Page 12 -The Michigan Daily - Friday, June 17, 1988
Tyson-Spinks matchup looks
THE SPORTING VIEWS to be classic confrontation
w_ BY MIKE GREIFENBERG
See Dick. See Dick make a lot of
money. See Dick pay $1,500 to
watch two millionaires attempt to
hit each other so hard that one of
them will fall and will be unable to
get up.
It's true that boxing is a silly
sport. So silly that on June 27,
undefeated heavyweight champion
Mike Tyson will make upwards of
$18 million dollars to fight
undefeated challenger Michael
Spinks, who will only make about
$13.5 million. Silly, yes, but very
exciting and very interesting.
Boxing fans have been crying for
this bout since Spinks dropped out
of HBO Cable Television's Uni-
fication Tournament, delaying this
clash with Tyson, the tourney's
eventual winner.
This fight is a classic boxer-
slugger confrontation. The fighters'
styles and careers also make this
fight a classic tortoise vs. hare race.
31-year-old Spinks, the boxer-
tortoise, has been fighting pro.
fessionally since 1977. He has had
9 31 fights in those eleven years,
knocking out 21 of his opponents.
He has fought only once in the last
21 months, knocking out equally
inactive Gerry Cooney in five
rounds.
21-year-old Tyson, on the other
hand, is the slugger-hare, racking up
34 victories in his short three-year
career, becoming the youngest
heavyweight champion in history.
30 of his fights have ended short of
/oer the distance, including 25 of those
Marvin Hagler, seen here with his estranged wife and current Democratic Presidential candi- fights ending before the fifth round.
date Mike Dukakis, decided last week to retire from professional boxing. Each must stick with their own
style in order to win. Tyson will
L it, C hef have to throw his short, stiff jabs
into the face of Spinks, enabling
iiuf him to get inside and muscle Spinks
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There is a very simple plan
Spinks must follow if he wants to
become champion. He is a better
boxer than Tyson, so he can
conceiveably win by outboxing the
champ.
This idea is easier said than done.
Tyson has very quick hands and will
win any fight unless he is slowed
down. Tony Tucker, in the first
minute of their fight, backed up
Tyson momentarily. Tyson was
hesitant for the remainder of the
contest because he knew that Tucker
could punch. Spinks will have to do
the same thing. The main problem
with trying this tactic, however, is
that in order to land a great punch
on Tyson, one will probably take a
few punches in return.
Therefore, Spinks must quickly
gain respect from Tyson, effectively
slowing him down enough to be
outboxed in a long, drawn-out
contest, letting Spinks gain a
decision victory.
When Tyson is concentrating
solely on fighting, he is nearly
impossible to beat. In the last few
months, however, he has been up to
his moving bald spot in dis-
tractions. Along with his marriage
and impending fatherhood, was the
death of his co-manager and friend
Jimmy Jacobs.
Jacobs' death prompted many
hopeful managers to try and get a
piece of Tyson and his millions.
These managerial problems along
with his newfound domestic trials
and tribulations could cause Tyson
to develop a lax attitude just weeks
before the biggest fight of his life.
He even sounds apathetic when he
talks about his titles, "I don't own
the title, I just borrowed it for a
while. There's life beyond that."
The guess here is that Tyson's
problems outside the ring will
counterbalance Spinks' inactivity
inside the ring. See Dick watch
Tyson knock Spinks silly and win
on a technical knockout in the fifth
round.
In middleweight news,
Marvelous Marvin Hagler
announced his retirement from the
sport, saying that the only reason to
keep fighting would be for a
rematch with Ray Leonard, who
beat him last year.
"But since Leonard has been
playing games, it would probably
take another year to work things
out," Hagler said about a rematch
with his nemesis.
This retirement concludes an
outstanding career which included 62
victories, 3 losses, and two draws.
Sadly, Hagler will probably be
remembered for his loss to Leonard
than as one of the most lethal
middleweights of all time.