I just watched it the other night. I was very impressed by Spinks dominating Qawi, he put on a jabbing clinic. Although Michael didn't use his vaunted overhand right, I think the few that he did throw were very effective. Dwight bled from the nose most of the fight, and I think Spinks might have broken his nose early. Wesley Mouzon, or Quenzel McCall did a thing a haven't seen much in recent fights. Sometime in the between rounds, one of them seemed to be squezzing Qawi's cheekbones, I think that was because Qawi had trouble breathing due to a broken nose. Any comments?
Spinks was in the dressing room before the fight, getting ready to take the ring walk, when his young daughter was allowed in to wish her daddy good luck. The mother of the child, Spinks' common-law wife Michelle, was killed in a car wreck just days before. "Where's mommy?" She innocently asked. Spinks broke down sobbing, minutes before the biggest fight of his life. Then he goes out and performs with that level of focus. Instant fan, right here.
Good post. Spinks fought a smart fight against Qawi. Spinks was smart enough to know not to stand on Qawi's wheelhouse where he would get counter punched to death. The jab was always the key to beating Qawi. Honestly that was what was so special about Michael. He did what he had to do to win and always fought smart. Leon went right at Qawi because he was a swarmer at heart and Qawi busted him up with counters.
Good post. Drives me crazy when folks question his heart because of the Tyson fight. Can you imagine having to fight a guy like Qawi after losing your wife and the mother of your child? Not to mention Michael and Leon came out of one of the worst ghettos In the country to not only win Olympic gold but to be world champions!! The Spinks brothers had incredible heart and balls but Michael was especially great. Never ducked anyone at 175 and beat a truly all time great heavyweight in Holmes.
Yes I didn't mention that but good point. Spinks seemed like such a humble fighter , in the post fight interview he mentioned that he didn't know how things were going to work out against Qawi. A guy not afraid to say how he truly felt.
And Spinks beat him TWICE! I don't care what Holmes says. In the rematch I gave Holmes the first 5 rounds, but after that Spinks was landing the cleaner more effective punches. Holmes was throwing, but you have to land in order to win rounds.
Bull****! Holmes won going away and hurting Michael. If you think Mike won, you probably qualify as a ref in Vegas right now. Run to your destiny!
He no doubt got destroyed by Tyson but I don't believe for a second that he was scared of him. If he was so scared he wouldn't have signed to fight him in the first place. If he was so scared of him he wouldn't have pulled himself off the deck when Tyson hit him with that right hand to the body. My issue is when folks say he laid down against Tyson like Seldon did. Spinks made the horrible decision to try and bang with Tyson and got ran over. It's ok for us to disagree but I stop short of calling fighters scared or cowards. These guys mostly end up broke and broken from this sport. No need to dishonor them.
Lots of talk about Spinks performance and strategy but no mention of Futch yet. For sure you still have to be good enough to do everything planned and Michael did it with amazing precision but oh my what a grand plan it was. Often moving to the right and throwing lots of left hands and very importantly not giving Qawi right hands to counter. Qawi was brilliant at riding the punch (usually taking it on the shoulder) and coming straight back with his own right. Spinks right hands usually came after Qawi had thrown his own first. Great gameplan and brilliantly carried out by the versatile Spinks. Qawi didn't do much because he wasn't allowed to. Spinks stifled him. One of the great light heavyweight showdowns even if a lot more action was expected.
Yep. That was a massive payday. Same reason why Spinks chose to fight Cooney instead of a more worthy challenger. Money! He made more money in those two fights than all of his other fights combined.
