Leon Spinks vs. Muhammad Ali II John Tate and Gerrie Coetzee for the vacant WBA title. "We knew Muhammad Ali was going to retire," Arum said, "but as long as he delayed, I couldn't make definite plans." However, in October 1980 Ali returned to face WBC Champion Larry Holmes but was stopped by TKO in the 10th round. He then retired for good after a lackluster loss to Trevor Berbick in December 1981, thus making this fight the final win in Ali's career. Leon Spinks vs. Muhammad Ali II Leon Spinks vs. Muhammad Ali II, was a professional boxing match contested on September 15, 1978 in
Michael Spinks in Miami, Florida, and that same year captured the United States Olympic Trials Middleweight Championship by defeating Keith Broom in Cincinnati, Ohio. He went on to defeat the Soviet Union's Rufat Riskiev to win the Gold Medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Spinks finished with a 93-7 amateur record with 35 knockouts. With the Olympics behind him, Spinks returned to work at a chemical factory in St. Louis, "scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets," as one source tells it. He had no big contracts awaiting him and, while Michael appeared to experts to be the more promising