Heavyweight Championships 1988 Mike Tyson Michael Spinks

27 juin 1988

Convention Hall Atlantic City

ENG

Boxing.Tyson.Spinks.27061988.ENG.twb22.ts

669.93 Mo https://1fichier.com/?2up8w7pezxakmxxogshv

Tyson had won HBO’s Heavyweight World Series, which saw all three major sanctioning bodies cooperate with HBO and Don King Productions to stage a tournament that would produce an undisputed world heavyweight champion. Over the course of eighteen months, he took the WBC title from Trevor Berbick, the WBA title from James “Bonecrusher” Smith, and the IBF title from Tony Tucker and became the first fighter to be regarded as undisputed champion since Leon Spinks in 1978.However, while Tyson was the sanctioning bodies’ champion, he had not garnered universal recognition as champion. Spinks had entered the tournament as the IBF champion, a title he had held since defeating Larry Holmes in 1985. He competed in two bouts in the tournament and won them both, a disputed 15-round decision in a rematch with Holmes and a knockout over Steffen Tangstad. This had set up a match between Spinks and Tucker, the IBF’s top contender, but Spinks began negotiating to fight Gerry Cooney instead of Tucker and the IBF responded by stripping Spinks, taking him out of the tournament. Despite this, Spinks was still recognized by The Ring as its world champion and was also still considered to be the lineal champion, honors which he had yet to be defeated for..