Michael Spinks Appreciation Thread and Fight by Fight Discussion

Charles has the better resume at 175 no doubt. But Michael's win over heavyweight champ Holmes when still reigning as light heavyweight king puts him closer and could be argued as the greatest accomplishment by any light heavyweight champion.

Leading up to his title winning efforts he beat title challenger mainstays Yaqui Lopez and Murray Sutherland and former champ Marvin Johnson.

His title winning effort against Eddie Mustapha Muhammad was good, even after Eddie tried his hand at heavyweight unsuccessfully.

Would've been nice to see a Spinks-Saad Muhammad "SuperFight" but it wasn't meant to be. Dwight Qawi beat the stuffing out of Matthew Saad and would lose to Spinks in a big unification bout in 1983. Qawi was running rampant though the division and Spinks put an end to it in easy fashion. In the dressing room about 15 minutes before his ring walk, Spinks was presented with his infant child. Caught him by surprise because his wife had been killed in a car accident just 2 months earlier.

Solid wins over world rated fighters around the time the division hit it's peak.

 

Before that fight I thought Holmes would knock him out early like Holmes beat Marvis Frazier. But Spinks hung in there which was a surprise and won a decision by winning rounds and beating Holmes to the punch. No one robbed Holmes, Larry should have made sure he wont by knocking him out. Spinks was already a great with his light heavy reign, but heavyweight backed it up..

 

Yes

 

Spinks is a definite top 5 light heavy. The only thing I have against him was that he didn't fight more, due to Leon babysitting.

 

I think you are the first person i've ever seen claiming Holmes won the first fight. Larry was woeful in the fight bout but come back well in the rematch.

 

Among his early fights, I love his jabbing display against Ramon Ranquello. He just repeatedly jammed that telephone pole jab to Ranquello's face at will.

The Davis Brothers and Vonzell Johnson were pretty good contender types, but the others weren't too strong. He had better wins on the road to the title against the likes of Marvin Johnson (what a punch!) and Yaqui Lopez (Spinks's most exciting two-way fight) than whom he defended against.

Or at least that seems to be the general consensus.

 

Overall, I just thought Holmes consistent and accurate jab was more effective than Spinks combinations. But it was very close.

 

Great LHWY.

That said, he peaked just after the mid to late 70's era where the division was stacked.

His main pre-title victims Marvin Johnson and Yaqui Lopez had been stopped twice each by Saad. But, they were good steppingstones and learning fights for him.

Obviously, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad was a good champion and scalp. But, he had foolishly jumped up to HWY months before fighting Spinks and his conditioning could not be said to be top notch for the Spinks fight.

After that his challengers were arguably all weaker than Johnson, Lopez and Eddie.

Then, he beat Qawi to unify.

Then, Eddie Davis gave him all kinds of trouble.

After that, Spinks fought a few softies in David Sears and Jim McDonald but the division was weak, and although not very good, they were actually top 5 contenders.

To highlight how weak the division was when Spinks left and moved up, way past prime Marvin Johnson, obscure Slobodan Kacar and journeyman JB Williamson were able to win a portion of the title. And Johnson was seen as the best of the group.

There was a lot of filler, but Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Dwight Muhammad Qawi were grade A wins.

Davis was a very good opponent, but really over performed. Before the fight he was not looked at as a real threat. He fought a great fight.

Maybe Spinks could have fared just as well if he peaked a few years earlier, when the division was better. But, he cleaned up and did what he had to do in his era.

 

Simply a class post. Cheers, Saad!

 

He was a great. In someways we have to say if he could move up and beat Holmes at heavyweight, Holmes division, he was greater than Holmes. Because he moved up and beat him. Similar to how Hearns moved up and beat Hill. although Holmes was the older guy. I thought Holmes would win. And Spinks was masterful. One of the best upsets in history. Talk about an underrated win. I think with Spinks in retrospect he shouldn't have fought Tyson.. it hurt his legacy when it should not have.