Michael Spinks

Michael Spinks
Data
Birth Name	Michael Spinks
Fight name	Jinx
Weight class	Light heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	July 13, 1956
place of birth	St. Louis
style	Left delivery
size	1.90 m
Range	1.93 cm
Combat Statistics
Struggles	32
Victories	31
Knockout victories	21st
Defeats	1
Profile in the BoxRec database

Michael Spinks (born July 13, 1956 in St. Louis ) is a former American light heavyweight and heavyweight boxer. He is the brother of Leon Spinks and the uncle of Cory Spinks .

amateur

As an amateur, he won the prestigious Golden Gloves tournament in 1974 and 1976 and was runner-up in 1975 after losing to Tom Sullivan in the final. He also finished second at the US Championships in 1975, where he was defeated by Tommy Brooks. A loss to Brooks also prevented his participation in the 1975 Pan American Games .

In 1976 Spinks won the US Trials against Brooks for the first time and won the gold medal in the middleweight division at the Olympic Games in Montreal , where he won Ryszard Pasiewicz, Poland (5-0), Alec Năstac , Romania ( where ) , and Rufat Riskiyev from the Soviet Union struck (RCS 3rd).

His record as an amateur boxer was 93-7.

Professional career

Spinks' professional career as a light heavyweight boxer began in 1977. In the following years he won early against Yaqui Lopez and Marvin Johnson . He boxed himself to a WBA title fight, which he won on July 18, 1981 after big initial problems against Eddie Mustafa Muhammad . He defended the title five times (including against the undefeated Mustafa Wasajja) before it came to an unification fight with the WBC title holder Dwight Qawi on March 18, 1983 . Spinks prevailed on points over fifteen rounds. In the same year he beat Oscar Rivadeneyra (balance 18-0) and in 1984 he also won the newly introduced IBF title and is therefore considered one of the best light heavyweights of all time.

He defended his light heavyweight title twice against undefeated opponents before he boxed on September 21, 1985 against Larry Holmes for the heavyweight title of the IBF. Holmes needed only one win at this point to set Rocky Marciano's 49-0 heavyweight record . But Spinks won the fight on points and became the new world champion. This made him the first boxer ever to become world heavyweight champion after he had already been world light heavyweight champion. There were several previous light heavyweights who were then able to win the heavyweight title, but they were not previously light heavyweight world champions. On April 19, there was a rematch with Holmes, which he was able to win again just on points.

His title was then stripped of him, however, because he refused to compete against the official IBF challenger Tony Tucker and instead fought a higher-value fight against the popular white Gerry Cooney , which he won by knockout.

He then resigned unbeaten at first, but made a lucrative comeback against the up-and-coming Mike Tyson . The meeting with Tyson on June 27, 1988 was to be his last fight, he lost by knockout in the first round. It was the first and only defeat of his professional career.

In 1994 Spinks was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

List of professional fights

32 wins (21 knockout wins), 1 defeat , 0 draw
year	Day	place	opponent	Result for Spinks
1977	April 16	The Aladdin, Las Vegas , Nevada , USA	Eddie Benson	Victory / TKO 1st round
1977	May 7th	Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis , Missouri , USA	Luis Rodriguez	Points victory (unanimous) / 6 rounds
1977	6th January	Forum, Montreal , Québec , Canada	Joe Borden	Victory / TKO 1st round
1977	August 23	Spectrum, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA	Jasper Brisbane	Victory / TKO 2nd round
1977	13.september	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles , California USA	Ray Elson	Victory / KO 1st round
1977	October 22nd	Aladdin Theater, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Gary Summerhays	Points victory (unanimous) / 8 rounds
1978	February 15th	Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Tom Bethea	Points victory (unanimous) / 8 rounds
1978	15th December	Westchester County Center, White Plains , New York, USA	Eddie Phillips	Victory / KO 4th round
1979	November 24th	Metropolitan Sports Center, Bloomington, Minnesota , USA	Marc Hans	Victory / TKO 1st round
1980	February 1st	Louisville Gardens, Louisville , Kentucky USA	Johnny Wilburn	Points victory (unanimous) / 8 rounds
1980	February 24th	Resorts International, Atlantic City , New Jersey , USA	Ramon Ranquello	Victory / TKO 6th round
1980	May 4th	Kiamesha Lake, New York USA	Murray Sutherland	Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds
1980	August 2nd	Centroplex, Baton Rouge , Louisiana , USA	David Conteh	Victory / TKO 9th round
1980	October 10th	Convention Center, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Yaqui Lopez	Victory / TKO 7th round
1981	January 24th	Martin Luther King Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA	Willie Taylor	Victory / TKO 8th round
1981	28th March.	Resorts International, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Marvin Johnson	Victory / KO 4th round
1981	July 18th	Imperial Palace Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Eddie Mustafa Muhammad	Points victory (unanimously) / 15 rounds
1981	November 11th	Playboy Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Vonzell Johnson	Victory / TKO 7th round
1982	13th February	Playboy Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Mustafa Wassaja	Victory / TKO 6th round
1982	11 April	Playboy Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Murray Sutherland	Victory / TKO 8th round
1982	June 21st	Playboy Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Jerry Celestine	Victory / TKO 8th round
1982	November 18	Sands Casino Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Johnny Davis	Victory / TKO 9th round
1983	March 18th	Convention Center, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Dwight Muhammad Qawi	Points victory (unanimously) / 15 rounds
1983	15th of November	Pacific Coliseum , Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada	Oscar Rivadeneyra	Victory / TKO 10th round
1984	February 25	Resorts International, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Eddie Davis	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
1985	February 23	Sands Casino Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	David Sears	Victory / TKO 3rd round
1985	6th of June	Riviera Hotel & Casino, SuperStar Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Jim MacDonald	Victory / TKO 8th round
1985	21st November	Riviera Hotel & Casino, Outdoor Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Larry Holmes	Points victory (unanimously) / 15 rounds
1986	4. April	Las Vegas Hilton , Hilton Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Larry Holmes	Points win (split decision) / 15 rounds
1986	September 6th	Las Vegas Hilton, Hilton Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Steffen Tangstad	Victory / TKO 4th round
1987	15th June	Convention Center, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Gerry Cooney	Victory / TKO 5th round
1988	June 27th	Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	Mike Tyson	Loss / KO 1st round
Source: Michael Spinks in the BoxRec database

Web links

• Michael Spinks in the BoxRec database
• Michael Spinks in the BoxRec Encyclopaedia
• Michael Spinks in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

predecessor	Office	successor
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) July 18, 1981 - September 21, 1985	Marvin Johnson
Dwight Braxton	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) March 18, 1983 - September 21, 1985	JB Williamson
-	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) February 25, 1984 - September 21, 1985	Slobodan Kačar
Larry Holmes	Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) September 21, 1985 - February 19, 1987	Tony Tucker