Questions Ali vs Spinks 1?

I never heard that. I was young at the time but I’ve been around boxing since a young age. The thought at the time was that Ali had gotten old and most people as I recall thought Leon would win the rematch too.

 

"For fans around at that time were there whispers about Ali not trying to win the 1st fight?"

Yes, those whispers existed...but not taken very seriously, because LSpinks had won a Olympic Gold, looked to be in incredible shape, didn't fall for all of Ali's promotional pre-fight gab, and actually thought he could win.

 

I think it was just a case of a ageing champ with ill health ,taking a young inexperienced challenger lightly. That's it.No plan to lose then regain it .What if it had back fired ,and spinks gave someone else the next shot ?Ali would have had that in his mind no doubt.

 

The Spinks rematch always impresses me to watch. Sure Ali missed a bunch but he also improved his timing and did land some clean combinations for that mental & physical stage of his career.

 

Surprised the lot of you didn't know about it. I learned about this at 13! He lost to an opponent he knew he could easily beat to become the only man to regain the title a record-breaking 3 times.

 

Greetings Fergy! Count me as one person that thinks he lost the fight deliberately.
IMO opinion Leon didn't even deserve a title shot being a mere 7-0-1 at the time.
Ali wanted to be the first three time HW champion.
As you'd mentioned, it wouldn't have 'back fired'; Ali held all the cards and influence and Leon wouldn't have garnered a purse anywhere near what an Ali rematch would bring and Ali knew he could get him back in the ring on relatively short notice.
My $0.02

 

I don't buy into the Ali threw the fight thing. His ego was way way too big to intentionally lose.

Like mentioned above---he was badly under prepared. Who wouldn't be? I mean Leon had a draw with Ledoux as his credentials going in.

It was a horrible time for us fans following the sport----guys like Norton and Young couldn't get a fight & guys like Evangelista and Spinks were getting the title shots. Let alone all the rumors of other potential guys getting a shot at Ali--Schutte of all people. Then there was Conteh talk. Bobick, if he'd licked Norton. And so on. Just horrible.

Of course, this was sandwiched around other Ali exhibitions like the dreaded Lyle Alzado fight and the Inoki thing. No wonder Foreman retired.

 

Then your recollection is terrible.

Ali-Spinks 1 was the FIGHT OF THE YEAR for 1978.

The 15th round of Ali-Spinks 1 was the ROUND OF THE YEAR for 1978 (same year as Norton-Holmes).

It was a great fight.

There are literally hundreds of tapes of Ali throwing fights - where he'd fall down, or clown, or goof around in exhibitions. Ali wasn't good at faking losses. And you can watch Ali kidding with Evangelista and Shavers and Dunn and Coopman any number of people.

But Ali wasn't goofing around against Leon Spinks.

Ali wanted a tuneup before the expected fourth and final fight with Norton. He'd also considered fighting Alfio Righetti before (but Ali chose Evangelista). Arum approached them with an offer to fight Leon. They thought Ali could drum up some buzz with the angle that they were both Olympic Gold Medalists. But Leon wasn't rated in the top 10. So Spinks and Righetti were matched and Ali was ringside. He said he'd fight the winner. Spinks won and got a rating. But when Ali signed to fight him everyone ripped into him.

Ali was actually angry about it. When he fought guys like Coopman and Wepner and Evangelista, people usually cut him some slack. This time, people just wanted him to fight Norton again. So Ali quit promoting the Spinks fight, which angered CBS, which was televising. Ali refused to conduct interviews. He said he wasn't going to talk because he was embarrassed about fighting Spinks.

By fight night, Ali just planned to let Spinks throw a lot of shots, and then Ali thought he'd stop him like he did Dunn or Coopman. But when Ali turned it on, Spinks turned it up a notch, too. Ali was legitimately going for the KO in the final five rounds, but Spinks was having none of it.

It was a great fight.

In fact, Leon Spinks tore a muscle in his ribcage a week or so before the fight. It would separate from his ribs when Leon threw certain punches. Butch Lewis (who was working for Arum) said they considered calling off the fight, but nobody really wanted the fight anyway, and it would never be rescheduled. So, instead, Spinks' team shot Leon full of novocaine in his ribs before the fight, so he couldn't feel the muscle separate and he wouldn't collapse if Ali hit him in the body.

If Nevada had drug testing at the time, Leon would've failed his post-fight drug test.

Had Leon and his team not cheated, Ali would've likely stopped Spinks in a couple rounds. Because Spinks was literally collapsing in the gym when the muscle pulled away from the rib.

 

Yeah, 13-year olds are always the go-to source for which bouts are fixed fights. (LOL)

 

Leon was supposed to give Ken Norton the next title shot, but the WBC stripped Leon and he took the "money" rematch with Ali.


1977-11-05 : Ken Norton 215½ lbs beat Jimmy Young 213 lbs by SD in round 15 of 15
Notes

• The fight was a 15-round WBC title eliminator.
• Norton was ranked #1 by the WBC and Young was ranked #2.
• Judge Raymond Baldeyrou called six rounds even, and judge Jim Rondeau called five even. Judge Art Lurie scored just one round even.
• After the fight, referee Carlos Padilla said, "If I had had a vote, I would have voted for Young."
• The day before the fight, the WBC stated that World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali had to sign within 60 days to fight the winner of Norton-Young or he would be stripped of the title. However, Ali was already set to meet the winner of the November 18 fight between Leon Spinks and Alfio Righetti, which Spinks won by a 10-round unanimous decision. The WBC sanctioned Ali-Spinks after both fighters agreed that the winner, which was Spinks, would sign for a Norton fight by April 7. The WBC stripped Spinks of the title on March 18 and awarded it to Norton, saying Spinks was avoiding a fight with Norton and dealing in bad faith with the WBC. On April 11, Ali and Spinks, who was still the WBA champion, signed for a rematch.
• In the 1998 Holiday Issue of The Ring Magazine, Norton was ranked as the 22nd greatest heavyweight of all-time and Young was ranked 37th.

 

Interesting points my friend. May well be correct, stranger things have happened. Of course if its truth it makes spinks look even more terrible ,that Ali was just allowing him to win. I may have to watch the fight again seeing as it's years since I last did .Anyway regards for the reply .

 

Just imagine Longhhorn,if spink s had taken the fight with Norton !!
Ken IMO would have crushed him with in 5 rounds.

 

You always do a great job in "cutting to the chase". Good job.

 

Actually, I always thought Foreman would have come out of retirement if he could have landed a Leon Spinks title shot as well. Between George and Kenny, he might get in 7 rounds. And not later Spinks was blown out in 1 by Coetzee.