BoxRec

Spinks would have FOUND a way to beat Holyfield at LH.Holyfield fought Qawi like a cruiserweight version of Armstrong,but Spinks could match his size,and surpass his power in this fight.While Holyfield would definitely come to fight and set a blistering pace,Spinks whole arsenal would come into play,and take a heavy toll on Holyfield.Spinks herky-jerky movements and awkward defense would have him stumbling around the ever pressing Holyfield wearing him down with bombs to the head & body.I think Spinks would win a close unanimous decision.(However I did see a very crafty Eddie Davis BEAT Spinks,even though Spinks was one of my favorites,but Davis was robbed,having fought a very clever boxing match)
zuru

Holyfield was pretty much never a light heavy as a pro. Think his first few fights were just above 175 and he was bursting out of his skin

A Spinks matchup at their respective bests would have been an almighty boxing match that's a certainty

At CW (190) Holyfield would KO Spinks without a doubt -

To suggest Spinks has the power of Holyfield is silly - Holyfield would bully him around the ring at will - Holyfield had by far the better chin...better hand speed, threw better combinations and he hit harder at 190 +

Spinks at 175 had topshelf KO power so can't see how the claim can be made that Holyfield had better power. Chin? How many times was Spinks KD at his natural weight? It seems Spinks' last fight may be the basis for the chin claim? If so, that's a bit absurd

Forget the Spinks that Mike demolished. Spinks at his peak as a LH or lets say 200lbs was an extremely difficult proposition for any fighter. He could hold his own against anyone and Evander was by no means a wrecking ball type fighter. He was strong, but nowhere near the strenght of a fully fledged Heavy. So I see Spinks maybe outpointing him in a boring type fight. Holy doing all the pressing, but not being able to pin Spinks for long enough to do real damage. Evander was great, but very beatable.....Bowe proved this as did Lewis.....

meade95 wrote:At CW (190) Holyfield would KO Spinks without a doubt -

To suggest Spinks has the power of Holyfield is silly - Holyfield would bully him around the ring at will - Holyfield had by far the better chin...better hand speed, threw better combinations and he hit harder at 190 +

Well I think Holyfield was definitely stronger without a doubt, but their punching power I would say was pretty equal.

walshb wrote:Forget the Spinks that Mike demolished. Spinks at his peak as a LH or lets say 200lbs was an extremely difficult proposition for any fighter. He could hold his own against anyone and Evander was by no means a wrecking ball type fighter. He was strong, but nowhere near the strenght of a fully fledged Heavy. So I see Spinks maybe outpointing him in a boring type fight. Holy doing all the pressing, but not being able to pin Spinks for long enough to do real damage. Evander was great, but very beatable.....Bowe proved this as did Lewis.....

Bowe was huge against Evander and Bowe would have crushed Spinks.
I agree with Meade; Holyfield would have been too strong for Spinks. And as for not being able to run Spinks down, Holyfield would have cut the ring off quite well and worn Spinks down with his hard,hard punches.

wlvrne wrote:

walshb wrote:Forget the Spinks that Mike demolished. Spinks at his peak as a LH or lets say 200lbs was an extremely difficult proposition for any fighter. He could hold his own against anyone and Evander was by no means a wrecking ball type fighter. He was strong, but nowhere near the strenght of a fully fledged Heavy. So I see Spinks maybe outpointing him in a boring type fight. Holy doing all the pressing, but not being able to pin Spinks for long enough to do real damage. Evander was great, but very beatable.....Bowe proved this as did Lewis.....

Bowe was huge against Evander and Bowe would have crushed Spinks.
I agree with Meade; Holyfield would have been too strong for Spinks. And as for not being able to run Spinks down, Holyfield would have cut the ring off quite well and worn Spinks down with his hard,hard punches.

Can't see this happening. Holyfield had a gigantic struggle against Qawi at a time when Qawi was past his best at Cruiser (to be fair it was only Holy's 7th or 8th fight). He couldn't and didn't outmuscle Qawi in this fight and Spinks had beaten Qawi several years earlier

Strength? At lightheavy or cruiser this wouldn't be a major factor due to Spinks awkwardness. Holyfield would be expending energy trying to pin Spinks down, something that nobody else managed to do so why would Holyfield manage it?. At the lower weights Holyfield was still raw and Spinks ring smarts see him confusing the hell out out of Holyfield

It seems a few are still basing Holyfield outmuscling Spinks on Holyfield's best (earlier HW days) V spinks' worst (also HW). Not fair not fair

Holyfeild was never good against movers, even in his prime. Spinks, I believe, could have out boxed him and prevented Holyfield from charging in recklessly with the "Spinx Jinx". I beileve that to be true whether at lightheavy, cruiser or heavyweight.

walshb wrote:Forget the Spinks that Mike demolished. Spinks at his peak as a LH or lets say 200lbs was an extremely difficult proposition for any fighter. He could hold his own against anyone and Evander was by no means a wrecking ball type fighter. He was strong, but nowhere near the strenght of a fully fledged Heavy. So I see Spinks maybe outpointing him in a boring type fight. Holy doing all the pressing, but not being able to pin Spinks for long enough to do real damage. Evander was great, but very beatable.....Bowe proved this as did Lewis.....

