From 1978 to 1985 the other titles in the heavyweight division changed hands so many times, it was hard to keep track of. But, during those years, all REAL boxing fans knew who the true heavyweight champ was - Larry Holmes.

Larry Holmes was no joke. Dude did a drop kick off a limo in a parking lot. 😳

RIP Leon Spinks, a fighter worth respect

That jab was unreal, trip hammer innit. Howard Cosell was so great as a boxing announcer.

RIP Leon. I remember that great smile

This is Larry Holmes at his absolute peak. Spinks was the former heavyweight champion, and as mentioned by Cosell, Spinks was given an excellent chance by boxing writers to defeat Holmes. Unfortunately for Spinks, he fought a fighter who was probably the 2nd best heavyweight who ever lived.

Larry learned alot from sparring with the greats

These intros were AMAZING !

RIP PEACE CHAMP..Peace, comfort and safety to your departed soul Leon Spinks.

Underrated and under appreciated Larry Holmes

You can tell by Howard's questions that he never competed in any sport whatsoever. Such absurd questions!

To me, this 1981 WBC Title fight, between Leon Spinks and Larry Holmes, was one if the very few best fights, which I saw from both fighters. It’s unfortunate, that Spinks ran into that right hand. I don’t want to insinuate, that Spinks could have starched Holmes. But I gave him the Chance to hurt Holmes in the later Rounds. He showed that in the second Round! He was capable to rock an opponent. Whiteness: his stoppage of Bernardo Mercado in 1980. This fight was the last reminisce of the golden era of the 1970’s, which was jam-packed whit top notched fighters, such als Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Lyle, Bonavena, Norton.

One of the greatest ever !

I like the way Larry moved to his right just before he landed that big right hand. Larry was smart and knew how to use the ring and set stuff up.

love the funkytown style music for Holmes' reel

Once Larry Got a Piece of This Guy... It Was Over... He's so Powerful

Thanks

Props to Spinks for getting up from that knockdown. Many fighters would have just stayed down. Also, a little late on the stoppage.

I believe that Spinks really stood a chance against Holmes here in 1981. Spinks looked very impressive in round 2. But he got careless in the middle of the third round, got caught with a straight right hand, which landed right on the button, just like target praxis. And unfortunately for Spinks he never recovered from that blow

Good fight!

This was not even remotely competitive. Holmes was at his peak here. And at his peak I give Holmes a more than Excellent chance to beat every single champion before and after him at least once and in some cases TWICE. I never payed attention to Howard Cosell because too many times he spoke out of ignorance when "assessing " a fight. What he THOUGHT Was going on and what was actually happening in the ring was par for the course with Howard in many cases. At no time was Holmes out of sorts or taken out of his zone by Spinks or in some form of anxiety with Spinks. Larry was calmy adjusting to Spinks frenetic style and looking to find a pattern with him. Once he saw that Spinks never brought his guard up to proper position after taking a jab and trying to land his right, Larry saw that Spinks was wide open for that sneaky uppercut counter. Spinks was prepared for the jab but not that right or the hooks to the body and once Holmes was able to time and adjust to him, his jab by the second round, stayed glued to Spinks head. Holmes was a better technician than Ali. Ali made too many mistakes and was defensively irresponsible. Holmes knew how to parry, shift his weight, alter his stance to be able to defend and go on offense in the same sequence without having to do amateurish moves like Ali who relied on laying on the ropes and moving his head, leaning back and leaving his midsection exposed. Larry had every single quality that Ali and Joe Louis possessed in order to be a top 3 all-time legend In the division. He was fast, a superb defensive technician, possessed heart for days, owned a world class jab, could adjust on his feet, move laterally or forward with equal precision, very strong chin and incredible recuperating abilities. And he had a superior right cross to Ali. He also went to the body unlike Ali when necessary. In no scenario was Spinks going to do any damage to Holmes here. Larry had too many tools in the box for The crude Spinks.

1981-06-12 - Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan, USA. "The Easton Assassin" Larry Holmes (37-0-0, KO's 27) vs. Leon Spinks (10-2-2, KO's 8) - Heavyweight Championship of the World (Lineal/WBC) - # Larry Holmes's 10th world title defense: 1978- # Leon Spinks was world ranked: 2# by WBC & WBA. # Holmes was a 4 to 1 favorite. # Holmes was 31 years old - Spinks was 27 years old. # Defending champion Holmes got $1.9 million - Challanger Spinks made $490,000. # The fight was billed as a tribute to legend Joe Louis, who died 2 months earlier (The day after Holmes defeated Berbick). # Holmes and Spinks have never been on the same page as Holmes claim to still to this day have a dislike of Leon. # While Holmes was doing a post-fight interview with ABC commentator Howard Cosell, he spotted Gerry Cooney, the No. 1 world ranked contender, being steered in their direction by an ABC aide. Holmes' eyes flared. When Cosell mentioned Cooney, Holmes said, "Howard, I'm going to slap his face if you bring him over here." Holmes then stood up and went after Cooney. During the melee, Holmes accidentally elbowed Cosell in the mouth, cutting his lower lip.

