Michael Spinks vs Matthew Saad Muhammad

Obviously I love Matt but objectively Spinks wins this.

 

what makes u say that?

 

Read my lengthy post.

Spinks wins by being an overall better boxer and his power would eventually get to Saad

This is a past peak Saad.

Still very good but more vulnerable than his absolute peak.

 

Man, I’d have loved it if Spinks came around just 5 years earlier. Would’ve answered a lot of questions that nobody is asking but myself anyway.

 

What a division back then! Johnson, Mustafa, Lopez, Saad...just outstanding. Best ever imo.

It hurts me terribly to say this, because I love Saad so much, but I have to give prime for prime Michael the nod here. I think Saad would have had some thrilling moments, but Michael was quite puncher AND boxer at light heavy. Saad might not make the final bell.

I HATED writing that.

 

I’d make Spinks the favorite myself. I’m not even calling him overrated per se’, just giving some perspective.

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth that he’s seen as the giant amongst all the great competitors of the 70s. I think he was very fortunate in his timing. That remains true even if he was legitimately better than all of them.

He feasted on the remains of Johnson and Lopez, both of whom already had their primes taken from them by Saad. He faced a drained Mustafa who was pretty handily outboxing him before his wind started to go (and his eye with it). Never had to solve smooth technical boxers the likes of Conteh or even Richie Kates in his time. The best he faced (apart from Mustafa) was probably Eddie Davis, and that was a very competitive match as I recall.

He painted a masterpiece against Qawi, though. That can’t be taken away from him. I have a difficult time seeing any of the others pull that off in such a fashion.

Bottom line, I do not believe for a second he’s going undefeated or ruling with an iron fist had he came into the picture at the same time as the rest of them. He’d probably still prove himself the best, though.

 

His performance against Qawi really was exemplary. Qawi at the time had been touted as the Next Big Thing in the division, but Michael got him.

Michael's in my top five favorites of the division, I loved his knockouts as a light heavy (though as you mentioned the state of his competition could be questioned) as well as his boxing ability. I prefer Eddie, Matthew, and Marvin though (basically that whole, just-before-Michael era).

 

I guess I assumed that this was peak Saad we were discussing. I looked back in the post, and since we're talking about around the time Spinks fought Vonzell Johnson, I now understand why you guys would pick Spinks too. I think now that I would pick Spinks by a late stoppage.

 

Probably this.

 

I’ve seen a couple of people say Spinks had a speed advantage.

Compared to a latter reign Saad, maybe. His true prime ended after the Lopez rematch. Any version prior had more impressive hand speed than Spinks, to me. Spinks had more explosion in 1-2 shots, but he could never dream of putting together the kind of combinations Saad could.

He may be the only fighter I’ve ever seen that routinely threw extended one handed combinations. Left or right hand. All with at least decent conviction behind them.

Double digit right hands, thrown in various ways, all in close quarters within a couple seconds. The Johnson rematch the best example, given that its pretty much all infighting. I don’t think I’ve ever watched anybody who punched quite like him.

 

As multitalented as Michael Spinks was at light heavyweight, he might have had his hands full with a prime Matthew Saad Muhammad. Saad had his hands full against Marvin Johnson and John Conteh, on Aug 18 1979 before catching up to Conteh in scoring a pair of knockdowns enroute to a victory. Michael would be much quicker and deadlier with his patented Spinks Jinx. Matthew has been known to withstand punishment, only to overpower his adversaries to often win by attrition. Saad would deploy his offense early, forcing Michael into retreat early in the contest as Saad was much more physical early, catching Spinks with harder shots than Michael has expected. I do see an unexpected outcome with Saad Muhammad catching Michael much the same way that Mike Tyson caught Spinks in June 1988. I see Saad Muhammad winning this fight by a very brutal 6th round knockout.

 

I wholeheatedly agree.

If Spinks came around a few years earlier he'd have had it much tougher.

 

Spinks always comes out on top!