Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks (1st meeting)

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Challenger rankings
Org. Pos. As of Published
1+ Mth. Old
WBA NR ~30.06.1977 08.07.1977
WBC NR ~27.07.1977 27.07.1977
Ring NR 22.05.1977 21.05-15.07.1977
2+ Mth. Old
WBA NR ~29.05.1977 29.05-10.06.1977
WBC NR ~31.05.1977 02.06.1977
Ring NR 18.03.1977 17.03-10.06.1977
3+ Mth. Old
WBA NR ~30.04.1977 30.04-15.05.1977
WBC NR 30.04.1977 12.05.1977
Ring NR ~13.02.1977 12.02-21.04.1977

Leon Spinks 197 lbs beat Muhammad Ali 224 lbs by SD in round 15 of 15

  • Date: 1978-02-15
  • Location: Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
  • Referee: Davey Pearl
  • Judge: Art Lurie 142-143
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  • Judge: Harold Buck 144-141
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  • Judge: Lou Tabat 145-140
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Notes

Leon Spinks (left) and Muhammad Ali exchange punches.

Negotiations with Zanon, Righetti, Spinks

  • Earlier that year, Ali was in negotiations with Alfio Righetti and Lorenzo Zanon, but in the end opted to face Alfredo Evangelista. The official reason for not moving with the Righetti bout was because Righetti was not ranked among top 10 contenders by the WBA nor WBC, and thus both organizations refused to sanction it.[1][2]
  • Instead, by May 22, the fight between Righetti and Zanon was signed for June 7 in Rome; the winner would then face Ali.[3]
  • At the same time, Ali's promoter Don King was looking to schedule a fight between Ali and Larry Holmes. The move was criticized by a booking talent George Kanter, since Ali had already signed to fight the winner of Righetti-Zanon fight.[4]
  • Then on May 28, Paul Corvino told the press that Ali had reached an official agreement to fight Zanon in July. This was promptly denied by Charles Lomax, an attourney for Herbert Muhammad, Ali's manager.[5]
  • On June 2, Don King announced he had signed Ali to fight Righetti for the titles, and that the fight would likely take place in July. He had also announced to have signed Ken Norton (ranked No. 1 by the WBA and WBC) to face Jimmy Young (ranked No. 2 by the WBA and WBC) in a bout that was sanctioned by the WBC as a heavyweight title eliminator.[6][7]
  • On June 15, Don King said he had given up on trying to schedule the Ali-Righetti fight in July, and instead hoped for the fight to take place in the fall.[8]
  • It is unknown when Spinks became involved in negotiations. However, on October 4, promoter Bob Arum said that on August 19 Ali had signed to fight the winner of Leon Spinks vs. Alfio Righetti in Las Vegas on February 15, 1978, and that Spinks and Righetti had signed the following week. The contract also prevented Ali from signing for another fight in the interim.[9][10]
  • On November 5, 1977, Norton defeated Young by a 15-round split decision.
  • The WBC sanctioned Ali's fight against Spinks on December 1, 1977, but said the winner had to fight Norton.

Ranking Movements

  • On June 2, the same day Don King announced he had signed Ali to fight Righetti for the titles, WBC rankings were published with Righetti ranked ninth and Zanon tenth.
  • In the rankings published July 15, Righetti dropped out of WBC's top 10; Zanon remained tenth.
  • Late September, Righetti re-entered the WBC rankings at No. 9, while Zanon was dropped out.
  • Righetti was unranked by The Ring Magazine until the October 1977 issue, released some time after August 6, 1977, in which he was placed at No. 10. Accoring to the magazine, Righetti entered the top 10 on the strength of his win over Roy "Cookie" Wallace on June 18 (Wallace was 19-26-2, 10 KOs going into the Righetti fight and was on a six-fight losing streak).
  • In the February 1978 issue of The Ring, which contained the last monthly rankings prior to Ali-Spinks fight and was published presumably around the time Spinks-Righetti fight took place, Righetti was ranked No. 7.
  • Spinks, who only debuted January that year and was only 5-0-1, 5 KOs, remained unranked prior to facing Righetti.
  • After the Spinks-Righetti fight, Righetti was again dropped from the WBC's top 10 published cca January 7, while Spinks entered at No. 10.
  • In the WBC rankings published February 2, Spinks was moved to No. 9 while Righetti was ranked No. 10.

Fight Details

  • Ali's purse was $3.5 million, and Spinks received $320,000.
  • A sellout crowd of 5,298 produced a gate of $756,300.
  • The fight aired live on CBS and drew more than 70 million viewers. CBS paid $3.8 million to televise the bout.
  • TV rating stood at 30.4[11].
  • Spinks was a 10-1 underdog.
Compubox Logo
Jabs Spinks Ali
Landed 107 109
Thrown 344 428
Percent 31.1% 25.5%
Power Punches Spinks Ali
Landed 312 145
Thrown 599 346
Percent 52.1% 41.9%
Total Punches Spinks Ali
Landed 419 254
Thrown 943 774
Percent 44.4% 32.8%
compuboxonline.com
  • All three official judges and the Associated Press scored the last three rounds for Spinks. The AP had Ali winning 143-142.
  • Spinks became the first challenger to win the World Heavyweight Championship on a decision since Jim Braddock defeated Max Baer on June 13, 1935.
  • Spinks entered the fight with a record of 6-0-1. With only seven pro fights, he was the most inexperienced boxer ever to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
  • On March 18, 1978, the WBC stripped Spinks and awarded the title to Ken Norton. However, Spinks remained the WBA champion.
  • Ali vs. Spinks I was named 1978 Fight of the Year by The Ring, and 15th round was named Round of the Year by the magazine.
  • Spinks dominated Ali from beginning to end in terms of aggression, accuracy, and punches landed. Spinks landed 419 punches, more than any other foe Ali fought.<Ref>Bob Cannobio and Lee Groves, "Muhammad Ali: By The Numbers", 2018. See 36:47.</ref>

Post-Fight Quotes

  • Ali: "I gave the best I could. I knew he was a good fighter. It was a close fight. He was the aggressor. It could have gone either way."
  • Spinks: "I knew I was always in it, and I knew I had to go all out in the last few rounds."
  • Ali: "Next time, I'll have to get on my toes to beat him. My rope-a-dope didn't work. He was too strong. It was more a mistake in strategy."
  • Spinks: "I was very serious during the fight, but I also had a lot of fun. He kept saying things to me, trying to make me mad, but all he did was make me laugh. It was like he was telling me jokes. One time he called me a dirty name. I said, 'Oh, Ali, how could you say such a thing?' Can you imagine your idol calling you a dirty name?"
  • Ali: "Winning the championship two times is rough. Only me and Floyd Patterson have done it. If I can win it a third time, I think I'll establish a record that won't be broken in a thousand years."
  • Spinks: "I'm the latest, but he's the greatest."
  • Ali: "I let him rob my house while I was out to lunch."
  • Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer: "I knew it was too close for comfort. I told him to stop fooling around. He was giving up too many rounds. But I heard the decision and I thought 'Well, what are you going to do; that's it.' I prepared myself for this day for a long time. I conditioned myself for it. I was young with him and now I feel old with him."

Articles


Preceded by:
Ali vs. Shavers 		WBA Heavyweight Title Fight
# 30 		Succeeded by:
Spinks vs. Ali II
Preceded by:
Ali vs. Shavers 		WBC Heavyweight Title Fight
# 31 		Succeeded by:
Holmes vs. Norton


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