Born in Missouri, St Louis on 13th July 1956 Michael Spinks would become one of the biggest names in boxing during the 1980s and would be one of the smartest fighters with both regard to money and himself. In recent years he’s often a bit of a forgotten man though he played his part in making and saving some historical records, though his story really really starts long before his reign as a heavyweight champion.
After having been part of the golden US Olympic boxing team that had gone to the 1976 games in Montreal and taken home 5 gold medals along side older brother Leon Spinks and Sugar Ray Leonard. Michael “The Jinx” Spinks would win the medal at middleweight whilst his older brother would win the title at light heavyweight, making them the first brothers to win gold in boxing at the same Olympics. With a record of 93-7 (35KO’s) and triumphs in national tournaments as well as the Olympics he would go forth and make a charge on the professional ranks.
Turning professional in 1977 Spinks managed to to have 6 fights in the year winning 4 by KO, the first of which was on 16th April as he should great movement, hand speed and power to get through these early contests. Sadly the following year would see Michael’s career stall as his brother had gotten the opportunity of a life time. Leon was to fight Muhammad Ali, the reigning World champion (he held both the WBA and WBC titles, which at the time were the only world titles available). Michael was on hand to offer support and help to Leon who would after rather be found wanting to party rather than train. In one of the biggest upsets in boxing history the 6-0-1 Leon Spinks out pointed Muhammad Ali and became the world champion. Although the rematch saw the result reversed it wasn’t until 1980 that Michael’s career would continue in the vein it had started. He had infact managed just 3 fights, all wins (2 by KO) between 1/1/1978 and 1/1/1980 compared to 6 in the first 8 months of his career.
1980 saw a resumption of regular fights for the Jinx as he racked up 5 wins 3 inside the distance to leave his record at 14(9)-0 and help him rise up the rankings. It was 1981 that he would get his first chance for professional gold when he faced Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (previously known as Edward Gregory) for the WBA light heavyweight title. Despite the fact Muhammad had lost his previous fight (a split decision as he stepped up to heavyweight) had was seen as one of the worlds best light heavyweights and had won his previous 3 titles fights (2 defences) by KO. Spinks would out box the champion and take his crown in Spinks’ third fight of the year, having beaten the previous champion (Marvin Johnson) in his previous fight.
He would defend his title 5 times over the following 14 months before clashing with the WBC champion Dwight Muhhamad Qawi (previously known as Dwight Braxton). Qawi had been a destructive force in the division winning his 4 previous fights (a title challenge and 3 defences) by KO. Just months before the fight Spinks’ girlfriend would die in a car crash leaving him as a single father of their child and it was quite visible that Spinks was holding back tears as he entered the ring. He won the emotional battle out pointing Qawi and unifying the WBA and WBC titles to be regarded as the real world champion. The out of the ring loss would see the younger Spinks showing the sort of maturity that his brother could only have wished for.
A single defence of those titles occurred in 1983 before the IBF awarded him their title at the weight he would defend the three titles together three times before stepping up to facing the unbeaten IBF and linear heavyweight champion Larry Holmes.
Holmes had at the time racked up 48 straight wins and was just a single win from tying Rocky Marciano’s record when he retired, he had made an amazing 20 defences of various titles and was catching up on the record of Joe Louis (he had made 25). Spinks mean while was 27-0 and stepping up over 20lbs (in fact it was just shy of 25) to face the Easton Assassin. Spinks would cause the 1985 Ring Magazine upset of the year by defeating Holmes on points using his speed to confuse and out score the bigger powerful man. This victory make history in several ways. He would be the first former light heavyweight champion to become world Heavyweight champion (Bob Fitzsimmons would win the heavyweight title then the light heavyweight one) and act later followed by Roy Jones Jnr (who would go one further having won titles at middle and super middleweight). His victory would also mean the Spinks brothers would be the first pair of brothers to be world heavyweight champions, something the Klitschko’s, Wladimir and Vitali would also do.
A rematch with Holmes followed again with the IBF title on the line, Spinks again coming out on top, though this was a hugely controversial decision that saw Holmes retire (for a year or two) in disgust. Spinks would defend his IBF title once more, against Steffen Tangstad (KO4) in what would be his last successful title fight. A refusal to fight Tony Tucker saw him stripped as he chose to face Gerry Cooney instead, the former “Great White Hope” who had been stopped by Larry Holmes back in 1982.
Money talked as far as this fight, Tucker was worth $1.5Million, Cooney was worth $5Million, for a man who was coming to the end of his career, the stripping of the title for an additional $3.5million seemed worth it. Cooney was stopped in the 5th round before Spinks took a year out of the ring trying to get as much money for what would be his final fight as possible.
He would face Mike Tyson, who at the time had won all three of the physical titles (WBA/WBC/IBF) whilst Spinks was technically the linear champion (the “man who beat the man..”). The two were unbeaten going in and it pitted Spinks 31-0 against Tyson 34-0. The destructive punching Tyson stopped Spinks in the first round after just 91 seconds there was no dispute as to who was the best heavyweight in the world, as Spinks suffered his first an only loss in the ring.
After this Spinks would retire with a record of 31(21)-1, unlike most he would refuse to come back into the ring proving, unlike most, he really was as intelligent as he had seemed. In fact for a fighter he had kept his good looks, his charm and his intelligence as well as his money, he was financially secure and with good reason, he was shrewd.
In recent years he has gone on to help his nephew, Cory Spinks who himself is also a two weight champion.
Whilst Spinks was technically one of the best fighters around he seemed able to do everything he could hit hard, he had decent speed of hand and foot and great technique. For a man who was unusually tall (for a light heavyweight anyway, at 6 foot 3) he seemed to use his height when he needed to. As far as his ranking as an all time heavyweight great he’s not going to be one of the most remembered, however as a light heavyweight he will be remembered very highly.
