WelshDevilRob Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Michael Spinks http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/images/spinks-michael-11.jpg Boxing record Total fights 32 Wins 31 Wins by KO 21 Losses 1 Draws 0 No contests 0 Michael Spinks (born July 13, 1956 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a retired American boxer who was a world champion in the light-heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. Nicknamed Jinx, which spawned the nickname of his right hand: The Spinks Jinx, he is the brother of former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, and uncle of Cory Spinks, a former welterweight and light middleweight champion. After compiling a 93-7 record as an amateur, Spinks won the middleweight gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics. As a professional, he was undefeated in his first 31 fights, beating such opponents as Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Marvin Johnson and Eddie Davis en route to becoming undisputed world light-heavyweight champion. Following ten successful title defences, Spinks moved up to heavyweight and as underdog beat the long-reigning IBF heavyweight champion Larry Holmes; in doing so, Spinks became the first reigning light-heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. In his final fight, Spinks was knocked out by Mike Tyson, the only defeat of his professional career. Spinks is an inductee of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. The International Boxing Research Organization and Boxrec rate Spinks among the ten greatest light-heavyweights of all time. Professional career Spinks then turned professional with a win over Eddie Benson, knocked out in one round on April 17 of 1977 in Las Vegas. Spinks began with that, a 31 fight winning streak that would almost extend to the end of his career. After four more wins, Spinks finished '77 with the first fight that began a gradual ascent in opposition quality: an eight round decision over Gary Summerhays, a popular young boxer of the time. In 1978, Spinks won two fights, including an eight round decision over former world Middleweight title challenger Tom Bethea, in the same undercard where his brother Leon dethroned Ali as world Heavyweight champion in Las Vegas. 1979 saw Spinks get less than three minutes of boxing action inside a ring, with his only fight ending in a first round knockout of Marc Hans, but in 1980, Spinks took his ascent towards the top to another level, when he beat future world Super Middleweight champion Murray Sutherland, David Conteh and fringe contenders Ramon Ronquillo and Alvaro Yaqui Lopez (who challenged for a world title four times). Of his five wins that year, three came by knockout, Sutherland and Johnny Wilburn being the only ones who lasted the distance. By 1981, Spinks was already a top ranked contender, and after beating former and future world Light Heavyweight champion Marvin Johnson by a knockout in four rounds, the WBA made Spinks their number one challenger, and so, on July 18 of that year, he met WBA's Light Heavyweight champion Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, once again in Las Vegas. Spinks dropped Mustafa Muhammad in round 12 and went on to become world Light Heavyweight champion with a 15 round decision win. He defended the title once in '81, beating Vonzell Johnson by a knockout in seven. http://thumbnails.truveo.com/0019/B8/38/B83873F8023BD42803222F_Large.jpg After four successful defenses in 1982, including a knockout win in eight in a rematch with Sutherland, Spinks had become a superstar, at least in the boxing world. He began appearing on the covers of boxing magazines and boxing fans started clamoring for a unification fight with WBC world champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi. Tragedy struck his life, however, when in January 1983, his 24-year old wife, Sandy Massey, died in a car crash, leaving Spinks the single parent of his two-year-old daughter, Michelle. Meanwhile, the fight all the fans wanted was being asked for by boxing critics and magazine editors, too. On March 18, two months after his wife's death, Spinks and Qawi met in a boxing ring. The fight was broadcast by HBO World Championship Boxing, and, according to the book The Ring: Boxing the 20th Century, Spinks had a very tough moment to overcome before it even started: His daughter asked him, while he was in his dressing room, if her mother would come to watch the fight. Spinks broke into tears, but soon had to recover and get into the ring, where he and Qawi fought to unify the crown. Spinks was nearly floored in round eight, but he stayed upright and won a 15 round unanimous decision to become the undisputed world Light Heavyweight champion. He defended the title one more time before the end of the year, against Oscar Rivadeneira in Alaska, whom he beat by a ten round knockout. Spinks fought only once in 1984, retaining his crown with a twelve-round majority decision over Eddie Davis. He and Qawi were only a couple of weeks away from fighting a rematch in September of that year, but that fight got called off when Qawi was injured during training. In 1985, Spinks beat David Sears and Jim McDonald, both by knockout, in title defenses, before challenging Larry Holmes for the world's Heavyweight championship in a fight recognized by the IBF. Holmes was trying to tie Rocky Marciano's record