Mike Tyson versus Michael Spinks

Everyone was terrified of Tyson back then. Spinks didn't want to leave his dressing room. Larry Holmes wrote in his book that during his walk to the ring, he considered refusing to enter the ring.

 

I meant figuratively running, sorry. As in, he didn’t really show up & took an easy out, feigning injury (in my opinion).

 

Boxers at this level I expect to be able to rise above that, in my opinion. It’s okay to be afraid, it’s not okay to act afraid.

 

Agree that is a possibility...

Buster Douglas did something quite similar versus Holyfield .. and went into retirement with a 25 million paycheck.

Certainly Spinks is not the only one you can suspect of pulling a lucrative dive job as his send off.

 

Absolutely.

 

People are way too hard on Spinks. He didn’t act like a tough guy, trying to stare people down and all that. He was a cheerful jokester. I think he was actually recklessly aggressive in that fight. He should have just moved for the first several rounds, let Tyson tire out.
He doesn’t get enough credit for demolishing Cooney in a vicious master class, either. I also feel he beat Holmes twice.
Michael Spinks had an unusual personality for a fighter, to go along with his odd fighting style. He had balls too, moving up to fight bigger guys.
I’ll never believe he quit in this fight. Having a rampaging Tyson charging you is no easy thing.

 

Interesting that we hear/read quite a few stories of fighters not wanting to come out of their dressing rooms (including Baer vs Louis) but as far I know we don’t have one instance of a fighter not actually coming out.

Although I did see one guy climb out of the ring upon first bell - which related to a pay dispute I believe.

Speaking of which, if there was any issue for Williams coming out against Ali, it was related to a pay dispute and/or an attachment (garnishee) on his purse to deduct monies from Cleve’s purse before it hit his own hands. From my readings, his Mngr Benbow was a POS.

Anyway, all these dudes are still warriors but naturally hold degrees of fear like anyone would - some control and redirect that fear better than others.

I think Ali’s episode during the Liston weigh in wasn’t just a psychological ploy - it also helped Ali to exorcise excessive and potentially negative fearful energy.

Whatever so called fear remained, Ali turned the adrenaline arising from same into practically applied and positive energy.

I don’t know that Ali ever before, or after, moved so much in the early rounds of a fight - and that insanely perpetual motion served him very well against the likes of Liston.

Sonny was not at his best but Ali’s performance perhaps made Sonny appear somewhat worse off than he actually was.

If only Liston had put Ali on the back burner for while - like Patterson did to Sonny himself.

 

I had a very weird feeling then, very strange because,

I felt Tyson was invincible, yet at the same time, reading the magazines of the time, I felt Spinks was definitely the guy who had the chance to beat Tyson. How do i explain this? I felt Tyson could not be beat, but at the same time viewed this as a 50/50 bout. I really believed the hype or at least a part of me wanted to.

Of course, this was the era when i believed Blaine deserved Andie but hoped Duckie could have gotten her instead. In other words, i was a teen-aged girl with a wild imagination. (I still think Duckie should have gotten Andie but now I see he deserved her as well)

i was disappointed that it only went one round. I was hoping to see a good fight where Spinks moved and boxed and Tyson had a hard time getting to him until he finally did by round 6 or 7.

but also was satisfied with the knockout cause it was a hell of a knockout.

 

Spinks may have been scared but he seemed legitimately hurt on the 2nd KD. It’s well known how hitting your head on the canvas can make you more hurt. Look at how hard the back of his head hits the canvas.

 

Actually, Blaine and Duckie were together in the original ending ... but the beancounters decided a "rich guy - poor girl" pairing would be more marketable and changed the ending.

What was all this about?

 

Whaaaaa? Watch the overhead replay of the second knockdown. Spinks's eyes are rolled up in the back of his head. Even if just momentarily, he was definitely out of it.

This content is protected

 

I don't think the issue here is about MS "quitting", but about MS fighting scared.

Sure Spinks went and tried to fight Tyson, no quitting at all.
Problem is he was IMO deadly scared ... and that affected his performance badly.

 

So it was going to be a gay teen movie??

Oh, it was about me being an idiot back then,.probably still am lol!

 

My bad. I mixed those weird 80s name.

Andie was supposed to be with Duckie, but the ending was changed to Andie and Blaine.... Typical Cinderella story

 

Exactly…look at his eyes, and notice how hard the back of his head hit the canvas when he got dropped.