No one expected much from Leon Spinks when then-heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali agreed to fight him on Feb. 15 1978 at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas.
Spinks was a 1976 Olympic champion but had only seven pro bouts under his belt – he was 6-0-1 — when he stepped through the ropes to face The Greatest. The draw came against journeyman Scott LeDoux only two fights earlier.
Ali, 36 years old and coming off a taxing fight Earnie Shavers, chose to fight Spinks precisely because he thought he could cruise to victory. The experts agreed with him: Most sports books didn’t take bets on the fight because the spread would be too wide.
Surprise, surprise.
Spinks, inexperienced but fierce and determined, kept pressure on Ali from beginning to end to win a split decision over 15 stunning rounds and claim the WBA and WBC world heavyweight titles as millions watched on free television.
It was Ali’s first loss since Ken Norton outpointed him in their first fight in 1973. He had won 14 consecutive bouts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzu7mwyFu2E&t=3512s
Bob Arum promoted Ali at the time. He spoke with The Associated Press about Spinks and the fight.
“It was one of the most unbelievable things when Ali agreed to fight him because you look at the fights he had up to then and he was not only not a top contender but shouldn’t have been a contender at all,’’ Arum told the AP Saturday.
”He was just an opponent but somehow he found a way to win that fight.”
Arum went on: “In that fight everything clicked. He came in with a game plan and he beat Ali. It wasn’t that Ali wasn’t at his best, but Leon shocked everybody with how good Leon was.”
The promoter told AP that Ali instructed him to arrange a quick rematch, which he did. They were scheduled to fight a second time on Sept. 15, 1978 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Arum believes Spinks lost focus between fights, perhaps celebrating too vigorously and for too long after becoming champion.
“Leon posed in a bathtub with a glass of champagne smoking a cigar. He suddenly had an entourage as big as one that Ali had,” Arum said. “We were all staying at the same hotel in New Orleans for the rematch and one morning I was coming down to breakfast and Leon got in the elevator and collapsed on the floor.
“Obviously he had been out drinking and I said, `Leon, are you crazy, you’re fighting in just a few days.’ He said `What do you mean? I’m just coming in from roadwork.’”
Ali didn’t take the second fight for granted. He put in the work beforehand and had a better idea of what he was up against, which gave the superior fighter the advantage in front of 63,000-plus inside the New Orleans Saints home stadium.
The result was predictable: Ali won a unanimous decision to reclaim one of his belts, the other of which was stripped from Spinks when he chose to fight Ali instead of Ken Norton.
The rematch was notable for both men. It was the last victory in Ali’s great career. And it marked the last time Spinks would hold a major title.
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