People usually dismiss him for his one round obliteration at the hands of Tyson, but the more I watch this guy the more impressed I am by his skills.. even at heavyweight. How do you think he'd do against Frazier, Holyfield, Ali, Foreman, etc?
Speaking of Frazier... If you're not an absolute freak power wise Spink's was a odd combination of traits and skills that would make him a nightmare to actually fight for a prolonged period of time.
As much as I respect Michael Spinks, I can't really say that he was underrated as a heavyweight. He only fought a total of five times in that weight class, and the only legitimately good win that I'll give him was his first meeting with Holmes. He lost the rematch in my mind ( and in many other's ). His fights with Cooney and Tangstad were entertaining performances, but neither of those men were key players in 1986-87. He was stripped of his title for failure to defend against a mandatory challenger, and all the while some people were still crediting him as being the true lineal champion, regardless of the fact that a young destroyer was cleaning out the division, unifying the titles, and beating the very best challengers ( including the ones Spinks WOULDN"T fight ). Once again, I admire and respect Spinks for what he did as a heavyweight, but I do not think he was either underrated or overrated for that matter. He sits fine right where he is.
People will do anything to discredit Tyson IMO. Tbh, some say Holmes was shot, and although Larry was past his best, he was never stopped again. I'd say Spinks was a decent HW, but he was never going to beat Tyson the way he went into the ring. An unintimidated Spinks would last longer, and possibly might even be in with a shout to win. But how could you not be scared of that versin of Tyson? It took a while and a decline in skills (or reluctance to box, instead looking for the big shot) for anyone to stand up to Mike and come out of it succesfully. So maybe Spinks did the right thing in getting sparked out so early!
Agreed, at one point I thought that maybe a prime Spinks with more confidence and a real reason to win could have given Tyson a good match. But, looking back I'm not so sure anymore. When I look at some of Spink's fights at lightheavyweight as well as some of his later matches with Holmes, Cooney, Tangstad, etc, I see that he was a rather slow starter who needed time to figure out his opponents. This would have been a bad match for a peak Tyson regardless of what phase of his career Spinks was in. I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that a 1985 Spinks might have lasted longer than 91 seconds, but I'd be very surprised if the bell rang for the 5th round and he was still standing.
How would he match up against the following fighters.. Ken Norton Floyd Patterson Joe Frazier Muhammad Ali Evander Holyfield George Foreman
Truthfully, with the possible exception of Floyd Patterson, I think just about all the others would beat him. He was an all time great light heavyweight, and a respectable heavyweight, but not someone who I'd pick to beat prime versions of all time great heavyweights.........If that makes any sense.