of 49-0 as the Heavyweight champion, but it was Spinks who made history that night, winning a fifteen-round unanimous decision and becoming the first world Light Heavyweight champion ever to win the world Heavyweight title. His victory over Larry Holmes was named Ring Magazine Upset of the Year. With this, Michael and Leon had also become the first pair of brothers ever to be world Heavyweight champions, followed by Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. http://static.boxrec.com/wiki/thumb/1/16/F1946.jpeg/450px-F1946.jpeg In 1986, Spinks and Holmes fought a rematch, and had nearly the same result, this time Spinks winning by a 15 round split decision. After that, he retained the world Heavyweight championship once again, by a knockout in four against Steffen Tangstad. In 1987 he was stripped of the crown by the IBF for refusing to fight their mandatory challenger, Tony Tucker, and accepting a higher offer to fight Gerry Cooney in a non title bout instead. Spinks knocked out Cooney in five rounds, and after Mike Tyson had unified the Heavyweight belts, fans started clamoring for a fight between them as many still recognized Spinks as the legitimate champion. The fight took place in June 1988, with Tyson knocking Spinks down twice on his way to a first round knockout. Tyson was the only one to floor Spinks. It would be Spinks' first defeat in the professional ring, as well as his last as he retired following the fight. Spinks had a record of 31 wins, 1 loss and 21 wins by knockout as a professional. In addition to his success as a heavyweight, Spinks is generally considered one of the greatest light heavyweight champions and fighters in the history of the weight class. On Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time, Spinks was ranked 42nd. On Ring Magazine's list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years, released in 2002, Spinks ranked 41st. Otherwise, he remains pretty much out of the public eye, although Ken Hissner reported that, “In October of 2007 he was introduced into the ring at the Legendary Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. He seemed quite at home in the ring waving and talking to the fans Source: wikipedia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshDevilRob Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Nominated by Plumdusty Michael Spinks "Aside from the tyson fight he had a stellar career. in my top 5 light heavies of all time." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshDevilRob Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/g9rJRYVRz2A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pUZyFWv6xFw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davemurphy Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 One of the top Light HW's ever and didn't embarrass himself at HW until his final effort. Easy Yes vote here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallen Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Yes for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBride Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Sorry gents, but its a no for me. Political decisions over Larry Holmes, and beating Cooney, and Stangsted doesn't do it for me. That leaves us with a simple choice, was Spinks one of the greatest L / Heavies who ever fought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshDevilRob Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Quality career at Light Heavyweight and was the best in the division. One of the best Light Heavies in history. Fought some tremendous opposition. His stay at Heavyweight was carefully planned but he was the 1st Light Heavy to make the move and win the Heavyweight title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 One of the greatest light heavyweight in history, yes for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokin Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 yes ,for me a top 5 light-heavy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yiddle Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 spinks is in hands down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siren1927 Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Only one way to go here...yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemolitionDan Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 A yes from me. A top notch LHW, went undefeated, beat great fighters, moved up to Heavyweight won a belt there. Beat Holmes twice (bit controversial...but still...) beat Cooney, and the fight he is most famous for, the Tyson fight. Aside from getting knocked out by one the better Heavyweights of all time and one of the most feared fighters of all time. Spinks had a stellar career. Definite Hall of Famer, in my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