What an utterly foolish post - First off Lennox lost the second fight with Holyfield (and was only given the decision to make up for the first fight...his own trainer Emanuel Stewert has said as much in the Detroit freepress a number of times) - But that is a whole other subject...

Secondly, Holyfield was OLD in both fights with Lennox -

Futhermore to suggest that because Bowe and Lennox (vs an Old Holy) gave Holyfield problems.....this means a prime Holyfield is very beatable (what a load of crap) -

Adding on to this...to then suggest Spinks who is some 50 POUNDS!! lighter and 3 + inches shorter, with a much shorter reach would be able to employ the same fight plan and assests as Bowe / Lennox is just too silly to even have to respond to.

It is utterly upsurd.

The natural physical assets that were God-given to Lennox and Bowe is what caused Holyfield (and virtually every fighter those two men fought) the problems - (and Lennox's safety first approach Vs an old Holy who didn't have the legs anymore to cut off the ring...also helped Lennox....again to which Emauel Stewert has opined many times).

Spinks had none of these natural physical advanatage (in fact Holyfield had them over him.....hand speed, strength, chin, etc ,etc)


Holyfield hand speed was better then Spink's without a doubt - Without the weight and height advantages (and reach of Lennox) there is no way Spinks avoids a young / prime Holyfield -

To suggest that Spinks had a chin comparable to Holyfield is more complete foolishness - Does anyone who is being intellectually honest for one moment think Spinks would have taken those shots from Bowe, Lennox , Tyson (Spinks lasted 90 seconds), Foreman, etc, etc - (Spinks would have been KTFO by each of those guys over a dozen times with the shots they landed on Holyfield)

If they fought Spinks would have to fight....and when he did he'd be KTFO - If he choose to run...he'd lose a wide UNI DEC -

At 190-200 lbs.....Holyfield would have beat Spinks clearly -

bollox wrote:

wlvrne wrote:

walshb wrote:Forget the Spinks that Mike demolished. Spinks at his peak as a LH or lets say 200lbs was an extremely difficult proposition for any fighter. He could hold his own against anyone and Evander was by no means a wrecking ball type fighter. He was strong, but nowhere near the strenght of a fully fledged Heavy. So I see Spinks maybe outpointing him in a boring type fight. Holy doing all the pressing, but not being able to pin Spinks for long enough to do real damage. Evander was great, but very beatable.....Bowe proved this as did Lewis.....

Bowe was huge against Evander and Bowe would have crushed Spinks.
I agree with Meade; Holyfield would have been too strong for Spinks. And as for not being able to run Spinks down, Holyfield would have cut the ring off quite well and worn Spinks down with his hard,hard punches.

Can't see this happening. Holyfield had a gigantic struggle against Qawi at a time when Qawi was past his best at Cruiser (to be fair it was only Holy's 7th or 8th fight). He couldn't and didn't outmuscle Qawi in this fight and Spinks had beaten Qawi several years earlier

Strength? At lightheavy or cruiser this wouldn't be a major factor due to Spinks awkwardness. Holyfield would be expending energy trying to pin Spinks down, something that nobody else managed to do so why would Holyfield manage it?. At the lower weights Holyfield was still raw and Spinks ring smarts see him confusing the hell out out of Holyfield

It seems a few are still basing Holyfield outmuscling Spinks on Holyfield's best (earlier HW days) V spinks' worst (also HW). Not fair not fair

Holyfield was in his 8th pro fight Vs Qawi (and he beat him over 15 rounds) - Less then a year later in the rematch Holyfield KO'd Qawi in the 4th -

Now looking to Spinks - He beat Qawi in a very cose DEC fight over 15 rounds after Spinks was already WBA champion and had well over 20 fights - (and had been champion for over 2 years) - It was also a young Qawi Spinks beat....mind you (Qawi didn't even have 20 wins yet)

And Qawi is probably Spinks biggest win as LHW champion (him or Eddie Mustafa Muhammad) -

Holyfields CW wins over Ossie Ocasio, Henry Tillman, Dwight Muhammad Qawi and Carlos De Leon.....are every bit as impressive as Spinks wins at LHW -

(Spinks wins as LWH champion - Johnny Davis 13-3-0, Murray Sutherland, Jerry Celestine, Oscar Rivadeneyra, David Sears, Eddie Davis, Jim MacDonald, Mustafa Wassaja) = nothing to write home about in the least - Some clear bums here - And each one of Holyfield's victims above would have beat each of these guys (or would have been clear favorites in Vegas shall we say).

(These guys that Spinks beat while giving them a title shot never amounted to anything after thier losses)

I lean to Holy on this. Tyson was not a weak guy and Holy outmuscled him pretty easy. It would be a better fight than we might think, but after all is said and done it seems to me Holy has more tools in his toolbox and utlimately became the more complete fighter.