Interesting fight. I'm still in the air as to Spinks' chin - the Tyson beatdown really wasn't the result of a "bad" chin, per se - Tyson did that to alot of guys, many of which did have sturdy chins. Ruddock had some pretty fearsome power, though. His Smash would definately give Spinks (as it did everyone) some problems... Ruddock had an IRON jaw, too. If Ruddock could walk Spinks down, he could take him out. Spinks has to use that herky-jerky style of his to keep things awkward and off-balance to make this fight last the distance. The "Spinks Jinx" probably won't be a big factor, as I said, Ruddock had a good jaw.
Ruddock by KO late. Spinks wins this fight if Ruddock becomes stubborn like he fought Tyson and tries to load up every round with his left-hook uppercut. He has never comitted himself totally to being a great fighter even though he had all the tools. The man got his nickname "razor" because early on in his career, his jab was comparable to Ali and Holmes. It was razor sharp, and he never used it against Tyson and Lewis.
Spinks at heavyweight was roughly 200 LBS for the Holmes fight, while Ruddock was probably about 225, at his best. In addition, they were both exactly 6'3" in height. The size isn't that overwhelming. Spinks was a proven all time great boxer who defeated many good and still competitive fighters, wheras Ruddock was boosted into the ratings by beating many washed up foes. Boncrusher Smith for example was 37 years old and had not recorded a win in years, plus showed up in horrible condition, yet he dropped Ruddock and nearly defeated him before tiring out later. Spinks of course beat up on a shot Cooney and mediocre Tangstad, but was well established long before those fights. A 35 year old Holmes, though past his best, was likely better than anyone Ruddock ever beat. The 91 second loss to Tyson can't be used as a tool for determing how well Spinks would do against Ruddock for more reasons than I have time to even get into right now. Spinks was tactfully a much better fighter than Razor was, and had more durability than most give him credit for. This fight would likely extend into the later rounds, with Ruddock begining strong early, but as time went on, Spinks would land more often, and use his savy to accumulate points. I pick Spinks by decision, or depending on what the fight was scheduled for, a late stoppage.
I really think Ruddock would win this, but we can't really factor size in that much because of Spink's victory over bigger men such as Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney. But i still think Ruddock would win
Now that I think about it, the Spinks who moved up to HW has a pretty decent chance at beating the larger Ruddock. Yes, Ruddock was bigger and a natural HW, and had a monster left hook, but Spinks was SOOOOO much smarter. More skilled guy. Ruddock often fought like a dummy.
