Why was Michael Spinks known as the greatest light heavyweight ever? Was he really ?

[Yogi]

I found this all-time Light Heavyweight ranking, which was compiled by about 40(or so) members of the IBRO (guys who've studied the history of the sport and have plenty of footage covering all eras). Each memeber put in their top 20 and from their they added up the votes to reach a general consensus. Here it is;

1. Archie Moore
2. Ezzard Charles
3. Sam Langford
4. Gene Tunney
5. Bob Foster
6. Tommy Loughran
7. Michael Spinks
8. Bob Fitzsimmons
9. Billy Conn
10. Roy Jones Jr.
11. Maxie Rosenbloom
12. John Henry Lewis
13. Harry Greb
14. Tommy Gibbons
15. Jack O'Brien
16. Jack Dillon
17. Harold Johnson
18. Jimmy Bivins
19. Georges Carpentier
20. Battling Levinsky

Just Missing the Cut: Jack Delaney, Kid McCoy, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Dwight Qawi, Joey Maxim, Joe Choynski, Kid Norfolk, Virgil Hill, Tommy Burns, and Tiger Jack Fox.

If you ask me that's a very SOLID ranking and I'll definately give it two thumbs up!

P.S. Give me a minute to look through my magazines, and for comparision purposes, I'll find and post the one William Detloff published a few years ago in Ring magazine.

[Moon]

I just got PM'd. Looks like Spinks weighed 175 three months before the Holmes fight and Larry arrived at fight night weighing 221. That's a difference of 46 lbs. On fight night I'm told Spinks was closer to 200.

Spinks gained 25 lbs in three months, plus we all know Spinks looked soft against Holmes. So, we're not talking about natural heavyweight muscle that was added, we're talking about Spinks arriving with a little more than his street weight. ****. I'm more impressed than ever.

[Moon]

I found this all-time Light Heavyweight ranking, which was compiled by about 40(or so) members of the IBRO (guys who've studied the history of the sport and have plenty of footage covering all eras). Each memeber put in their top 20 and from their they added up the votes to reach a general consensus. Here it is;

1. Archie Moore
2. Ezzard Charles
3. Sam Langford
4. Gene Tunney
5. Bob Foster
6. Tommy Loughran
7. Michael Spinks
8. Bob Fitzsimmons
9. Billy Conn
10. Roy Jones Jr.
11. Maxie Rosenbloom
12. John Henry Lewis
13. Harry Greb
14. Tommy Gibbons
15. Jack O'Brien
16. Jack Dillon
17. Harold Johnson
18. Jimmy Bivins
19. Georges Carpentier
20. Battling Levinsky

Just Missing the Cut: Jack Delaney, Kid McCoy, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Dwight Qawi, Joey Maxim, Joe Choynski, Kid Norfolk, Virgil Hill, Tommy Burns, and Tiger Jack Fox.

If you ask me that's a very SOLID ranking and I'll definately give it two thumbs up!

P.S. Give me a minute to look through my magazines, and for comparision purposes, I'll find and post the one William Detloff published a few years ago in Ring magazine.

Have to admit, I'm impressed. I haven't got a single magazine, but maybe I should. What's the IRBO all about?

Interesting you mention Qawi. I also thought he'd be the one to beat Spinks.

[oldgringo]

I found this all-time Light Heavyweight ranking, which was compiled by about 40(or so) members of the IBRO (guys who've studied the history of the sport and have plenty of footage covering all eras). Each memeber put in their top 20 and from their they added up the votes to reach a general consensus. Here it is;

1. Archie Moore
2. Ezzard Charles
3. Sam Langford
4. Gene Tunney
5. Bob Foster
6. Tommy Loughran
7. Michael Spinks
8. Bob Fitzsimmons
9. Billy Conn
10. Roy Jones Jr.
11. Maxie Rosenbloom
12. John Henry Lewis
13. Harry Greb
14. Tommy Gibbons
15. Jack O'Brien
16. Jack Dillon
17. Harold Johnson
18. Jimmy Bivins
19. Georges Carpentier
20. Battling Levinsky

Just Missing the Cut: Jack Delaney, Kid McCoy, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Dwight Qawi, Joey Maxim, Joe Choynski, Kid Norfolk, Virgil Hill, Tommy Burns, and Tiger Jack Fox.

