What is so great about Mike Tyson vs Spinks?

Balder Spinks was a good HW. Not great, but certainly would not be KOed by any prime decent HW.

****ey was still decent. As was Holmes, but yes, declined from his ATG years.

Smaller, older? C'mon.

Spinks was older than Tyson, but only 31.
And not exactly remotely "worn out" by wars or frequent fights.

Smaller? Assuming Tyson was really his listed height, he was 3" shorter. 5" shorter wingspan. And Spinks was only 6 lbs. lighter at 212. This is larger than some ATGs, & heavier per height than even fairly modern fighters like Holmes, about exactly the same as prime Ali...

There is nothing to be done that Spinks was not great & scared & could not last.
But Tyson did show great ability in 93 seconds.

 

For one, this Spinks was a legitimate opponent. Cleveland Williams was neverthe same after having been shot.

 

Good Post Entaowed, But Spinks was a heavy 212, Heavy weight was not his prime weight class. He was older and slower than his best.

He knew it, and so did a lot of other folks.

I still believe any GOOD heany weight in his prime would take Spinks of the Tyson fight. That includes prime C00ney and Morrison.

The only good Heavies I would give him a chance against would be the slower non- punchers or other ex light heavies such as Moorer and perhaps Holyfield. They were accumulation punchers and Spinks could box well.

I just don't rate Spinks a very good heavy weight, he overachieved with Holmes.

 

I think Spinks is better than...You believe.

The seeds of the proof are in your arguemnt.
There were 2 distance fights vs. Holmes. no fluke KOs...Overacheived? only in the sense that he trained himself to his Full Potential.

Heavy? His look & measurements were not large, & his body fat was still low!
So he added muscle, yet not a lot for his frame's potential.
Slower? likely, but not slow. And I do not know that lighter Spinks would BEAT the "old", stronger Spinks.

but some ex-LHWs were very good HWs!

And he has at least a good shot at Morrison & prime ****ey.
Moorer had talent & was excellent when he applied himself.
If you give him any decent chance against an ATG like Holyfield...

Surely (if I may call you Shirley ;-)) you see he was pretty good.

 

Well, I only see Spinks competing with Holyfield, I don't think he would beat him, and his only competitive because of styles.

But I will give you he was pretty good, Just not a very good or great in the division.

He could beat some heavy weights, just not the very good ones. Holmes being the exception. Spinks rose to the occasion and his style was a perfect foil against Holmes. Spinks is a GREAT fighter, but just a pretty good to good heavy and his style gave him a fighting chance against the slower or shopworn.

He was not a great Heavy. I just thought he had NO chance against Tyson. And he did not. No matter how he fought, he was not going to beat Tyson. Completely all wrong for Spinks, especially at that stage of his Career.

I feel like I am disparaging Spinks, but in truth I think he was a great Light Heavy. Just not a very good heavy weight. In some ways he reminds me of Foster. The talent was there, but did not translate to championship level in that class ( minus Holmes)

 

That really sums it up.

And that version of Holmes he beat was a far cry from the 78/79 version. This was the guy barely getting by Carl Williams.

And lets face it, nice wins but hardly dominating. A close fight & he used all the rounds in a 15 round fight. Not tko4 or anything even close to that kind of result.

Then we get Tangstad. No IBF fight against Tucker. Now Tony might be a good decent fighter and all that, but he really should not be the type guy for a top heavy to avoid & lose your belt to. Fight the guy, it really isn't Mount Everrest, more like a hill.

As for the ****ey fight, everyone seems to dismiss that bad cut Mike Spinks got in there. Gentleman Gerry did not exploit it. But other guy's would have & he loses via tko. If Spinks has that severe cut against Holmes, he loses. Or Page. Williams. Bruno. Tubbs. Witherspoon.

And just how hard is it to penetrate the ****ey defense anyway? Spinks was hitting the guy with the kitchen sink.

Whole different kettle of fish fighting a young 2 fisted hitter like Tyson than those other guys. Not a cherry picked opponent for a change.

 

Holmes clearly beat Spinks in the re-match so his claim to the lineal title in the eyes of the fans was iffy.

Spinks came into the Tyson fight scared. I felt Tyson would win early, but not in 91 seconds.

 

are you stupid? Tyson was the smaller fighter, and spinks prime whislt Tyson was still developing.

how did you reverse the truth?? are you a kliturd, that might perhaps explain it.

 

At the time it was the closest matchup in HW boxing there had been since Ali-Frazier 1. Both Spinks and Tyson were undefeated HW champions and the #1 and #2 P4P fighters. One was a boxer the other was a sawed off slugger. The promotion went on forver and featured crossover sponsors like Pepsi and daily commercials on free tv, endless magazine and newspaper articles. I have a promotional boxing magazine dedicated entirely to this fight. In it a ton of experts are asked to picked the winner and they are split nearly 50/50. Spinks was a former Olympic Gold medalist, a former unified LHW champion, and the lineal HW champion. He could box and boasted of a hefty punch dubbed the Spinks Jinx. Tyson was the rampaging 22 year old powerpuncher tearing through the division who had managed to win belts but had never defeated "the man" in the division. This was the most anticipated HW matchup in over 15 years. The only reason its sold short today is because Tyson was so dominant that he blew Spinks out in seconds. Which nobody saw coming I might add. I remember very well the plethora of stories from people who paid for PPV only to get up and go to the bathroom as the fight started, or grab a beer, or go pour a bowl of chips and dip, only to come back and the fight be over.

 

This! If you grew up in the time, there were a lot of so called experts who felt this fight would be competitive. Its only after Spinks was completely embarassed that people started discounting the win.

 

Right or wrong Michael Spinks was viewed as the only opponent in the division who was a suitable counterpart to Tyson. He was the lineal champion, an established great in two divisions and undefeated. Most knew he was past his prime, and some even predicted a short evening. But his status at the time made him the crown jewel of Tyson's accomplished career.

 

It was a tremendous hype job. Spinks was a light-heavy who in no way was going to beat a guy like Tyson. They tried to play on the Spinks jinx thing and people picking him. No chance. Bull**** hype.

 

Easy to say in hindsight.. But there were actually quite a few ( though the minority ) who picked Spinks to win and a fair number of others who thought that he'd at least put forth a gallant losing effort. Very few predicted a first round KO and that even included a lot of experts.. And if Spinks had won or given a good account of himself, it certainly wouldn't have been the first nor the last time that a "light heavyweight" had beaten or troubled the heavyweight champion. I myself felt that Spinks dropped the fight in the tank. He knew he couldn't beat Tyson and rather than taking a beating, laid down. There was no enthusiasm or look of tenacity in his face during the announcements. He had every bit of semblance to a lamb being led to the slaughter..

 

Spinks was unbeaten, former 175-pound king and lineal heavyweight king. Again, he was UNBEATEN.
Anytime a fighter is unbeaten and proven at the highest level, it is hard to imagine him losing.
Tyson was the betting fave but plenty thought Spinks had what it took to win. If nothing else, nobody expected a blowout. We all thought it was going to be an acid test for Tyson, not least because Spinks was a quality fighter.

Ironically, this fight would not be glossed over had Tyson been given hell for 10 rounds before knocking out Spinks, or winning a close decision.
It's only because it was an easy demolition (and not the only one during Tyson's tenure) that poor Spinks' legacy suffers, and ironically Tyson's too.

 

This is spot on.