A KING AMONG KINGS TRIUMPH AND TRAVESTY
Though first set for Atlantic City, the fight was moved to a temporary outdoor arena at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. Despite the hype about Marciano’s record and Spinks trying to become the first light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title, the fight was not a pay-per-view event on the Hagler-Hearns level. It would be a standard weekend bout televised live on HBO, an interesting curiosity and nothing more, with most expecting Spinks to wind up like Carpentier, Conn, Moore and Foster before him. Holmes certainly played it up that way, being respectful of Spinks in person but telling reporters in private that he was going to win early and easily. Futch decided to sit the fight out and work for neither man, though he told the Associated Press that the 6-to-1 betting odds against Spinks were way off. “You have to give the smaller man a shot,” said Futch. Futch explained that people underestimated Spinks because of his style. Spinks could appear ungainly, as if his legs weren’t in sync with his torso, but his odd movements were akin to a jazz artist ad-libbing before settling down to the melody. Spinks looked weird at times, but he was simply stalling to figure out his next move. “Sometimes,” Futch said, “he doesn’t know what to do.” Against Holmes, Spinks looked like he was skating figure eights along the canvas, throwing odd combinations not taught in
a few minutes, he’d done more damage with his mouth than he’d done in 15 rounds with his gloves. Whether it was frustration at having lost the title or the inevitable flare-up from a man who always felt the boxing establishment was against him, Holmes’ outburst provided his championship reign with a nasty curtain call. “No one’s been hurt more by my angry remarks than I have,” Holmes wrote in his 1997 autobiography. “No matter what I say now, the fact is I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said it.” Yet Holmes still talks about a mysterious “they” who wanted him to lose to Spinks. In a 2021 interview on YouTube’s VladTV, he mumbles something about how Spinks’ promoter “had the judges” and that Marciano was 5-foot-2 and wouldn’t have touched him. Decades have passed, but Holmes still shadowboxes both men.
In the days after the bout, few talked about Spinks being the first light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title, or that he and his brother, Leon, were the first brothers to win the heavyweight championship. The stench left behind by Holmes made Spinks’ feat secondary. “DIGNITY TAKES ONE ON THE CHIN,” read one headline. “The demon of his bitter ego has always been Larry Holmes’ toughest opponent,” wrote The New York Times’ Dave Anderson. “When he finally lost, he didn’t know how to.” A few days later, Holmes issued a full apology to the Marciano family. Forty years have passed, and the Holmes-Spinks bout is fading into antiquity. Selected by The Ring as Upset of the Year for 1985, the fight is generally remembered for Spinks’ use of Shilstone’s modern training techniques. Yet the truth could be that Holmes was an old, battle-weary champion ripe to be plucked, and almost any top heavyweight might’ve beaten him that night. Holmes went on fighting. There’d be another close (and controversial) loss to Spinks and a few more title challenges, but his golden days were over. Spinks, too, was closer to the end than anyone realized. “He was lucky he was fighting me,” Holmes told Katz in 1985. “If he had been fighting one of them younger guys who are still hungry, he’d be in trouble.” Holmes was correct. When Spinks eventually fought a particularly notorious young, hungry heavyweight, he was blown out in 91 seconds. But that’s how it goes in boxing. One night you’re making history. The next night, you are history. And your nutritionist can’t do anything about it.
Despite being the smaller man, Spinks proved to be stylistic hell for the aging Holmes.
gyms from angles not taught in trigonometry classes. At one point, he threw a left hook followed by four lead rights. These spasms of offense baffled Holmes. How could anyone counter such improvisations? Indeed, it was a long night. Holmes’ face between rounds told the story. He would sit with his eyes closed while his cornermen, in a kind of panic, offered silly advice (Do it for your kids!). Holmes looked put- upon, not in command. He would chase Spinks all night, like a man trying to trap a mouse in a cup. He’d land an occasional body shot or a glancing blow off Spinks’ forehead, but the challenger, who weighed a neat 199¾ pounds to Holmes’ 221½, would respond with a flurry. He’d then resume his erratic movements, seeming to bow to Holmes, offering his head momentarily and then hopping away. “I mesmerized him,” Spinks said. The scorecards were 143-142 (twice) and 145-142, all for Spinks. Though the crowd appeared to be on Spinks’ side simply for surviving against the bigger man, the fight itself was unimpressive and difficult to score. Many felt Holmes won, including the Associated Press, Sports Illustrated and The New York Times, but the tepid nature of the contest precluded any
heated debates. “Even if Spinks had not done enough to deserve to take the title,” wrote the Times, “Holmes had not done enough to deserve to keep it.” The HBO commentators praised Spinks for making history and wondered if Shilstone’s methods were the wave of the future. Mostly they focused on Holmes. How would he handle his first defeat as a professional? Looking tired and slightly scuffed, Holmes told HBO’s Larry Merchant that Spinks was “very awkward” and would be a good champion. He didn’t think Spinks was any stronger than a light heavyweight, but he had a difficult style. “I couldn’t get my right hand going,” Holmes said, mystified. As for not matching Marciano’s record, Holmes started to unravel just a bit. “Sometimes people light candles and pray for your defeat,” Holmes said. “Sometimes you can’t overcome that. And me worrying about that … I guess that takes a little bit out of you. I mean, you train so hard for 18 years and still don’t win the recognition …” Then Holmes pivoted, trying to be philosophical. In the game of life, he said, “we all must die.” By the time Holmes took the podium for the post-fight
press conference, his tongue was loosened. He wanted to say something to the Marciano family, some of whom were in Las Vegas for the fight. “If you want to get technical about the whole thing,” Holmes said, “Rocky couldn’t carry my jockstrap.” Once that was said, Holmes spun out of control. “If I hurt your feelings, it’s too fucking bad,” he said. When Marciano’s brother Peter tried to respond from the audience, Holmes erupted. “Shut up! This is my show,” the former champion bellowed. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even be allowed in here.” After calling Peter a “freeloader” who lived off his brother’s memory, he declared there would never be another white champion and told the Marciano clan to go back to their racist state and “stuff Boston up your ass.” Inexplicably, Holmes tried to backtrack and praised Marciano, but it was too late. In just
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