Hypothetically, lets say Micheal has to replicate Leon's career. Eight fights out of the Olympics he faces a faded, complacent Muhammad Ali. Can he win the title? How does he do in the return bout with a more motivated Ali? Can he beat him again? Coetzee, Mercado, Cobb... How does he do against the three? He already beat Qawi and Holmes, so those are moot matchups.
All in all Michael was just better then Leon. Though I am one of those people who is guiltly of writing off Leon a little more then he deserves. He wasnt even supposed to win the gold medal but he nailed Soria and he was flung into the limelight. Was that verson of Ali better then the version of Holmes M.Spinks fought? I like many split those two fights between them (Holmes-M.Spinks). One factor I think comes into it is how M.Spinks was physically once he got to heavy. It was becoming clear the knee was taking its toll on him, affecting his movement. Are we basing this on his heavyweight form after his reign at lightheavy or a hypothetical on how he would have went if he went straight from the olympics to heavy? So if he is fighting up there from a younger age, where the knee might be less of a problem, he could well go a lot better but his greeness could have flipped that around, he could have struggled. He was fighting guys like Lopez, Johnson and Mustafa Muhummed for the title in his 14th, 16th and 17th pro fights respectively. I like to think regardless he beats a guy like Cobb quite handily, I think guys like Mercado and Coetzee would be a bit of hard ask. I would definitely think Spinks could beat them but I could also see a green version of him getting stopped by those two pretty decent heavies.
I agree with JT ... I think the Holmes that was edged by Michael hd a lot more left than the Ali who lost to Leon ...
I think Michael would beat Muhammad of the first Spinks fight.Coetzee, I'm not so sure, and Cobb is going to give him problems.Mercado, he can win if he stays outside, he's not the brawler Leon is.
