Jimmy Young Vs Leon Spinks 1978

Robinson · Post by **Robinson** » 03 Feb 2008, 20:51

Lets say that after his victory of Ali, Spinks elects to face Young instead of Norton as his mandatory defence.

Leon the novice, with all that goofy charm has just dethroned the 'Greatest'.

Jimmy Young, always a clever boxer who with his awkwardness is at
time up and down with his abilities. Losing to Norton, he is now the challenger.

Lets say Ali is injured and Spinks is forced into a defence.

Holmes and Norton go on to fight for the WBC strap.

Who do you pick and how.

Kym

Robinson · Post by **Robinson** » 23 Feb 2008, 10:38

No Leon love

joe kurtz · Post by **joe kurtz** » 23 Feb 2008, 21:49

Jimmy Young W15 over "Neon" Leon. Onesidedly.

Nile4000 · Post by **Nile4000** » 25 Feb 2008, 12:26

I think Leon would slightly edge Jimmy, too much pressure.

Robinson · Post by **Robinson** » 25 Feb 2008, 17:40

I think Leon would make it an interesting fight early on with his in and out jerkiness. I do however think that Young would win by points, easily taking the later rounds. Spinks following him around the ring, as Young slams rights and jabs into him.

HomicideHenry · Post by **HomicideHenry** » 25 Feb 2008, 17:57

well considering how Spinks more or less peaked with the Alfio Righetti fight and the first Ali fight; and afterwards went down a spiral into oblivian fueled by drugs, alcohol, car crashes, etc....

Young slaps Spinks around for 15 rounds, easily winning a decision.

Sorry, I just cant invision Spinks beating Young or anyone who was remotely near or at their prime who was really worth anything.

joe kurtz · Post by **joe kurtz** » 29 Feb 2008, 14:23

HomicideHenry wrote:well considering how Spinks more or less peaked with the Alfio Righetti fight and the first Ali fight; and afterwards went down a spiral into oblivian fueled by drugs, alcohol, car crashes, etc....

Young slaps Spinks around for 15 rounds, easily winning a decision.

Sorry, I just cant invision Spinks beating Young or anyone who was remotely near or at their prime who was really worth anything.

It's funny because this thread reminds me of some of the articles that the magazines of that particular time printed about Leon & his prospective title fight opponents after he beat Ali. And how badly they overrated him.

For instance, I distinctly remember one such article ( which I think may have been authored by Randy Gordon actually ) in which the author had Leon scoring a KO10 over Larry Holmes, scoring a late round TKO over George Foreman ( were he to choose to come back from his retirement to face Spinks ) & outwork Jimmy Young enroute to a decision win!
If I remember correctly, the only fighters the author had beating Spinks was Ali & Norton. While only giving Earnie Shavers a bit of a punchers chance!

All of which seemed quite silly to my 16 year old self back then & is, of course, TOTALLY absurd now.

granberry · Post by **granberry** » 29 Feb 2008, 14:44

joe kurtz wrote:
HomicideHenry wrote:well considering how Spinks more or less peaked with the Alfio Righetti fight and the first Ali fight; and afterwards went down a spiral into oblivian fueled by drugs, alcohol, car crashes, etc....

Young slaps Spinks around for 15 rounds, easily winning a decision.

Sorry, I just cant invision Spinks beating Young or anyone who was remotely near or at their prime who was really worth anything.

It's funny because this thread reminds me of some of the articles that the magazines of that particular time printed about Leon & his prospective title fight opponents after he beat Ali. And how badly they overrated him.

For instance, I distinctly remember one such article ( which I think may have been authored by Randy Gordon actually ) in which the author had Leon scoring a KO10 over Larry Holmes, scoring a late round TKO over George Foreman ( were he to choose to come back from his retirement to face Spinks ) & outwork Jimmy Young enroute to a decision win!
If I remember correctly, the only fighters the author had beating Spinks was Ali & Norton. While only giving Earnie Shavers a bit of a punchers chance!

All of which seemed quite silly to my 16 year old self back then & is, of course, TOTALLY absurd now.

ABSURD is the word for the entire "coverage" of boxing by media industry clones who never had a fight with their own sister.

Goodnight, Irene · Post by **Goodnight, Irene** » 29 Feb 2008, 15:04

Granberry has pulled pigtails with the best of them.

Young makes Spinks look a fool, for every minute of every round. Spinks wouldn't get near him.

Ambling Alp · Post by **Ambling Alp** » 03 Mar 2008, 16:49

Young did fight a very good fight against Norton in 1977 in a fight that was much more entertaining than one would have thought. The crowd was even on it's feet a few times. Young showed more offense than he usually did.

However, after that fight, Young only showed flashes of how good he once was. How good would Young have been against Spinks in 1978? That is hard to say. Young only had one fight in 1978, and in that fight he was upset by Ossie Ocasio. I remember watching that fight (it was the preliminary to Norton-Holmes that night) and thought that his performance was much worse than it was against Norton.

A Young-Spinks "showdown" probably would have been very competitive.

BoxBuzz · Post by **BoxBuzz** » 03 Mar 2008, 17:18

Ambling Alp wrote:Young did fight a very good fight against Norton in 1977 in a fight that was much more entertaining than one would have thought. The crowd was even on it's feet a few times. Young showed more offense than he usually did.

However, after that fight, Young only showed flashes of how good he once was. How good would Young have been against Spinks in 1978? That is hard to say. Young only had one fight in 1978, and in that fight he was upset by Ossie Ocasio. I remember watching that fight (it was the preliminary to Norton-Holmes that night) and thought that his performance was much worse than it was against Norton.

A Young-Spinks "showdown" probably would have been very competitive.

Alp you just put a "real time" sobriety to this match up. Your probably right, based on actual performances of these guys at the actual time it would have taken place, it may well have proved to be competitive. I was really only thinking about each fighters "typical" mode rather than the circumstances of that exact moment in time.

Robinson · Post by **Robinson** » 03 Mar 2008, 17:21

It is set for 1978 both guys as they were at that time. One of those missed oppurtunities in time deal.

I guess you could argue that Spinks was at his best in this period.

dempseyfire · Post by **dempseyfire** » 03 Mar 2008, 17:39

In 1978 Young gets outworked by Spinks. After the Norton loss Young got heavily into drugs and generally lost interest in the fight game. His performances suffered.

The 1974-77 Young . . I'm not sure. Spinks at any stage is a tough matchup style-wise for Jimmy.