Prime Michael Spinks vs Wladmir Klitschko

[BennyST]

I have seen him fight, he is nothing special at all. He is upright with his hands down at his freaking waist, he has no foot work and hardly any defense. He couldn't take a punch...to the body anyway...and his punching power and technique are not anything to be in awe of...One can defend Wlad all they want, Wlad is a exceptional fighter...Not Sanders, he is a bum...If you call Shavers a club fighter, then what is a guy like Sanders? Shavers had better combinations, defense, durability, power, and possibly even speed too....That is almost as bad as putting Hasim Rahman against Shavers...or any notable fighter at all...

I certainly didn't call Shavers a club fighter. He was a very good power puncher. However, there is no way that Shavers had better speed than Sanders. I think Shavers would probably win, but he wasn't faster. I think you may be overrating Shavers a little, not that he wasn't a top fighter and underrating Sanders, not that he was great. He was just a good contender that could have been much, much better. What he did have in spades though was speed and power.

[Scott9945]

I certainly didn't call Shavers a club fighter. He was a very good power puncher. However, there is no way that Shavers had better speed than Sanders. I think Shavers would probably win, but he wasn't faster. I think you may be overrating Shavers a little, not that he wasn't a top fighter and underrating Sanders, not that he was great. He was just a good contender that could have been much, much better. What he did have in spades though was speed and power.

It seems as though some people think only American boxers have fast hands. Go figure.

[BennyST]

Wlad's slow punches? Wow. Just unbelievable. Spinks would have had his hands full with Eddie Chambers. Klitschko just takes him apart.

I'm not sure I'd go that far. I think Spinks would have handled Chambers with relative ease. The big Klit though is another matter entirely.

Spinks was a great LHW and a damn good HW but I think people are overlooking that he was still mainly a small guy that was very tricky to beat. With Wlad's size alone, that would give Spinks enough to think about, then you add in his speed for a guy his size, power and defensive, cautious nature and the ability to keep someone Spinks' size at bay with his jab, it would be a nightmare of epic proportions for Spinks and an even greater mountain to climb to actually have any chance of winning.

Spinks' awkwardness would give Wlad trouble to start with, but once he realised his size and timing, gets his own rhythm happening, I just don't see a way of Spinks winning. I think it would be a ridiculous, scrappy, ****ing awful fight that would make us all want to cry with lots of amateurish looking grappling and clinching and muchos sloppy fighting, but Spinks just doesn't have the necessary tools to actually win the fight.

It's possible it goes to a decision based on Spinks awkward fight style and that he might give Wlad some trouble with that, along with Wlad's overly cautious nature but otherwise, Spinks can't win this fight.

[Dan...]

Scott speaking the 100% truth in this thread.

It just seems as though a lot of American boxing fans will never give the Klitschko brothers the credit that their careers warrant, regardless of who they beat and how impressively they beat them.

For the fight in question I would pick Wladimir by KO in the mid-rounds.