Oh, the heavyweight version of Spinks. Mmm. I'm not sure the added size does a lot for Michael here. He was never a physical fighter who would use superior size and strength to gain an advantage. Maybe he'd change tack against Walcott, but I doubt it. Maybe he'd be able to punch a tad harder and take a punch better with the added weight, but for this fight I think they'd be negligible qualities. Both had good 15 round stamina, had that champion's mentality and both had an awkward style that was difficult to solve, Walcott especially. For me, Walcott was cuter and more dangerous for being awkward, if you know what I mean. He could draw you into traps and then counter with stiff shots if you overextended yourself. I think Walcott's style would bedevil Spinks more than Spinks' own awkward style would bedevil Walcott. Spinks was a lot more consistent over the course of his career than was Walcott, but as this is a once-off fight, it doesn't matter. If I'm honest, maybe more a fight for the purist than the casual fans, but an intriguing styles matchup nevertheless. I don't expect fireworks though. I've got Walcott here, by decision. Maybe even a split decision. Spinks was a terrific fighter, but I think Walcott's just a bit too cute for him.
Yep. And Walcott had enough pop to make Spinks think twice and three times. Walcott, at his best, is seriously underrated by most, IMHO. I agree with Walcott by decision.
Tend to think Spinks is extremely overrated. His quality of opposition is truly limited. Especially at HW. Have to go with Walcott. To be fair he didn’t really have a lot of good competition to go against .
At his best, Walcott. I see him getting a decision. Maybe even a ko. He dropped Louis and Rocky and Kd Charles, so that's not out of the question.
His top five wins are Holmes (one of which he didn’t deserve) Cooney (hadn’t fought in 13 months) Qawi Johnson Muhammad He was only 31-1. His HW record consists of what five fights? Which would make his top five wins even smaller on the HW scale
You're acting like those names aren't impressive. Cooney isn't in his top five, and I specifically quoted the bit unrelated to heavyweight. His top five wins include two incredibly talented fighters in Qawi and Muhammed, and a top five heavyweight ever - arguably twice. He has two more of the top LHWs of the era as well in Lopez and Pops. He beat plenty of top contenders like the Davis brothers. Spinks' resume is excellent. No way can you call it limited.
Certainly limited at HW and Holmes def wasn’t prime for those fights and I def don’t put Holmes in top five. Fine if you do he has an argument. But to be fair the fight is at Hw it’s not LHW. At HW he is more then extremely limited. This isn’t really arguable. You may have been quoting a career in whole but I was more specifically referring to his HW credentials. Although I think you severely overrate Qawi and Muhammad at LHW. I wouldn’t put either in a top ten. Maybe not a top 15. Good fighters but nothing really head turning there.
How on earth do you definitely not have Holmes top five? I didn't say Holmes was prime - although he wasn't exactly shot either. I already addressed that I was referring to his whole resume, which you also implies was limited when you said his heavyweight résumé was especially limited. I wouldn't put either of them top 20, but I have every confidence that Qawi would be competitive and/or beat with about 17 of my top 20. They're excellent fighters, and so are Lopez, Pops, Eddie and Johnny Davis.
His resume is limited at HW. Not that the man wasn’t capable of competing he obviously did. But to be fair we don’t really have a good idea of how good he could have been at that weight. I’d say the same for men like Tunney and Jones. Obviously capable men but it’s hard to put a ranking on them at that weight. Just my opinion.
