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And winner is, Spinks boys

When Juan Manuel Marquez beat Marco Antonio Barrera on March 17 to claim the WBC super featherweight title, it capped arguably the greatest month ever for two boxing brothers.

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published April 4, 2007

When Juan Manuel Marquez beat Marco Antonio Barrera on March 17 to claim the WBC super featherweight title, it capped arguably the greatest month ever for two boxing brothers. Two weeks prior, Rafael Marquez had moved up in weight to claim the WBC super bantamweight title from Israel Vasquez. It is the first time two brothers have held WBC championships at the same time (but not the first time two brothers have held titles simultaneously). Both high-action fighters are in just about everyone's top-10 pound-for-pound list, another first, begging the question: Are they the best combination of brothers in history? Well, not yet.

The best: Michael and Leon Spinks

In just his eighth fight, Neon Leon caught the great Muhammad Ali napping in 1978 to win the WBC and WBA titles. It was such a shocker that one barely remembers he lost the rematch to Ali and in the fight after that was knocked out in the first round by Gerrie Coetzee. Michael, the more accomplished of the two, was a light heavyweight champ for five years before stunning Larry Holmes to win the IBF heavyweight title in 1985. Unfortunately, it's harder to forget his woeful performance against Mike Tyson in his fourth defense. What gives the Spinks boys the edge are their 1976 Olympic gold medals.

Three of a kind

Gene Fullmer, a former middleweight champ in the 1950s and '60s and a Hall of Famer, had two brothers who fought -Jay and Don. Jay was a welterweight hopeful before an eye injury ended his career, and Don fought for the middleweight championship in 1968, losing to Nino Benvenuti despite knocking him down.

Four more

The Weavers might be boxing's largest collection of brothers. Mike was a well-known heavyweight champion from 1980-82, but not as known were his triplet brothers: middleweights Floyd (17-10) and Lloyd (10-7) and light heavyweight Troy (20-8).

We're confused

Travis and Tarvis Simms are undefeated twins. One is a middleweight, the other a super middleweight. One is nicknamed Marvelous and the other one Tremendous. And we have no idea which is which thanks to the most confusing names in the sport.

He ain't heavy

Did you know pound-for-pounders Manny Pacquiao (Bobb), Ricky Hatton (Matthew), Miguel Cotto (Jose) all have brothers currently fighting?

The contenders

The Ruelas brothers: They won 102 fights between them in the late 1980s and 1990s and held the IBF lightweight title (Rafael, before getting knocked out by Oscar De la Hoya) and WBC super featherweight title (Gabriel).

The Klitschkos: Wladimir is currently a heavyweight champ, and better brother Vitali retired as a champion but is making a comeback. But they will probably be remembered more for ruling during the heavyweight division's not-really-Golden-at-all-Age.

The Canizales brothers: Gaby was a top bantamweight in the 1980s, holding the WBA title for a while in 1986, and Orlando held the IBF bantamweight title from 1988-94 and defended the title 16 times as one of the division's all-time greats.

The Curry brothers: They were both champions in 1983 and '84, but while Bruce's reign at light welterweight (WBC) was short-lived, Donald makes this brother combo click. He won the WBA welterweight title in 1983, added the IBF title in 1984 and WBC title in 1985 by beating, ironically, half of another good brother combo in Milton McCrory.

The Gibbons brothers: Mike is a Hall of Famer who was one of the sport's best middleweights in the early 1900s (some say one of the 10 best ever) but never held a title. He came close, as a claimant to the middleweight crown when champ Stanley Ketchel was murdered in 1909. Tommy took heavyweight legend Jack Dempsey the distance in 1923, a fight that bankrupted the town of Shelby, which put it on.

The Norris brothers: Terrible Terry was a three-time light middleweight champ (with wins over Sugar Ray Leonard, John Mugabi, Donald Curry and Meldrick Taylor); Orlin was a heavyweight contender with some decent wins and a first-round loss to Tyson in which he hurt his knee.

[Last modified April 3, 2007, 23:00:14]