But He Has to Keep His Chin Down

Billy Conn and Archie Moore give Michael Spinks no chance against Larry Holmes tonight, but there is one former light-heavyweight champion who does.

He’s Bob Foster, who says: “I think it’s going to be a damn good fight and I’d like to see Spinks get it. But he’s got to watch out for Holmes’ right hand and keep his chin down to where Holmes can’t get to it.”

Foster twice challenged heavyweight champions, losing on knockouts to Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali.

Of Frazier, he said: “In the first round, I hit that sucker on the chin with a right hand that would have knocked any light-heavyweight out. He came right back the next round and knocked me out. You just can’t trade punches with those guys. They’re too big and strong.”

Against Ali, Foster was floored seven times before the fight was stopped in the eighth round.

“With Ali it was different, though,” Foster said. “He was a heavyweight who moved like a bantamweight. He’d hit you five or six times, and you’d never see his hands move. There’s no more Ali’s around anymore.”

Trivia Time: After winning the heavyweight title from Muhammad Ali, Leon Spinks hired a bodyguard who now goes by an initial. What was his full name? (Answer below.)

Asked what he’d do if he won tonight, Michael Spinks told Wallace Matthews of Newsday: “Well, first I would give Larry a rematch. Then there’s always Marvis Frazier. And finally, the fight of the century, the one everyone’s been waiting for--me and Leon.”

Said Matthews: “Oh, brother.”

Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets, after extending his streak to 31 scoreless innings, told Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post: “This Saturday could be a big day for me.”

Boswell: “Because you could break Jerry Koosman’s club record of 31 scoreless innings?”

Gooden: “No. Tom Seaver holds the team record for hits by a pitcher in one season with 18. And I’ve got 17 now.”

Note: Gooden not only is 3-1 in head-to-head meetings with Fernando Valenzuela, but he has 6 hits in 15 at-bats against Valenzuela. That’s a .400 average.

21 Years Ago Today: On Sept. 21, 1964, Gene Mauch’s first-place Philadelphia Phillies lost, 1-0, to the Cincinnati Reds on a steal of home by Chico Ruiz in the sixth inning. It was Philadelphia’s first of 10 straight losses, a streak that cost the Phillies the National League pennant.

When Darrell Evans of the Detroit Tigers was a teammate of Phil and Joe Niekro at Atlanta in the early 1970s, maybe he learned something.

The Niekros now pitch for the New York Yankees, and Evans practically owns them. In nine at-bats against the brothers, he has seven hits, including four home runs.

Note: In 1973, Evans hit 41 home runs at Atlanta. The same year, Henry Aaron hit 40, and Dave Johnson, now the manager of the Mets, hit 43. It’s the only time that three men from one team have hit 40 or more home runs in a season.

Trivia Answer: Lawrence Tiro. You know him as Mr. T.

Quotebook

Jim Collins of the Rams, on Greg Meisner, his best friend on the team. “He picked the wrong year to hold out. With Eric Dickerson holding out, he was lucky to make the ‘Ram Notes.’ ”