Sacrificial lambs that won in boxing

Spinks boxing trivia:

Unless I’m missing someone, every Spinks who ever boxed in the Olympics won a gold medal.

Leon Spinks: 1976 light heavyweight, U.S.

Michael Spinks: 1976 middleweight, U.S.

Terry Spinks: 1956 flyweight, Great Britain

 

Thanks Rich.

 

Your welcome my friend.

 

How about Cory Spinks?

 

Apparently the surname was no jinx for the said bearers - only bad luck for those they defeated.

Mr Jinks the cat had no luck with Pixie and Dixie.

Aside from its homophonous properties and question of luck - this tid bit has no relevance to the discussion at all….just say’n’….

 

It would be good to get a firm answer on the legality here.

Deliberate punches to the throat are illegal in MMA (I guess the issue would then be determining intent).

In boxing it seems there is no preclusion or outlawing of punches to the neck. To the back and top of the head yes - but not the neck.

Very hard to police anyway since punches could easily stray and hit that area.

I will say there are some fighters who make a habit of hitting the top and back of the head - at the very least, if not deliberate, it’s certainly reckless and somewhat preventable with due consideration.

For all his power, Wilder has gotten extra mileage out of some shots that have clearly targeted (imo) the top and back of the head - areas which are highly and dangerously vulnerable - thus, of course, such shots being illegal.

 

Lightning Lonnie Smith against undefeated Billy Costello.

 

I sure do remember that fight it was shown live on television on August 21 1985. Smith fooled Costello using deceptive head movement.

 

I remember watching Smith fight once or twice on ESPN, I'm not sure if he was even ranked in the top 10 by the WBC, WBA, or IBF, also he didn't have a high ko percentage, and I remember World Boxing always mentioning Costello's power although he didn't have a really high ko percentage either. I was shocked because I think Costello knocked Smith down in the frst round, but after that Smith put on a boxing clinic, great head movement, changing direction very quickly, and his money punch in that fight if I remember was his left hook, that repeatedly floored Costello, I think 4-5 times in that fight. I'll have to checkout Youtube, because it's been awhile and it deserves to be seen again.

 

Apparently oblivious to the Olympic legacy of the Spinks name, Cory did not get a berth in the 1996 Summer Games. Fernando Vargas represented the USA at welterweight (losing in the second round).

He seems to have been a victim of timing, which often happens with amateurs. He won the National Golden Gloves and National PAL titles in 1997, the year after the Olympics (which is usually a kind of wide-open year because the top of the class usually thins out with people turning pro rather than wanting to wait around four more years in the amateurs in search of Olympic glory).

 

Gavin Rees against Souleymane M'baye.

 

This guy

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Don't worry my man GGG got him

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This should have been on the list. The day a skinny glass of milk worked James Toney over all night long

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Battling Siki/ Louis Mbarick Fall vs George Carpentier
Breidis Prescott against Amir Khan
Ross Puritty Wladimir Klitschko
Joseph Chingangu stopping Hide
Mike Tyson losing to Danny Williams and McBride. I know Tyson was severely faded at that point but still expected to win.

Adding Tony Thompson stopping David Price