Man did Cosell miss EVERYTHING in this fight. Larry was just missing with bomb right hands from the start of the second round but Howard was too busy painting his "Larry looks rattled..." narrative to see what was going on. He missed the big Holmes right hand in the corner that first hurt Leon and sent him sprawling into the ropes attributing Holmes' follow up body shot as the punch that hurt Spinks. Missed the towel being thrown in too.

HAPPY birthday LARRY HOLMES** A TRUE BOXER, WITH DEVASTATING PUNCHES AND UNBELIEVABLE DEFENSE** WISH HIM N FOREMAN WOULD'VE FOUGHT**🥊🦁🥊

Funny to see Greg Page make his network debut on the undercard at a pudgy 230+ lbs. A taste of what was to come for Page who routinely weighed in at 260 and then some. Colossal waste of ability. Greg has speed, size, a punch and a granite chin. Just couldn't put the fork down.

Pretty obvious that the little skirmish between Holmes and Cooney was a Don King setup, and Cosell got the worst of it. The funniest part of that was there was the chief editor of 'The Ring' magazine Bert Randolph Sugar (the guy wearing the hat) standing there with a look that was like "what the hell is going on!?" 😂

Melinda, Melisa, your Father really love 😘 you, felitacion for treating your wife super good,I like that, you are only one who has given a good example like that,we miss you Larry, Haiti peoples 💕 Miss you.waiting your reply Larry

I don't know how it happened, but for some reason or reasons, after the '76 Summer Olympics, when Spinks was still in the Marines, I never saw another one of Leon's fights...(????) I'm typing this before viewing this video. This will the first time seeing him fight professionally.

Ali and the "golden era" was a bit before my time but I loved this era of boxing - Larry whipped everyone

Cossell continued to ramble about Larry being 'rattled' and completely missed the punch that caused it the Leon to be shaken- the right that Holmes measured and timed at 21:10. instead, he ignorantly thought that Holmes all of a sudden decided to turn on the pressure to corner Spinks on the ropes, when in fact he was finishing Spinks after he'd been hurt.

29:11 Howard Cosell shutting down Don King might be the most satisfying thing I've heard in a boxing video for a while.

funny if you watch all the fights spinks gets knocked out in, he always ends up in the ropes the same way lol...

Soon as people get money alot of them start fucking around with drugs and then that's when all the shit hits the fan

RIP Leon Spinks.

Larry is probably my favorite boxer ever besides maybe Tyson...but gotta love Richard Steele

Why is older audio so much better than modern?? This is so full and loud I turn the volume down on my Android. Most new videos I have it all the way up and it still sounds too low. Seems all the 60s-90s shows are like this.

Elite finishing.... with the bizarreness of the Berbick fight and Spinks motivated mentality and awkwardness, this COULD have had the makings of Ali-Spinks 1 were the CLEAR favorite looks less than stellar... BUT Holmes was up to the task and clobbered Spinks with the overhand right over and over and over and over again.

seeing gerry react this way shoulda been the sign of things to come .. he was scared shitless when holmes came for him smh totally scared

The greatest

Larry’s hand speed, wow!

5:06 "Leoooon!!!"

Happy Birthday 🥊

RIP Leon.

Leon put up a good challenge but was Larry was too much, RIP 🙏 Leon

now that is a flogging

He's one of the best Larry Holmes Easton assassin

Why holmes go crazy when cosell introduce cooney? 30:05

great entertainment with a top of his game larry Holmes,,,,one of the best...I say better than Ali...unquestionably faster, and precise.

There's two fights actually, the second is Greg Page v Alfredo Evangelista, KO-2

RIP NEON LEON

21:10 the beginning of the end.

“….And still another replay!” My god, Cosell was so awesome such a character. Also, I disagree with him at the end there, I don’t think Larry was sorry that he did it.

