Any thoughts on "Slam Bam" Spann? He's fought in title fights a few times but came up short. A pretty solid fighter whose notable opponents are Jorge Paez, Freddie Pendleton and Ray Oliviera. Aggressive swarming southpaw rarely in a dull fight. Not too many available fights of his but every one of them has been nothing but fast paced entertainment where he always threw punches in bunches. Also gave Jorge Paez a tough fight and arguably won it. This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Spann actually had one punch knockout power and Pendleton might have gotten stopped in that first fight had it not been stopped due to a clash of heads. I actually so badly wanted to see Spann face Whitaker because I wanted to see what would happen if Spann landed a Soild punch. Spann came from the same gym as Harold Knight I believe and they had brutal training sessions. Throw in the fact that Spanns defence was lacking and you are going to have a short career.
Although Spann lost to 2 guys who were beaten by Whitaker I think he could have given Whitaker an interesting fight, especially with that power and workrate. But as you said his defense was severely lacking. Whitaker would most likely have his way with Spann. Spann against Tony Lopez would have been a great one had they fought.
Spann has some absolute mouthwatering power, only seen the Paden and Paez fights so far but he's very entertaining to watch. Great punch output and a guy who really sticks to his plan from what I can see, the match with Maromero is really great for something that was only supposed to be a title eliminator! Jorge fought well and deserved the nod, but Tracy was really winning me over with just how many punches he threw and what a great fight he put on against an experienced man like Paez.
Man there's someone I'd forgotten alllllll about. Spann could well of stopped Pendleton in their first encounter. Dropped him in the first, from memory. Spann could certainly crack!
What's a shame is that guys like Spann, who were a notch below World Class/Title level, didn't make a better living and more cash doing what they were really good at. I saw him many times on ESPN and he gave his all and gave us our money's worth every time he laced up the gloves.