What if M.Spinks had stayed at lhw in '85 then fought Holyfield at cruiser in '86-7?

[DINAMITA]

Michael Spinks weighed in at 175lbs when he knocked out Jim MacDonald in 8 rounds in June 1985 in a defence of his undisputed light-heavyweight world title.

He then moved up to heavyweight to challenge champion Larry Holmes in September 1985, weighing in at just under 200lbs. Spinks won a unanimous decision over 15 rounds to win the IBF title. Spinks relinquished his light-heavyweight belts after this fight and fought out his remaining bouts at heavyweight before retiring in 1988 at the age of 32.

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Evander Holyfield won the WBA cruiserweight title by beating Dwight Muhammad Qawi on a split decision over 15 rounds in July 1986. He weighed in at 186lbs for the fight.

He fought at cruiserweight for another 2 years before moving up to heavyweight to fight James Tillis in July 1988. Holyfield weighed in at 202lbs and won when Tillis retired in the 5th round.

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If Spinks had not moved up to heavyweight in 1985, he would've still been lightheavyweight champion when Holyfield won the cruiserweight title in 1986.

Had Spinks moved up to challenge Holyfield at 190lbs in 1986-7, who would've won and why??

:bbb

[Sister Sledge]

I mistakenly voted for Holyfield. I think Spinks would have won. Holy was still inexperienced when he fought Qawi. I think he would have been too much for Holy at the time in 86-87. Spinks was a pretty paient fighter, while Evander was pretty aggressive. Evander was always easy to hit and I just think he would have walked into too many jinxes. It would have been a great fight. But Spinks just would have exposed what Holyfield needed to work on, defense.

[WhataRock]

Im very confident at that stage Spinks would have won a pretty clear decision..Any later it begins to tip further in Holy's favour.

[p.Townend]

He would have been better of doing this on a career level but not financialy.I think Spinks would have won by desicion and that Holyfield would still go on to achive all that he did.

[mr. magoo]

A well seasoned, yet still somewhat young Spinks around age 29, would have my vote to narrowly decision a 13-0 Holyfield. Anytime after 1987 however, Evander must be favored as Spinks' interest in the game had drastically diminished.

[zadfrak]

Those Spinks legs had deteriorated quite a bit by then. That factor coupled with that 3 minutes per round of Holyfield throwing combos is going to be tough to deal with. I think Benton would've had him ready and prepared 100%.

It certainly would've been a lot tougher fight for Spinks than the Tangstad & Cooney matchups.

[Longhhorn71]

Holy a little too inexperienced at that stage.

If Spinks can knock Cooney down....he can knock Holy down.

Later on Holy became a true great heavy.