If you ask me that's a very SOLID ranking and I'll definately give it two thumbs up!

P.S. Give me a minute to look through my magazines, and for comparision purposes, I'll find and post the one William Detloff published a few years ago in Ring magazine.

Pretty good list, I don't agree with Loughran ranking ahead of Spinks, but I guess 3-6 could all be very arguable.

[Yogi]

OK let's agree on one thing. You picked-up on the 20 defenses thing only after seeing the other guys lock-on.

*goes into sarcastic mode*

Even though I've been a diehard boxing fan for close to thirty years, yeah I'm really going to need someone else's guidance in pointing out the fact that Spinks never made 20 defenses of the Heavyweight title.

P.S. Read an earlier post of mine in this thread, where I questioned Spinks' accomplishments at Heavyweight, if you really think that I'm going to need that pointed out to me.

[GOAT]

I shoulda' said something like "20 consecutive defense of his championship status", or the like.

Well, you'd be wrong about that too. You must be mixing up Holmes and Spinks. Holmes is the one who was going on 20 defenses when he lost to Spinks, not the other way around.

You could just look up his record, you know.

[Yogi]

I just got PM'd. Looks like Spinks weighed 175 three months before the Holmes fight and Larry arrived at fight night weighing 221. That's a difference of 46 lbs. On fight night I'm told Spinks was closer to 200.

Spinks gained 25 lbs in three months, plus we all know Spinks looked soft against Holmes. So, we're not talking about natural heavyweight muscle that was added, we're talking about Spinks arriving with a little more than his street weight. ****. I'm more impressed than ever.

Dude, before facing Holmes, Spinks hired the world's foremost diet/fitness expert. I can't recall the name of the gentleman (Mackie Shi...something or the other), but the guy was very famous at around that time for his expertise in diet and fitness.

And Spinks did not look "soft" for those Holmes fights. As a matter of fact, Mr. Mackie (I'll call him) got a tremendous amount of credit for his work with Spinks going into that fight, because Spinks carried the 200 lbs so well.

You can also throw that fight in the ole' VCR and have a look for yourself, which would verify that Spinks did look very good for the Holmes fights.

[GOAT]

Holmes, on the other hand, did look soft. I really think this guy is mixing up Holmes and Spinks.

[Yogi]

Finally found Detloff's all-time Light Heavyweight rankings from the Sept. 2002 edition of The Ring and here they are;

1. Ezzard Charles
2. Archie Moore
3. Michael Spinks
4. Tommy Loughran
5. Bob Foster
6. Jimmy Bivins
7. Harold Johnson
8. Maxie Rosenbloom
9. Billy Conn
10. Matthew Saad Muhammad
11. Victor Galindez
12. Jack Dillon
13. Battling Levinsky
14. Joey Maxim
15. Dwight Qawi
16. John Henry Lewis
17. Bob Fitzsimmons
18. Gene Tunney (WTF?)
19. Virgil Hill
20. Marvin Johnson

It's not bad, but as you can see I think he ranks Tunney WAY too ****ing low. Especially when he has Galindez (he of so many gift decisions) ranked so far ahead of him.

Anyways, I'll certainly take a compilation of about 40 boxing historians over the opinion of one semi-historian...Especially when the IBRO ranking is so similiar to my own thoughts.

[GOAT]

That's a pretty good list, but I completely agree with you about Tunney. WAY too low.

He beat a number of hall of famers, including the #4 and #13 guys on that list! He only lost once in 87 fights to Harry Greb (no shame there) and he avenged that defeat by giving Greb a savage beating.