The awkward movement and angles of Spinks vs the raw power of Williams Does Spinks make him miss all night,or does Williams eventually time him coming off the ropes?
Spinks weights in at 201 lb s, fresh and springy. Cleveland weighs 214,lean and looking like a sculpture carved out of tension and anger !!
Spinks was in the right time, and the right place , and the perfectly right opponent, against an aging, lazy, not big puncher Larry Holmes to win the heavyweight championship. All the cards fell in place for Spinks. Especially when considering most Americans didn't want Holmes to break Marciano's record in the 1st place, and Holmes would've needed a definitive knockout to win. Spinks than choose wisely to fight Cooney, who a few yrs earlier may have killed him, but at that point of his career was only a shell of himself prior to his fight against Holmes, and something named Tangstad who was nobody. I believe most aggressive punchers rated in the top ten in heavyweight history in there primes would eventually catch Spinks and stop him. Spinks simply wasn't a heavyweight . So yes in my opinion, the aggressive and hugh punching Williams would eventually stop Spinks.
Spinks at a lean 200 pounds is probably a heavyweight if we teleport him in the 1960s. Spinks is simply a superior technician to Williams and the size difference isn't that big. Mike Tyson would knock out Williams in 2 rounds
Spinks wins with awkward angles and better technical footwork. Both men are roughly the same size and weight with only an inch or two in reach differential.
He definitely has a puncher's chance. Hard to say how good Spinks chin was at heavyweight. He went thirty rounds of course with Larry, but Holmes had seen better days. Cooney wasn't at his best for sure. The only hitter he faced was Tyson, and we know what happened there.
Spinks stops him eventually. He would know of Williams power and plan accordingly. And it's not like Williams can just sashay through Spinks punches either.
Spinks has the style here IMO, he beats Williams to the punch with the straighter punches. He could outjab him, he could land lead rights, counters, and that’s exactly what he’d do, he’d mix it up to make it harder for Williams to read. Williams certainly is dangerous, his explosiveness, the speed combined with the power especially early on, but I just believe Spinks gets out of them early rounds and begins to outbox him and potentially stop him, but it may also go the distance, I’d probably edge towards the latter prime for prime.