Era muy rápido este su hermano muy listo y precavido

Rest in peace Leon

here after reading that Leon spinks died from cancer.

why I think Holmes was the greatest. 1. it has to be a heavyweight. 2. you have to have a knock-out punch, not just olympics score on points. here, is my only reservation about Klitschko. 3. you have to be able to take a punch, and not afraid to mess things up, a real 'fighter', where Marciano was great and Ali/Clay a sissy. 4. you have to appreciate boxing as a science, Holmes is a one-man clinic, jab, hook, set up, defend, etc. 5. Holmes maybe learned to move around, avoid the ropes, from Ali/Clay, while the other greatest, Foreman, did all of the above, except this. As a footnote, in those days you didn't see 31-year-old hockey or tennis players. Tennis is a lesson also in stamina, a player will win the first set, but lose 2 sets to 1: Holmes could obviously go the distance, not like Clay/Ali's famous victims.

22:18 Sombody Thew In The Towel Lmao How Embarrassing

Spinks was a pitbull. Holmes definitely wasnt underestimating Spinks.

With10 wins they knew Leon had no chance of winning.

Holmes at his best here.

I meant Michael spinks

Larry was a class act

22:16 they threw in the towel

Spinks was disrespectful towards Larry and his wife. Justice served.

Great dream fight........ Larry Holmes vs Wladimer Klitchko 2 unrespected heavyweights of all time, they wiped out the division for a decade and a half but nobody gave them the respect they deserve because of mild personalities.

Marciano was willing to get hit to get inside. Had a great chin too. He'd go inside on Holmes and take Holmes's leverage away, then punish him.

One thing I can say about holmes is he swings for the fences when he punches, every punch has murderous intentions

Rip leon

gold medal and lineal championship in an otherwise horrible career hanging tough for awhile now against adv prostrate cancer kudos Leon

I hated to see how the latter part of Spinks' life was filled with such hardship.

Larry fought a good fight. If Leon wasn't into the lifestyle, he probably could have carried this into the 13th, potentially to a decision loss.

How Did Leon Loose His Teeth? So It Happened Before He Started Boxing?

Howard Cosell was just one of the most stupid commentators of all time. And Larry was one of the best heavyweights ever. Best jab in the business.

Devastating finisher Larry Holmes was at his peak. Lived well outside of the ring too. Hard to believe he is still married to the same woman by his side here all these years later.

I really didn't like the way Cosell commentated on fights or his comments about brothers back in the day.

Larry Holmes TKO3 Leon Spinks

A dollar and fifty cents worth of cocaine

Holmes disappointed me the way he spoke about rocky marciano. Despite that, he was a fantastic fighter.

Larry the best

nElson Log

If Larry hurt you.. He was good at getting you out of there.. but Spinks here and like Marvin Frazier somebody pissed Larry off..But when you’re on top for as long as Larry Holmes was it a lot of pressure for a lot of year.. When you’re on top there’s no place to go but down.. Baby Spinks got a burnt out Larry he needed to get away for awhile and regroup when throw in all the business Larry had going plus his kids and family and politics of boxing...Then training sometime we start slacking and we need to away and that what happened to Larry

So Holmes fought a father son combo lol almost beat them both

He was like Mohammed Ali Larry Holmes

All went wrong for Leon ,when he got pushed on the floor .he didn't recover from that ..lost balance .watch the 3rd round again .

Lary holms iş bad man for Ali and me

Only 2 front teeth lol

Michael Spinks took care of Larry...twice..😊

Spinks far more dangerous than Berbick said Howard...17:10ish...No...T.

You people always saying who was so great, I hate doing this because I was raised that action speak louder than words, but some of you just don't like looking at the facts...Open your eyes, don't forget Rocky,you say Rocky who, yeah that's what I'm talking about, you are blind to the truth 🙏🎶😉😏and you like it that way 🎶😉😏

In truth, spinks should have never been in the heavy weight division. Middle weight ti light heavy at the highest.

SOcks

Leon Spinks was NOT a Great Heavyweight Champion! Leon Spinks was most likely the Worst Heavyweight Champion of ALL TIME!!!

Larry Holmes wasn t very respectful with Gerry Cooney. Cooney was a nice guy and a big puncher. I think Holmes scared of him and try to be a bully to hide his fear.

Holmes was a damn good boxer...put Spinks in his place. Only thing spoiling the fight is that obnoxious intrusive voice of that worst of commentators ever inflicted on the American sporting public.

El día que Holmes,le prometio a su amo Ali que lo vengaria de la paliza que le diera spinks,y le cumplió todo un perro fiel y sparring de Ali

Holmes is one of the best boxers of all time. He may have been wronged. Spinks did not appear to beat him in any of the two bouts.

Holmes in his era was the best heavyweight boxer look at his record 48--0 not one boxer could beat him in his prime and he fought wars ...............

spinks a very awkward boxer

The Great White Hope nope

Leon Spinks got his a** whupped