Leon Spinks vs. Muhammad Ali II, was a professional boxing match contested on September 15, 1978, in
for the
WBA and
''The Ring'' heavyweight championships.
Background
After his
shock win over
Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...
to become Heavyweight champion,
Leon Spinks
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...
was stripped of the
WBC belt for not facing its number one ranked contender
Ken Norton
Kenneth Howard Norton Sr. (August 9, 1943 – September 18, 2013) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1967 to 1981, and held the WBC world heavyweight championship in 1978. He is best known for his fights with Muhammad Ali, i ...
; instead he agreed to a rematch with Ali. Ali entered the rematch as a 2½ to 1 favorite.
The fight was held at the
Louisiana Superdome
The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...
, with ringside seats costing $200 ($839 in 2021 dollars).
[ The ]card Card or The Card may refer to:
* Various types of plastic cards:
**By type
***Magnetic stripe card
*** Chip card
*** Digital card
**By function
***Payment card
****Credit card
**** Debit card
****EC-card
****Identity card
****European Health Insur ...
contained three other world title fights: WBA Bantamweight Champion Jorge Luján
Jorge Luján (born March 18, 1955) is a Panamanian who was a professional boxer and fought many top-flight boxers and several champions during the 1970s and 1980s. Luján is the former Lineal and WBA Bantamweight world champion. He was managed b ...
vs. future WBC champion Alberto Davila; WBC Featherweight Champion Danny Lopez vs. Juan Malvarez; and WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Víctor Galíndez
Víctor Emilio Galíndez (2 November 1948 in Vedia – 25 October 1980 in Veinticinco de Mayo, Buenos Aires) was an Argentine boxer who was the third Latin American to win the world Light Heavyweight championship, after Puerto Rico's José ...
vs. Mike Rossman
Mike Rossman (born Michael Albert DePiano on July 1, 1955) is an American former professional boxer who was the WBA light heavyweight champion of the world. He is of both Italian and Jewish descent, which led to his monikers "The Kosher Butcher ...
.
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
paid $5.3 million ($22.24 million in 2021 dollars) for the rights to televise the fight live in the United States.[
]
Fight
Pat Putnam of ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' wrote: The plan was simple. Ali would jab, jab, throw a right and grab. When Spinks came flailing in, Ali would hook his left hand around the back of Spinks' head and pull him into an embrace, effectively limiting Spinks to one or two punches or pulling him off balance. And Ali would dance, baby, dance. He would tie up Spinks and then dance away from him on the break, circling to the right, circling to the left. And the fight went as plotted.
Referee Lucien Joubert took the fifth round away from Ali for holding. The Associated Press scored the fight 12–3 for Ali, while the three judges had the bout 11–4, 10–4–1 and 10–4–1 all in favor of Ali giving him a unanimous decision win.
Attendance and viewership
The Superdome attendance was 63,352, which, at the time, was the largest indoor attendance ever for a boxing match. Ticket sales of $4,806,675 ($20.168 million in 2021 dollars) was the highest live gate for a sporting event at the time.
Aftermath
Ali regained the WBA heavyweight title and avenged his split decision loss to Spinks from seven months prior. He also became the first man to win the World Heavyweight Championship three times.
In June 1979, Ali sent an official letter of retirement to the WBA. Promoter Bob Arum
Robert Arum (born December 8, 1931) is an American lawyer and boxing promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. Prior to becoming a boxing promoter, Arum was employed as an attorn ...
said he paid Ali $300,000 to announce his retirement because Ali's reluctance had delayed the scheduling of a fight between John Tate John Tate may refer to:
* John Tate (mathematician) (1925–2019), American mathematician
* John Torrence Tate Sr. (1889–1950), American physicist
* John Tate (Australian politician) (1895–1977)
* John Tate (actor) (1915–1979), Australian act ...
and Gerrie Coetzee
Gerhardus Christian Coetzee (born 8 April 1955) is a South African former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1986, and in 1993 and 1997. He was the first African ever to fight for, and win, a world heavyweight championship, having hel ...
for the vacant WBA title. "We knew Muhammad Ali was going to retire", Arum said, "but as long as he delayed, I couldn't make definite plans." However, in October 1980 Ali returned to face WBC Champion Larry Holmes
Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002 and was world heavyweight champion from 1978 until 1985. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which led to his boxing nickname of the "Eas ...
but was stopped by TKO in the 10th round. He then retired for good after a lackluster loss to Trevor Berbick
Trevor Berbick (1 August 1954 – 28 October 2006) was a Jamaican professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 2000. He won the WBC heavyweight title in 1986 by defeating Pinklon Thomas, then lost it in his first defense in the same year to M ...
in December 1981, thus making this fight the final of Ali's career.
Quote
"I congratulated Ali! He is still my idol." – Leon Spinks two weeks after the fight.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spinks, Ali II
Spinks II
World Boxing Association heavyweight championship matches
Boxing in New Orleans
Boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
1978 in boxing
1978 in sports in Louisiana
September 1978 sports events in the United States