Larry Holmes vs. Michael Spinks

History: A September to Remember

Date	21 September 1985
Venue	Riviera Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
Title(s) on the line	IBF, The Ring and Lineal heavyweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer Larry Holmes Michael Spinks Nickname "The Easton Assassin" "Jinx" Hometown Easton, Pennsylvania St. Louis, Missouri Purse $3,000,000 $900,000 Pre-fight record 48–0 (34 KO) 27–0 (19 KO) Age 35 years, 10 months 29 years, 2 months Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) 6 ft 2+1⁄2 in (189 cm) Weight 221+1⁄2 lb (100 kg) 200 lb (91 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition IBF, The Ring and Lineal Heavyweight Champion WBA, WBC, IBF, The Ring and Lineal Undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion
Result
Spinks defeated Holmes by Unanimous Decision

Larry Holmes vs. Michael Spinks, billed as History: A September to Remember, was a professional boxing match contested on 21 September 1985, for the IBF, The Ring and Lineal heavyweight championship.

Background

By mid 1985, Larry Holmes had made 19th successful defenses of the Heavyweight championship he won against Ken Norton in June 1978, following Leon Spinks' vacating of WBC title in order to have a rematch against Muhammad Ali. He was also one win away from tying Rocky Marciano's record of 49–0. Meanwhile Michael Spinks had successfully unified the Light Heavyweight division and was looking to move up to Heavyweight. In June 1985 the two of them came to terms to meet in September.

Holmes, who was 6 to 1 favourite entering the bout, had previously beaten Michael's brother Leon in June 1981. No current or former Light Heavyweight champion had ever won the Heavyweight title, despite 13 having attempted to over the years. The last person to hold titles in both divisions was Bob Fitzsimmons who won the Light Heavyweight title nearly seven years after he lost the Heavyweight title to James J. Jeffries.

Veteran trainer Eddie Futch, who had trained both fighters since 1981, opted to sit out the bout rather be in the corner of one or the other of them. As a result Holmes brought back former trainer Richie Giachetti, while Spinks' assistant trainer Nelson Brison led his team.

Despite many boxing experts expecting Spinks to face a near 50 pound weight disparity against the champion, at the weigh-in he came in at 200 pounds, a meer 21½ Ib difference.

The fight

During the first two rounds Holmes was able to control the pace using his jab. As the bout went on, Spinks was able to use unpredictable movement to throw flurries of punches from unexpected angles which scored points but never troubled the champion. By the last few rounds, pattern had formed, with Holmes coming forward, loading up, scoring with hard punches but never landing anything that looked like hurting Spinks. Spinks using movement to fight on the back foot, landing the odd flurry, before moving out of range. After 15 rounds, Lawrence Wallace scored it 145–142 while Harold Lederman and Dave Moretti had it 143–142, all three in favour of Spinks, giving him a unanimous decision victory. The Associated Press scored it 144–141 for Holmes while United Press International had it 146–141 for Holmes.

The victory made Spinks the first ever Light Heavyweight champion to win the Heavyweight title, as well as one of the first pair of brothers to hold versions of the heavyweight title.

Aftermath

Speaking in the post fight press conference when asked about missing the chance to tie Rocky Marciano's record Holmes said "I'm 35 fighting young men and Rocky was 25 fighting old men. To be technical, Rocky couldn't carry my jockstrap." The comment would cause some controversy and Holmes subsequently apologized.

In his 1998 autobiography Against The Odds, Holmes would recount that after suffering a pinched nerve in training, a nerve specialist told him that he had a slipped disc in his fifth vertebra and that he might be paralyzed for life any time I threw a punch with a right hand. This would be contradicted by other doctors who said that chance that he would get paralyzed were "practically nil." Nevertheless, Holmes said that the specialist's comments affected his performance, "I found that not only was I flat and listless, I was reluctant to pull the trigger on the right hand."

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Winner	Loser	Weight division/title belt(s) disputed	Result
Julio Cesar Chavez	Dwight Pratchett	WBC World Super Featherweight Title	Unanimous decision.
Non-TV bouts
Bernard Benton	Alfonso Ratliff	WBC World Cruiser Title	Unanimous decision.
Mitchell Julien	Benjamin Quintero	Super Lightweight (10 rounds)	4th round KO.
Glenn Thomas	Ron Morgan	Super Welterweight (6 rounds)	1st round TKO.
Luciano Solis	Jose Enriquez	Featherweight (6 rounds)	Unanimous decision.
James Pritchard	Vince Parker	Heavyweight (4 rounds)	2nd round TKO.

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
Australia	Nine Network
Canada	Superchannel
Mexico	Televisa
Philippines	MBS 4
United Kingdom	ITV
United States	HBO