against Foreman.

You could say he got what he deserved both, it's not like he paid his dues. He could have been pretty good if he had it mentally. Certainly made some money.

 

Gerry Cooney had beaten Jimmy Young and Eddie Lopez, too. Way before Tucker did actually.

 

Michael Spinks was offered $4 million to fight Gerry Cooney. And then Michael fought Mike Tyson outside of the HBO tournament and Spinks made $13 million. So Michael's purses totaled $17 million for those two bouts.

On the other hand, HBO was offering Spinks $500,000 to defend against Tony Tucker. And Spinks was supposed to get around $2 million (like Tucker did) to fight Tyson in the HBO tournament final. For a grand total of about $2.5 million.

So, Michael Spinks made the right choice. $17 million is better than $2.5 million.

 

Eddie Gregg was ranked I believe #4 by the WBA and #9 by the WBC when Cooney fought him. Gregg won the NY Golden Gloves heavyweight medal in 1977, the year after Cooney won it in 1976. As a pro, Gregg had beaten Marvin Stinson and Tex Cobb. (Nearly knocked Cobb out).

Frankly, Tony Tucker wasn't that much more accomplished than Gregg at the time. Tucker beat James Broad when they fought. Gregg didn't. Other than that, there wasn't much between them.

Cooney was considered a much bigger challenge in 1987 than Tony Tucker was.

 

Cooney somehow went into the bout an 8-5 fave. Some of his mystique still lived on. He claims this was the only time in his life Spinks could have beat him and that he was drinking a bottle of spirits a day leading into the fight. This is one loss he really has trouble swallowing and doesn't seem to rate Spinks.

 

Regarding Tucker, I found this and I agree with it.

"I'm not convinced. Tucker went 34-0 (29) 1NC prior to facing Tyson. He had beat Buster Douglas for the vacant IBF HW world title, WTKO10. The fight was even after 9 rounds. He also beat James Broad W12. Broad had been stopped in the 2nd round by Tim Witherspoon and outboxed by Marvis Frazier, L10. He decisioned a washed up Jimmy Young. The other guys he beat prior to facing Tyson really sucked. If any of these guys even dreamed about beating me... they better wake up and apologize. One of the worst 34-0 records I've ever seen.


Tucker lasted 12 rounds vs. Tyson... he should be happy with that. I'm not sure he could have ever done any better.


He won his next 14 fights, 10 by KO. 12 were bums, the other two were Orlin Norris and Oliver McCall. The fights with Norris and McCall could have easily went the other way. Norris did beat Tucker in a rematch.


Tucker went the distance vs. Lewis but was dropped twice.


What else did he do? Tucker didn't lose much because he didn't fight decent fighters very much. The only time he fought 3 name fighters in a row, he lost 3 fights in a row... LKOby7 Seldon, L10 Akinwande, and L10 Norris.


If Tucker had something special he never proved it to me.


He beat Douglas and went the distance with Tyson and Lewis. He also won fights vs. Norris and McCall that could have went either way. What else?"

 

Tucker didn't do so well financially I just found this...

"--Finally, who has the more interesting head of hair, Tyson, with a growing patch of baldness above his forehead (a reverse Kareem), or Tucker, who flew in his own stylist and, one presumes, an industrial-sized drum of gel?

Lost in all of this is the sheer significance of tonight's HBO fight at the Hilton Hotel, which unifies the division, giving boxing one champion for the first time since 1978. Resolved, finally, are the claims from the three rival organizations, each with its own champion and list of contenders. When Tyson, representing the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Assn., meets Tucker, representing the International Boxing Federation, tonight, it will be to decide the heavyweight champion of the world.

Unfortunately, two factors conspire to undermine the aforementioned significance and allow the fight to sink into the aforementioned controversy.

--Former IBF champion Michael Spinks, just as undefeated as Tyson (30-0) and Tucker (35-0), lurks out there. Even though Spinks escaped the tournament to fight Gerry Cooney (or duck Tyson, depending on your point of view), there are some supporters who insist there can't be one champion until he is finally beaten.

