Michael Spinks @ heavyweight in the 60s and prior

Spinks was a hell of a fighter. That said, pre-1960, he wouldn't have had quite the same body because the PED's weren't around for it. That's going to come off as a dis, but it's not- that was the era of heavyweight boxing Spinks was in, and they weren't illegal at that point. Boxing hadn't even banned them, so it wasn't cheating.

I think he'd still have done some damage at HW before because he had the frame and style for some success.

 

He would done as well as Bob Foster against Frazier and Ali.

 

Great thread Spinks boxes very well and controlled distance very well actually one of the best technicians with an awkward style despite having leg problems he managed to adapt and box at the highest level. Who knows how much greater he might of actually been had his legs not slow him down? But yea, he'd most likely lose against an elite puncher that could crowd him like a Frazier or Marciano, but Spinks would definitely gain an early lead and even drop them early too. The Spinx Jinx was a thing of beauty and underrated. Spinks vs Walcott would have been FOTY between 2 great technicians. Walcott was a late bloomer and had his best years late in his career and like Spinks is definitely underrated. These 2 just happened to face 2 atg's at their best.

 

Just listing for the fighters I can think of, some might not be champs, apologies.

I see Frazier/Spinks looking a lot more like Frazier/Foster. Frazier and Qawi are quite different as fighters, and Frazier is actually a good stretch bigger.
I see him losing to Louis, Marciano, even if he has his moments in the fight vs. Louis. I don't see him being competitive against Rocky, he would likely be battered.
He could beat Max Baer if he avoided getting hit.
Walcott would have a chance to stop him. Spinks could win this though. Schmeling, would be similar, both Max and Jersey Joe are very good boxers.
Great fight potentially with Ezzard Charles, at LHW, neither are at their best at heavy ;-)
Floyd Patterson is a much better fighter than the Liston fights indicate, and I see him beating Spinks most of the time, because he would be fast enough to get to him, and could hurt him. However, if they fought a trilogy, I could give Spinks one of them.
Ingo is also more than capable of decapitating him, let's say a 50/50 chance.
Liston I just don't see having problems with Spinks, even if the weights etc are similar, Sonny is a much broader and stronger man. He should be able to stop Spinks, I suppose there is an outside chance that if Spinks stays away, he might be able to eek out a decision, but I would be extremely surprised.
Ali, the 60s version, decisions him comfortably.
Ernie Terrell, Spinks on points, close.
George Chuvalo, Spinks on points, comfortable.
Jerry Quarry, probably Spinks on points, outside chance of Quarry being stopped on cuts, significant chance however that Quarry could catch him and stop him.
Jimmy Ellis, Spinks, points.

 

Ali`s performance against Cleveland Williams was his greatest ever! Williams was a very well built heavy and Ali knocked him out, Ali`s accuracy and speed in that fight was incredible. If Ali caught Spinks with the same punches that knocked out Williams there`s no way Spinks would last. Ali was messing around before and during the 1st Cooper fight in the rematch he brought his weight down to 214lbs and was quicker that at any stage of his career, Spinks would have had a bad time against that Ali. It`s a shame Ali couldn`t come down to the exact same weight as Spinks because then he would have toyed with him! Would also like to see him and Charles figt at Charles heavy fighting weight. Also Spinks fighting at 182lbs against Paterson would have been awesome.

 

That`s a lot of hooks! But Marciano was actually better at cutting off distance to land his hook (with a quick shuffle) like Duran v Leonard in their first fight.

 

Who?!

 

Liston couldn`t cut off the ring though.

 

How did Leon compare with Michael? Who punched harder?

 

Really? Former cruiserweight world champ Glenn McCrory sparred with Mike Tyson and he was crap! Don`t think Leon Spinks had really tough organised sparring! I was Leon`s bucket man for the 2nd Ali match and I`m 41!

 

Marciano would have landed more he was better at cutting off the ring than Liston.