londoner Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Yes from me. He beat some very good light heavyweights during his reign at 175lbs and then had a pretty decent end to his career at heavyweight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donlevy Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Nothing controversial about Spinks first win over Holmes.Spinks beat him clearly that night and did what so many other lightheavyweights had failed to do so in the past.And whats more,he did it against one of the great heavyweights of all time(even if he was a fading fighter at the time).That win combined with being widely regarded as one of the all time great fighters at 175 makes it a very,very easy choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapevine241 Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 yes sir Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themanknownas Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Guess i am in the minority here but i voted no, what did he do to warrant a place in the HOF beat a over confident larry holmes. get destroyed by tyson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshDevilRob Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 Guess i am in the minority here but i voted no, what did he do to warrant a place in the HOF beat a over confident larry holmes. get destroyed by tyson. I believe people base it mainly on his career at Light Heavyweight where he was at his best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themanknownas Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Guess i am in the minority here but i voted no, what did he do to warrant a place in the HOF beat a over confident larry holmes. get destroyed by tyson. I believe people base it mainly on his career at Light Heavyweight where he was at his best. That is a fair point but i still think theres many more worthy then him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBride Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Guess i am in the minority here but i voted no, what did he do to warrant a place in the HOF beat a over confident larry holmes. get destroyed by tyson. I believe people base it mainly on his career at Light Heavyweight where he was at his best. That is a fair point but i still think theres many more worthy then him I accept we are in a minority, but I'm with you. If I had to pick a top 5 L /Heavies Spinks's name would not be jumping out at me. I think he only gets in on the sympathy vote from Tyson fans tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themanknownas Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Guess i am in the minority here but i voted no, what did he do to warrant a place in the HOF beat a over confident larry holmes. get destroyed by tyson. I believe people base it mainly on his career at Light Heavyweight where he was at his best. That is a fair point but i still think theres many more worthy then him I accept we are in a minority, but I'm with you. If I had to pick a top 5 L /Heavies Spinks's name would be jumping out at me. I think he only gets in on the sympathy vote from Tyson fans tbh. I aint stuided this hall of fame fully but you got guys like archie moore roy jones jr ezzard charles bob foster thomas hearns antonio tarver if none of them are in the hall of fame and michael spinks gets in before them thats wrong in my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davemurphy Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Guess i am in the minority here but i voted no, what did he do to warrant a place in the HOF beat a over confident larry holmes. get destroyed by tyson. I believe people base it mainly on his career at Light Heavyweight where he was at his best. That is a fair point but i still think theres many more worthy then him I accept we are in a minority, but I'm with you. If I had to pick a top 5 L /Heavies Spinks's name would be jumping out at me. I think he only gets in on the sympathy vote from Tyson fans tbh. I aint stuided this hall of fame fully but you got guys like archie moore roy jones jr ezzard charles bob foster thomas hearns antonio tarver if none of them are in the hall of fame and michael spinks gets in before them thats wrong in my opinion We just started doing it a few months ago, and people are nominating fighters in a random order, so it's kind of not really a "so and so should be in before he is" type of a deal, but more a Yes or No question on the one nominee. If there's someone who's not already in, and deserves to be more than Spinks, then it's no so much that we bypass Spinks as we need to nominate that other guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshDevilRob Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Spinks will go to the 30 votes stage. 75% needed to enter the ringnews24 Hall Of Fame. Please keep voting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheelchair Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 A resounding 'yes' for Michael. He was the man at 175lbs, and unified the crowns. Unbeaten at the weight too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBride Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 I didn't even realise it took Spinks six and a half years to face a fighter with a clean unbeaten record, and he had been a so called world champion for 2 years when he finally did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greb Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 Why is Spinks being judged by a few heavyweight bouts right at the end of his career.? He was top dog (and undefeated) in a quality era of light-heavies; Dwight Qawi (I never saw anyone else shut down Qawi like Spinks did), Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Yaqui Lopez, Marvin Johnson etc. IMO He's up there with great 175lbers like Charles, Moore, Tunney, Langford and Foster and a lock for the HOF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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