I think Mercer's constant aggression chops Spinks down eventually. Spinks outboxed Holmes but he didn't put on the same type of pressure, and Spinks didn't have Holmes' strength to take Mercer's shots
I don't know part of the reason he was able to beat (barely) Holmes was that 1) Holmes was old and read to be taken anyway and 2) Larry's style suited him... Larry wasn't a presser, but the quicker, smaller Spinks forced him to be the aggressor, something he was not comfortable with... Holmes, while capable of crisp punching, was not a truly hard-hitting Heavyweight... Mercer had legitimate concussive punching power and he liked to press forward behind that thudding jab of his... I could see Spinks doing his herky-jerky thing and outhustling him to a decision, but I could just as likely see Mercer closing in on him as time passes and knocking him out
I'll join Ugotabe's crew & take Mercer. Spinks was a mediocre Heavyweight & his corner & management knew it. He was rocked & exhausted by even an old Holmes' punches, & after receiving an outright gift in their second fight, he was carefully manouevred toward a retirement payday against Tyson, negotiating his way past a non-descript Tangstad & a shot-to-bits Cooney. There was never a hope in hell the likes of Witherspoon or Smith were getting near to Spinks while he held the title, & with good reason. He just did not have the legs or punch resistance to compete with most first-class HW's. He was an accident waiting to happen at the weight, & a bull like Mercer, for all his short-comings, would've kept Spinks on his toes every step of the way. Those legs weren't what they had been at Light-Heavy, & Spinks has absolutely nothing to discourage Mercer's limited, but dangerous, rushes with. I think an in-shape Mercer gets it done eventually, & brutally. TKO7.
Mercer's power is very overrated. People remember the Morrison KO, but Morrison was as chinny as any top Heavyweight i recent memory and Morrison had also run out of gas by that point. Shit...Bentt KOed Morrison in one single round. Jess Ferguson took Mercer's punches all night long...Lennox took everything Mercer threw at him including the kitchen sink in a slugfest and was never even wobbled. Spinks couldn't take Tyson's shots...but he would certainly take Mercer's. When are people going to remember that Ray Mercer was an ordinary fighter. He lost every second of every round to Morrison before the TKO. He lost to Ferguson. He lost to old man Holmes. The Spinks that beat Holmes outspeeds and outhustles that glorified club fighter with ease. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit...old Gerry Cooney was more of a KO threat to Spinks than Mercer would be.
Nobody says Mercer was a huge puncher, but he had a solid, heavy punch and he could throw them all day long. He only took out scrubs quickly, but pounded the resistance out of many opponents as the fights progressed. Remember, Stinks was not the most solid-built heavyweight out there and he was never under the kind of pressure Mercer would put on him. Also, unlike against Cooney, Spinks would have very little to hold Ray off with
I respectfully disagree with your position. Jesse Ferguson beat mercer. Now we can argue that Mercer didn't take him seriously...but even an unmotivated Mercer should beat the stuffing out of Jesse Ferguson. Spinks didn't get an undefeated record until Tyson by accident. Even at heavyweight he was a decent fighter, obviously not in the same class P4P as the Light-heavyweight version, but to beat Holmes, even the 35 year old version (35 isn't THAT old for a Heavyweight)..means you have to be good.
My point is..... how can someone dismiss Spinks' win over Holmes by labeling Holmes as "old" but yet ignore that Mercer lost to a much older Larry Holmes? Stop the Finnish mischief and stick to the point.
Yes, he did. Mercer is a bit over-rated today, but if he was an ordinary fighter, Spinks was an ordinary HW. Spinks was terrified of Tyson (& IMO, tanked it) & would not be of Mercer, but he simply doesn't have the strength at Heavyweight to win the clinches. He doesn't have the power to discourage Mercer. He doesn't have the output to disrupt Mercer's assaults, & he doesn't have the speed to gallop about the ring to victory. As much as he competed well against Lewis, Mercer was in that fight, frustratingly, out of shape yet again. Both he & Lewis were absolutely sucking wind by the end of the fourth round. If Mercer's in-condition, he wins that fight, simple as that. I do not see Spinks' punch-resistance as good enough. Just avoiding Holmes (as already pointed out, Holmes was a poor aggressor, but still gave Spinks plenty to think about playing the role) left Spinks flat-exhausted in their second fight. Mercer was far more hellish coming forward.
I disagree with teh points and also with your focus. Spinks, wouldn't need strength..for it wont be decided on clinches. He wouldn't need to discourage Mercer with power. Discouragement through power..is irrelevant in this fight (and I'll explain why..later in this post). So those are the focus points of yours that I disagree with. As to the accuracy of some of your post..this is where we differ: Spinks DID have the output to disrupt Mercer's assaults. Spinks threw a hell of a lot of punches. Spinks would "annoy" Mercer with his punch output and would discourage Mercer with his awkwardness..punches from crazy angles and at unpredictable times. He wouldn't need footspeed...he would just swarm the slower Mercer with activity and angels and awkwardness and that dumb one-dimensional mercer would be lost.
Because of the damn styles. Prime Holmes would surely have caught Spinks at some point but in their fight he was too old to do it. Mercer, however, was in his face all the time, so the age did not bother him in that fight nearly as much.
Mercer needn't be an extraordinary heavyweight to beat Spinks its easy to sit here and conjure up Jesse Ferguson... its a lot harder when you conjure up furiously competitive matches against Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, both of whom were 10 times the heavyweight Spinks was the Holmes/Mercer fight is also irrelevant... Larry wasn't great anymore, but he still had (even then) one of the most perfect jabs in the history of boxing and he was a big, durable man... Spinks is not holding Ray Mercer off of him for 12 rounds and if he does as Sly suggests and throws a lot of punches, he's going to get hit back and he WILL be hurt
Spinks didn't get past Holmes twice, Tangstad, Cooney by being this "chinny" heavyweight that y'all suggest. Spinks has only been stopped once in his career..and from what I can remember Tyson was the only man to have ever dropped him as well. Tyson's the only guy to stop holmes as well..so being stopped by Tyson doesn't make one suddenly chinny. Mercer was NEVER a one punch type of puncher like a Tyson. Not even close. Mercer's power was just decent. Spinks wouldn't just roll over when mercer hit him. That's ludicrous.
dude, Tangstad was AWFUL!!! Cooney was USELESS at that point in time... why do you keep bringing up those names as if they are worth a tin shit? Spinks "got past" Holmes is right... he won a squeaker the first time and was given a gift in the rematch... it's STYLES... Holmes was not an attacking fighter, it was not his style... he was visibly uncomfortable fighting that way Ray Mercer would walk Spinks down... he'd wear him out and he'd stop him... Mercer was very heavy handed... nobody here is predicting Mercer KO1
