Why was M. Spinks so Hard to Fight?

[The Old LefHook]

Besides the height, what was it, technically? Not a rhetorical question, I never puzzled this one out to my satisfaction.

They always say awkward. He looked awkward, I mean a little clumsy.

The one thing I can say was that he knew very well how to fight tall, in Manny Steward lingo. He was not afraid to jab, either. His right hand was kinda hard.

It was not even a weak era, was it, as I remember? I mean Braxton himself was pretty darned good and Spinks showed the blueprint for clearly squeaking by him, twice I think, without doing much damage.

Is he as good as he seemed, or is he overrated? Am I mis-remembering his exact era? Was it a bit weak? I know he was surrounded in time by great light heavyweights, but I cannot remember which of them he actually fought in their prime other than Braxton.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Awkward

Will to win

Nice right hand

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Besides the height, what was it, technically? Not a rhetorical question, I never puzzled this one out to my satisfaction.

They always say awkward. He looked awkward, I mean a little clumsy.

The one thing I can say was that he knew very well how to fight tall, in Manny Steward lingo. He was not afraid to jab, either. His right hand was kinda hard.

It was not even a weak era, was it, as I remember? I mean Braxton himself was pretty darned good and Spinks showed the blueprint for clearly squeaking by him, twice I think, without doing much damage.

Is he as good as he seemed, or is he overrated? Am I mis-remembering his exact era? Was it a bit weak? I know he was surrounded in time by great light heavyweights, but I cannot remember which of them he actually fought in their prime other than Braxton.

He fought in a very deep light heavy era.. also beat Eddie mustafa muhammed and marvin johnson

Would have like to seen spinks fight Mathew muhammed saad

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I think it was very hard to find sparring partners that emulated spinks... that helped spinks have a style advantage in nearly every fight..

[Ray Corso]

From 1950 up to 1980 the Light Heavy class was strong with very good contenders and top tier champions.
Spinks to me is a top tier champ because he had power in the right hand and he could take a good shot too.
He was awkward in that he seemed stiff and ridged and was hard to gauge. He was a great amateur boxer and a very smart fighter.
He kept a beautiful stance with the lead shoulder at his opponent and it made his straight right hand hard to pick off behind his jab.
He was a multi-national champ and an Olympic Gold Medalists.

His era was pretty good;
Yaqui Lopez ( although older by then)
Marvin Johnson
Eddie Mustafa Muhammed (eddie gregory)
Vonzell Johnson
Murray Sutherland (2)
Jerry Celestine
Dwight Qawi (2) (Braxton)
Eddie Davis
Larry Holmes (2)
Gerry Cooney

He fought competitive men and he usually won by a large margin. He stalked once he felt he could handle the opponents power and had 21 KO's in 32 fights.

He could be a top ten lightheavy on most lists!

Ray

[Sugar Adam Ali]

From 1950 up to 1980 the Light Heavy class was strong with very good contenders and top tier champions.
Spinks to me is a top tier champ because he had power in the right hand and he could take a good shot too.
He was awkward in that he seemed stiff and ridged and was hard to gauge. He was a great amateur boxer and a very smart fighter.
He kept a beautiful stance with the lead shoulder at his opponent and it made his straight right hand hard to pick off behind his jab.
He was a multi-national champ and an Olympic Gold Medalists.

His era was pretty good;
Yaqui Lopez ( although older by then)
Marvin Johnson
Eddie Mustafa Muhammed (eddie gregory)
Vonzell Johnson
Murray Sutherland (2)
Jerry Celestine
Dwight Qawi (2) (Braxton)
Eddie Davis
Larry Holmes (2)
Gerry Cooney

He fought competitive men and he usually won by a large margin. He stalked once he felt he could handle the opponents power and had 21 KO's in 32 fights.

He could be a top ten lightheavy on most lists!

Ray

Nice post..

I think he is a lock for top 10 at light heavy..

Do you rate bob foster higher? How do you think a fight between them unfolds

[The Old LefHook]

To watch Spinks fight for the first time you would practically swear he was a bum, you would swear his balance stunk, until you noticed the opponent was having all kinds of difficulty.

It is too bad Franklin was not still around and fresh. He would simply plow through the awkwardness the way Ike plowed through the cute of Chris Byrd as if it were not even there.

At least I know Franklin would have worked him out hard, if not beaten him. His light heavyweight era was not that strong, but it really helps that he stepped up and picked off a pair of massive, if graying heavyweights, for a reputation can gain only so much by gunning down the likes of Murray Sutherland and his ilk, who was certainly a quality fighter, just not a world beater or the pablum of legends.

[Ray Corso]

"swear he was a bum"............???? Where do you come up with bum?

A bum is someone who lacks "effort"! When did Mike ever lack effort.
You guys really need to learn boxing terminology.
Bum is not about skills or talent it's about performing at a lower level than your best.

Foster vs Spinks would be interesting, similar in that they had power above average for 175. Foster was really long in arms and legs and was a wide puncher at times. I think Mike's straight shots would play a big role in success against Sheriff Bob.
I know something about Foster because I trained for a summer in the southwest valley gym in Alb. N.M. where Foster trained.
He could really crack the heavy bag with that right hand.
I had Saad train with me in my gym years later and he could never match Fosters power.
I'd pay to watch Spinks vs Foster, be a great fight.

Ray

[BM dnobagaV]

Would anyone consider Spinks an ATG? He did virtually clean out a tough LHW division and beat an undefeated Holmes twice(arguably).

Similar to Holyfield without the longevity at HW.

[TBear]

As stated Michael was awkward. He has great movement(when his knees held out) and tremendous power with both hands. An All time light heavy champ. Also mentioned was the fact that that era was the golden era of the light heavyweight division and he ruled.

I was a big fan of him, Saad Muhammad, Eddie Mustafa M., Marvin Johnson, Qawi and the rest of the fighters fighting for position in the division. Great times!