Usyk vs Spinks

[HomicideHenry]

Michael Spinks (1981-1985)
Oleksandr Usyk (2014-2018)

12 rounds
Cruiserweight Bout

Who do you have?

Both men had great amateur careers before turning professional, as Spinks was the 1976 Olympic Gold medalist at middleweight, having an overall record of 93-7 (35) and would win the WBA strap in his 17th fight as a professional boxer and become undisputed champion in his 25th contest as a professional.

Usyk had an amateur record of 335-15, winning the Gold medal at the 2012 Olympics at heavyweight. He would win the WBO strap in his 10th fight as a professional boxer but would not become unified cruiserweight champion until his 15th professional contest, winning the undisputed title in his 16th outing against lineal champion Tony Bellew.

Usyk never defended the undisputed cruiserweight title. Spinks would defend the undisputed light heavyweight title twice in 1985 before taking on heavyweight champion Larry Holmes that same year.

Usyk certainly has the greater amateur pedigree, but it seems to me that these two men are quite evenly matched. Both are roughly the same size (Spinks 6'2.5" & Usyk 6'3") with virtually the same reach (Spinks 76" & Usyk 78") and both have pulled off very similar achievements in the processional ring.

The Cruiserweight division was basically in its infancy when Spinks was competing as a professional as 1979's Camel vs Parlov was the first bout for that particular title, and it was viewed as a venture for people who were simply not good enough to be light heavyweights and heavyweights with little money involved.

But considering "The Spinks Jinx" competed between 199-212 pounds as a heavyweight, he was for all intents and purposes a cruiserweight by today's standards when the cruiserweight limit in his time was 176-195 and these days it's 210 pounds in many jurisdictions.

Spinks Best Career Wins:
Dwight Qawi- W15
Eddie Muhammad- W15
Larry Holmes (2x)- W15

Usyk Best Career Wins:
Tony Bellew- KO8
Marco Huck- KO10
Anthony Joshua- W12

[DrDuke]

Usyk Best Career Wins:
Tony Bellew- KO8
Marco Huck- KO10
Anthony Joshua- W12

A strange choice for the best wins. Briedis and Gassiev were better than Bellew and Huck for sure. Hunter can also be considered better.

Nevertheless, Usyk beats Spinks. Usyk is faster, more polished and agile. Spinks was awkward and could bang, but he could be outboxed by someone faster and more solid technically. Even his second bout against aged Larry was controversial.

[HomicideHenry]

Admittedly, I know little on Briedis, and personally I don't think Michael Hunter Jr has proven all that much (thus far) although he did give Usyk a good fight. I say Huck because he did have a lengthy title reign. Bellew was a top contender at 175 and was cruiserweight champion. Oh well.

Yeah, the rematch with Larry Holmes was controversial there's no doubt about that but Holmes was the only one to make Spinks look vulnerable as far as trying to outbox him--- and considering Larry Holmes is one of the top five heavyweights of all time that is not exactly a detriment.

That being said, I'd argue wins over Cooney and Tangstad are either better or of similar value to Usyk's wins over Chazz Witherspoon and Dereck Chisora. Throw in the unanimous decision over Larry Holmes the first time around, I'd say that Spinks is just slightly better than Usyk at least in terms of accomplishments.

After all there is little doubt that Larry Holmes would have beaten Anthony Joshua, and here we have a man who defeated Larry Holmes. Thirty rounds with a top five heavyweight of all time is nothing to sneer at.

I'm not saying that Spinks would have won against the Ukrainian, but no offense to Usyk I have a hard time believing that the men Usyk defeated along the way are in the same category as Qawi and Muhammad and Holmes.

Not many people gave Spinks a chance at beating Holmes. Even the great Billy Conn said that it was like a toothpick versus a lumberyard. So Spinks overcame a greater obstacle as far as the public and the experts were concerned than Usyk overcame Joshua, because there were many people out there who believed the Ukrainian could beat the Englishman.

I'm not so sure that the Ukrainian is faster than Spinks. More polished? Sure. More technical? Sure. Spinks I think has the edge in speed. I think it would have been a very competitive fight that would have been very intriguing.

[DrDuke]

Admittedly, I know little on Briedis, and personally I don't think Michael Hunter Jr has proven all that much (thus far) although he did give Usyk a good fight. I say Huck because he did have a lengthy title reign. Bellew was a top contender at 175 and was cruiserweight champion. Oh well.

Huck was already beaten by Briedis, when Usyk defeated Huck. Briedis also defeated Glowacki and Dorticos. Briedis clearly is better than Huck and Bellew. Hunter was unproven when he faced Usyk, but now he's a decent HW, who drawn with Povetkin, which can be equaled to Huck's close and controversial loss to Povetkin. And this is better than everything Bellew had done.

Yeah, the rematch with Larry Holmes was controversial there's no doubt about that but Holmes was the only one to make Spinks look vulnerable as far as trying to outbox him--- and considering Larry Holmes is one of the top five heavyweights of all time that is not exactly a detriment.

That being said, I'd argue wins over Cooney and Tangstad are either better or of similar value to Usyk's wins over Chazz Witherspoon and Dereck Chisora. Throw in the unanimous decision over Larry Holmes the first time around, I'd say that Spinks is just slightly better than Usyk at least in terms of accomplishments.

After all there is little doubt that Larry Holmes would have beaten Anthony Joshua, and here we have a man who defeated Larry Holmes. Thirty rounds with a top five heavyweight of all time is nothing to sneer at.

I'm not saying that Spinks would have won against the Ukrainian, but no offense to Usyk I have a hard time believing that the men Usyk defeated along the way are in the same category as Qawi and Muhammad and Holmes.

Not many people gave Spinks a chance at beating Holmes. Even the great Billy Conn said that it was like a toothpick versus a lumberyard. So Spinks overcame a greater obstacle as far as the public and the experts were concerned than Usyk overcame Joshua, because there were many people out there who believed the Ukrainian could beat the Englishman.

I'm not so sure that the Ukrainian is faster than Spinks. More polished? Sure. More technical? Sure. Spinks I think has the edge in speed. I think it would have been a very competitive fight that would have been very intriguing.

In terms of accomplishments Usyk and Spinks are very close. Usyk's CW reign probably edges over Spinks' LHW one, but these fighters are close at the HW. Spinks won a greater HW in Holmes, but when Larry was past prime. Usyk won a top, but not great HW in Joshua, yet when AJ was in prime.

Usyk vs Spinks would be competetive for sure. Well, speed can be argued there, but Usyk's superior workrate, fundamentals and agility should have worked for him. He also seems tougher, as he took Joshua's power punches, while Spinks was KOed by Tyson in the 1st round.

[margaret thatcher]

briedis and gassiev are definitely better wins than huck and bellew. as mentioned briedis had already dominated huck, and gassiev was unified champ with nice wins over lebdedev, dorticos, and wlod, all 3 who are multi time champs who reached top 5


this is a good matchup, though i have a feeling it would have been an awkward fight

[HomicideHenry]

Just out of curiosity where do you rank Spinks as a light heavyweight all-time? He's certainly a top ten 175-pounder, but do you see him as a top half (#1 through #5) or bottom half (#6 through #10) all-time great at the weight class?

[DrDuke]

Just out of curiosity where do you rank Spinks as a light heavyweight all-time? He's certainly a top ten 175-pounder, but do you see him as a top half (#1 through #5) or bottom half (#6 through #10) all-time great at the weight class?

I rate Spinks as the best LHW ever.

I rate Usyk as the #2 CW ever, after Holyfield. I don't except that once I'll find Usyk more deserving to be a #1 CW.