Eddie Mustafa Muhammad vs Michael Spinks

Michael Spinks won the WBA world light-heavyweight championship from Eddie Mustafa Muhammad by a unanimous decision over 15 rounds at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Las Vegas on 18 July 1981. The unbeaten challenger, a former Olympic middleweight gold medallist, improved his professional record to 17 victories without defeat. Muhammad, making the third defence of the title he had taken from Marvin Johnson, fell for the only knockdown of the contest in the 12th round and finished with his right eye almost entirely closed. Referee Richard Green allowed the fight to continue to its conclusion, after which Duane Ford scored it 146–138, Chuck Minker 145–139 and Lou Tabat 144–140, all for Spinks.

Muhammad weighed 175 pounds, while Spinks was officially recorded at approximately 174 pounds. The champion’s arrival at the limit had required an exhausting effort. Two months earlier, Muhammad had weighed 201¾ pounds for an unsuccessful heavyweight venture against Renaldo Snipes, losing a split decision. At the original weigh-in for the Spinks defence, he registered 176¾ pounds and faced being stripped unless he removed the excess. He was taken to an all-night health club, where he skipped rope in several sweat suits before returning to the scales at 2.21 in the morning. He weighed exactly 175 pounds on the second attempt, little more than 13 hours before entering the ring. Muhammad received $350,000, while Spinks was paid a little more than $100,000.

The champion nevertheless made the steadier beginning. The opening round was cautious, with both men throwing isolated punches before falling into clinches. They worked with their free hands on the body, and Spinks was warned for striking Muhammad around the back. Spinks attempted to make use of his greater height and reach in the second, landing an early right, but Muhammad answered later in the round with a firm right hand of his own. The third followed much the same pattern. Spinks struggled to place his overhand right and occasionally missed by a wide margin, while Muhammad remained compact and collected points with the cleaner single punches.

Spinks began to improve in the fourth, when his jab became more authoritative, and he introduced left hooks to the body. Muhammad was less active, although he remained composed and watchful. The challenger made a brisk start to the fifth by forcing Muhammad towards the ropes and attacking downstairs. Green cautioned Spinks again when an attempted uppercut finished with his elbow close to the champion’s face. Muhammad then caught him with a heavy right midway through the round and finished the session with two solid punches. The sixth was untidy, with repeated clinching and long periods in which the boxers leaned against one another and attempted to establish physical control without producing much clean work.

Muhammad landed the more telling punch of the seventh, a stiff right which checked Spinks’s advance, but he failed to sustain the attack. The course of the fight changed in the eighth. Spinks opened up at close range with punches to the head and body, and a combination caused Muhammad’s right eye to swell. The champion replied with hooks to the body late in the round, but the injury worsened quickly. By the ninth, the eye was nearly closed. Spinks jabbed repeatedly at the damaged area, brought left hooks around Muhammad’s guard and drove his right hand into the ribs. Muhammad’s vision was further troubled by water running into his other eye between rounds, leaving him increasingly unable to judge the challenger’s attacks.

Spinks maintained his advantage in the tenth, getting the better of an early exchange and driving Muhammad along the ropes. The champion caught him with a strong right near the bell and followed with further blows, but Spinks accepted them without losing his balance or confidence. Muhammad rallied in the 11th. A hard left early in the round helped him re-establish his jab, and for three minutes Spinks found fewer openings for the heavy punches which had damaged the champion during the previous rounds. It was a useful recovery, but Muhammad’s eye remained badly impaired, and the challenger had already taken command of the contest.

The decisive incident came in the 12th. Spinks threw two left hooks before driving an overhand right onto Muhammad’s jaw. The champion went down and remained partly supported on his right elbow as Green counted. Muhammad rose at nine and covered tightly when the fight resumed. Spinks attacked with both hands as Muhammad leaned against the ropes, though the champion answered with two rights and survived until the bell. The knockdown gave Spinks a substantial advantage on the cards and removed any doubt about which man had produced the more effective work during the second half of the fight.

Spinks continued to outbox and outwork Muhammad through the final three rounds. He was more active from long range in the 13th and continued to score to the body when they came together. Muhammad took a few chances and appeared to be waiting for one heavy counter, which never arrived. Spinks hurt him with a left hook in the 14th and followed with several stiff punches, then caught him with a right over the top before the bell. In the final round, the challenger kept his jab moving and returned frequently to the body. Muhammad remained upright and reached the finish, but blood ran from the corner of his damaged eye, and he was unable to mount the sustained attack needed to alter the result.

The verdict was clear despite complaints from Muhammad’s corner. Matthew Saad Muhammad, the WBC champion, had stood nearby offering instructions and afterwards interrupted Spinks’s press conference to argue that the wrong man had won. The official scores did not support that view. Muhammad had boxed well during the earlier rounds and had landed several hard counters, but the damage to his eye, the 12th-round knockdown and Spinks’s greater activity over the later stages settled the contest. Spinks had adjusted after an uncertain beginning, attacked the body consistently and controlled most of the final ten rounds.

The victory began one of the most distinguished light-heavyweight championship reigns of the period. Spinks later defeated Dwight Muhammad Qawi to become the recognised undisputed champion before moving to heavyweight and taking the championship from Larry Holmes in 1985. Muhammad’s intended path towards the heavyweight title was effectively ended by the defeat, although he remained a leading light-heavyweight and later challenged Slobodan Ka?ar for the vacant IBF championship. At the Imperial Palace, however, Spinks had established his superiority over 15 rounds and taken the first major title of his professional career.