Spinks 85 Vs Norton 73?

Robbery for sure Fergy. I guess the judges made sure we couldn't really call it a rubber match but it sure would have been to you and i.

 

It's a shame Holmes didn't come into the first Spinks fight with all guns firing, and he damn well SHOULD have given than he was aiming to tie a record.

 

^^^ Yup, it's odd he didn't, and he paid the price. I still can't figure out how some think Holmes won that first fight, the second I can see, but not the first. No way.

 

Trust me, Joe Frazier was bogeyman enough for Ali.

 

He seemed lethargic and complacent in that fight. Which was surprising given that Carl The truth gave him a scare in his last outing.

 

There was a decisive winner with ali v frazier in every fight I thought. I thought Ali couldn't control or tame Norton in any of their fights.

 

Fraziers my favourite heavy ever.

 

Yes. All three Ali/Frazier bouts had decisive,albeit,close winners but Muhammad lacked a decisive victory in the Norton series. He deserved the very....very close win in the second one in my opinion but as we know he lost the first one and was lucky in getting the 'W' in the rubber. And I say this as a massive fan of Ali. My all time favourite boxer.

 

It completely reflected how lowly both Larry and the public rated Spinks chances. Virtually no-one gave him any hope whatsoever. Spinks was about 7-1 from memory even after Holmes struggles with Williams. Spinks was considered much less of a threat.

Williams was actually a spur of the moment signing for Holmes after Spinks needed more time to prepare for his shot. Holmes had only ever seen an early round against Tillis where he got knocked down and didn't see the next 8 or 9 where Williams outboxed him. I'll expand on this one some time if a future thread suits.

 

Larry seemed to be running on auto pilot the last year of his reign. Taking on unknown prospects or fighters given next to no chance and meeting them either on short notice or without caution. I suppose for some long reining champions there comes a point where the thought of possibly losing is unimaginable.