BoxRec

what do you think of him? Was he the second best HW in the 80s before he fought mike tyson?

Mike Spinks is the no.1 light heavy of the 80s, and arguably the no.3 heavyweight behind Holmes and Tyson (in that order). I say arguably because a peak Tim Witherspoon would have put up a very serious argument, as would Evander Holyfield.

Spinks was the best LHW of the 1980s and a top 10 all-time LHW. At HW I don't think he was convinced himself of his right to sit at the top table of the decade. I wouldn't put him in the top 10 HWs of the 1980s.

Not even in the top 10 of the 80s HWs?? WTF!!!

You'll struggle to find a heavy with better results than outpointing the 48-0 Holmes and demolishing Cooney in 5.

Spinks is top 5 no doubt in terms of achievment, even though i feel Tubbs, Spoon, Tucker, and a few others may have overwhelmed him.

Jan wrote:what do you think of him? Was he the second best HW in the 80s before he fought mike tyson?

Superb fighter, but not the 2nd best HW of the 80's, that's Mike Tyson.

overhand_right wrote:Not even in the top 10 of the 80s HWs?? WTF!!!

You'll struggle to find a heavy with better results than outpointing the 48-0 Holmes and demolishing Cooney in 5.

Spinks is top 5 no doubt in terms of achievment, even though i feel Tubbs, Spoon, Tucker, and a few others may have overwhelmed him.

It was a great performance against Holmes but Cooney was not the same fighter. Many thought Spinks lost the Holmes rematch.

Spinks had great mobility for a 1980s HW but he never looked like, or seemed to believe, that he was a 'real' HW.

I honestly think that many big punching HWs of the decade would have beaten Spinks (Bruno, Smith, Coetzee, Weaver) and many of the skilled but erratic guys would have taken him too (Page, Tucker, Spoon, Thomas).

I love Spinks at 175 but at HW he could only beat a particular type of fighter IMO.

But thats all speculatory!

Even if you think Spinks lost the rematch, its still a close loss to an all time great who still had a lot left.

Relying on pure facts, Spinks bumping off a 48-0 Holmes is a better result than any of the heavies you mentioned have on their resume/CV.

If all it took was a puncher to beat Spinks, Cooney would have done it.

Cooney not the same is again speculatory. He was the same old Cooney v Brown/Chaplin/Gregg, the difference is that Spinks didn't stay back & box cautiously as Holmes admitted he did, he was right on Cooney and punched the fight right out of him.

Spinks is #3 heavy of the 80s based on actual results/performance.

I wouldn't say he's the second best heavy but I do consider him to be the best lightheavyweight of all time.

overhand_right wrote:But thats all speculatory!

Even if you think Spinks lost the rematch, its still a close loss to an all time great who still had a lot left.

Relying on pure facts, Spinks bumping off a 48-0 Holmes is a better result than any of the heavies you mentioned have on their resume/CV.

If all it took was a puncher to beat Spinks, Cooney would have done it.

Cooney not the same is again speculatory. He was the same old Cooney v Brown/Chaplin/Gregg, the difference is that Spinks didn't stay back & box cautiously as Holmes admitted he did, he was right on Cooney and punched the fight right out of him.

Spinks is #3 heavy of the 80s based on actual results/performance.

I still can't go with it. Spinks never seemed like a HW who was going to be around for too long.

The wins over Holmes are great results but Cooney was really gone and had hardly tuned up for it as I remember. I really think a fresher more prepared Cooney could have landed the bomb although it was still a fine performance by Spinks. I certainly think a Coetzee, Weaver or Bruno in their pomp could have KO'd Spinks. Mike looked very shaky against Holmes, larry just couldn't follow up.

I had a quick look at records and Witherspoon had wins over Snipes, Page, Tillis, Smith, Tubbs and Bruno in the 1980s, as well as a close loss to Holmes.

To be honest when I looked at records from the 1980s I was surprised (don't know why I should have remembered) at just how patchy the contenders were.

I rank the great Michael Spinks as one of the 50 greatest fighters of all time!!!

Spinks was unorthodox and special in his own way.
But he was way overated in my book.
Yes he beat an older Holmes twice but still not my cup of tea.

Decagon wrote:Tell me. When you were in high school, did you type your essays using that same font size?

No, but I use it here. It should not be a problem for you, right?

he Was the second best HW in the 80s

no. 1 larry homes
no. 3 mike tyson..

Bullshit!

The best heavyweights of the 1980s
1. Mike Tyson or Larry Holmes
2. Larry Holmes or Mike Tyson
3. Michael Spinks

80s:

1.Tyson
2.Holmes
3.Spinks