T he first round turned out to be like all the rest. Larry Holmes, the long-reigning heavyweight champion, would stalk Michael Spinks but never quite nail him. That’s how it went for 15 rounds. Holmes would say later that the fight hadn’t been hard, just long. It must have felt that way. The contest was an inglorious end to what had been a seven-and-a-half-year run as the world’s best heavyweight. Holmes had held the title when sports pages still revered it, and most would admit he is among the best heavyweights ever. For Holmes to lose the championship this way, on points to a quirky light heavyweight in what The Baltimore Sun called “a dreadful fight with little action,” was like a stunt driver who had survived countless car crashes only to be killed in a crosswalk by a guy on a unicycle. It made no sense. As unexpected as the fight’s result may have been, it was overshadowed by Holmes’ behavior in the fight’s
THE FIGHT ITSELF WAS UNSATISFYING AND MARRED BY A REGRETTABLE OUTBURST, BUT LARRY HOLMES VS. MICHAEL SPINKS RESULTED IN A REMARKABLE WAKEUP CALL FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONS WERE SAFE FROM THE “LITTLE GUYS” By Don Stradley
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