4. Michael and Leon Spinks
91 seconds.
It took Mike Tyson all but 91 seconds to not only tear down Michael Spinks for the heavyweight championship of the world but to also utterly tarnish his legacy.
He was really so much more than the quivering silhouette of a man served up to a young “Kid Dynamite” in 1988.
An Olympic gold medalist, Michael, sported a terrific mustache and a legendary right hand nicknamed the “Spinks Jinx.” But the herky-jerky stylist possessed a left just as demonic, stopping Murray Sutherland and Mustafa Wasajja with it in 1982, and nearly decapitating another murderous puncher Marvin Johnson with a left hook a year earlier.
The same year he lifted the WBA light heavyweight title from Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. And in 1983 he beat the legendary Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the right to call himself the bonafide best 175-pound fighter in the world.
He earned top billing at heavyweight, too, when he edged out Larry Holmes in ‘85 and ’86. The undefeated former light heavyweight Tyson tore down in less than a round should be remembered as one of the greatest fighters of all time.
His brother? Not so much.
Leon never lived up to the kind of expectations that come with beating a celebrity like Muhammad Ali in just your eighth pro fight. He dropped the return match to Ali later that year and fizzled out to no more than a journeyman and two more failed championship bids.
Nonetheless, Michael’s exploits carry the tandem this high.