--Tonight's fight, the finale, what promoter Don King bills as "Glory Hallelujah!" is expected to be entirely non-competitive. Tucker, who was unimpressive in winning the vacant IBF title from Buster Douglas, is a 15-1 underdog in some places to unseat Tyson, at 21 already a veteran of three title fights.

Given that, it is little wonder prefight publicity has been reduced to speculation about Tyson's love life or Tucker's curious financial picture. In fact, it is possible to wonder whether the promoters aren't actually pleased by these mini-controversies.

The Rappaport injunction, granted late Thursday night, almost transcended mini-controversy, in fact nearly jeopardized the fight, right up to Friday afternoon. Rappaport, better known as Cooney's manager, last year bought 21% of Tucker's contract and future earnings from Tucker's father/manager for $50,000. The last deal made like this in New York involved some Indians and $24, and assorted beads and doodads.

Bob Tucker, not unlike the Zero Mostel character in "The Producers," has often solved short-term cash problems by selling percentages of his son's future. Emanuel Steward, better known as Thomas Hearns' manager, holds 10% of Tucker's contract as well. The problem has been that Tucker has so far refused to pay anything to Rappaport, saying Rappaport breached the contract by not doing anything for Tucker's career beyond contribute the $50,000.

So Rappaport gained a lien of $540,000 against Tucker for his share of the last four fights and tonight's. But, realizing that Tucker's money was in a letter of credit payable to the fighter, Rappaport went one step further, gaining an injunction to stop the fight until his share was deposited in escrow.

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On Friday, Clark Co. District Court Judge Addeliar Guy overturned the injunction, ruling that Tucker must comply with the court order--deposit the $540,000 in escrow--by Monday. There would be a later hearing to determine the actual amount, if any, Rappaport is to receive.

This only served to highlight Tucker's financial problems, which might be comical if he didn't have to face Tyson on top of everything else. His big payday, by some accounts, has shrunk to less than $90,000. How is that possible, given a figure of $1.9 million? Well, various promoters were given $700,000 to step aside and let King, HBO and Hilton go ahead with the fight. There was $100,000 for training expenses, $540,000 for Rappaport, $209,000 for Bob Tucker, $110,000 for Steward, about $30,000 for sanctioning fees, about $66,000 for trainers and cornermen. Taxes took some, too.

This is in a growing tradition of Tyson fights. Someone who saw Pinklon Thomas's actual paycheck after his Tyson fight said, after various liens and attachements, it was for $30,000. It hardly pays to fight Tyson."

-Mike Hoffer L.A Times.

 

Champion s have been having soft touch defence s for decades. And that's any weight. Tangstad was definitely a St but cooney could have been dangerous, if he'd been in the right frame of mind and not drinking him self under the table. The only thing I can say in spinks defence is that he took on holmes in a rematch.

 

Cooney was a very risky fight for Spinks.
Some reports even suggested Butch Lewis was not at all confident Spinks would win but at the time it paid a lot better than what he'd make fighting Tyson in the HBO tournament.

Cooney makes all sorts of excuses for the loss, saying he was an alcoholic for that fight. So what, Spinks was a small guy with shattered knees, everyone has an excuse. People don't give Spinks enough credit. It was a great peformance for a guy who'd only had 3 heavyweight fights. Cooney is unreasonably overrated though, so people can't seem to accept Spinks beating him. But Cooney never beat anyone even remotely as good as '87 Spinks.

If Spinks had done a lot better against Tyson, I doubt we'd be hearing all these excuses from and for Gerry Cooney.

 

Gregg actually won the 1978 nygg, Mitch Green won in 1977, and Gregg was lucky that Blood had lost his preliminary fight on a cut, or he would have lost to Green. If Gregg and Tucker had fought, Eddie was losing.