KOJOE90 has offered up several interesting threads of Leon Spinks vs. others...One thing I have always wondered about Neon Leon is this...
How would have his career in professional boxing had panned out had he not been rushed into the Ali title fight with only 7 fights experience?
Now, Leon won the fight with Ali...and the undisputed title that went with it...But really..he won because Ali was old, undertrained, and overweight. Ali took on Leon because he knew it would be an easy fight (surprise!)...
Leon, with the title on his belt became America's #1 party guy...he had acheived the dream earlier than he should have...so...
Would Leon have been better off to wait foir a few years, stayed focused on 'the dream'...and fought for the title in about 1980...or was he better off with what actually transpired...would Leon have had a more successful career by waiting...
I think the only way Leon is ever the champion is the way it happened...
Waiting means facing Larry Holmes in '80...who had little trouble with Leon (TKO-3)...
Any other opinions about how Leon would have been different by following a 'more normal' course to his 1st title fight?
Leon Spinks, the great enigma...
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Sweet Scientist
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 815
- Joined: 13 Oct 2003, 18:19
I also think the way it actually happened is about the only way Leon is ever HW champion. No disrespect intended.
If Spinks had been brought along the way prospects are usually brought along, that would have added a couple years and perhaps another 12-15 fights so that, in order to have earned a title shot instead of being raced into it, perhaps he would've had to face a Norton or a Shavers while they were still hanging around in the picture, or perhaps a Tate or a Weaver or a young Tim Witherspoon. Or maybe Gerrie Coetzee, who later bombed him out in one round, anyway. All that not to mention the emergence of Larry Holmes, who also handled him easily.
Leon was not a terribly big nor particularly hard hitting HW to be fighting guys that much bigger and stronger than he was, especially since he was more of a mauler to begin with.
One thing you've gotta admit, though. Spinks wasn't just thrown to the wolves against Ali. Three of his first seven fights were against Pedro Agosto, Scott LeDoux and Alfio Righetti -- not your usual line up of pro debuts and losing records to build one's confidence against. LeDoux and Righetti were both ranked fighters at one time.
If Spinks had been brought along the way prospects are usually brought along, that would have added a couple years and perhaps another 12-15 fights so that, in order to have earned a title shot instead of being raced into it, perhaps he would've had to face a Norton or a Shavers while they were still hanging around in the picture, or perhaps a Tate or a Weaver or a young Tim Witherspoon. Or maybe Gerrie Coetzee, who later bombed him out in one round, anyway. All that not to mention the emergence of Larry Holmes, who also handled him easily.
Leon was not a terribly big nor particularly hard hitting HW to be fighting guys that much bigger and stronger than he was, especially since he was more of a mauler to begin with.
One thing you've gotta admit, though. Spinks wasn't just thrown to the wolves against Ali. Three of his first seven fights were against Pedro Agosto, Scott LeDoux and Alfio Righetti -- not your usual line up of pro debuts and losing records to build one's confidence against. LeDoux and Righetti were both ranked fighters at one time.
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The Boxing Enthusiast
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 40
- Joined: 30 Sep 2003, 12:59
Not great perhaps because he wasn't able to develop into the fighter he could have been. But having said that he acheived some great things... the olimpic title. beating Ali.... these are great accomplishments for a man with Leons background and deserves respect for that.BoxBuzz wrote:I was living in St Louis at the time and he had us all impressed. I agree with you....too much too fast. Not a great heavyweight because he never got his footing in life to really make his stand.