Boxing – 1978 – Curt Gowdy + Larry Merchant Highlight 1978 In Boxing – With Ali + Spinks + Holmes

The boxing video library at ImaSportsphile consists of some 630 world championship fights from The Golden Age of Boxing …..an era that began in 1964 , when Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) defeated Sonny The Bear Liston….and ran until around 1999, when Evander Holyfield fought Lennox Lewis twice….and this video provides “a thumbprint” of when this awesome era of boxing had “matured to the max”…..while being prepared for the “hyper-space” that the decade of the 1980’s would bring to boxing. 

Sportscasting legend Curt Gowdy introduces NBC’s review of boxing in the year 1978….then passes the mike to Larry Merchant….who provides an insightful analysis of the twilight of Muhammad Ali’s career….remembering the man who introduced The Golden Age of Boxing to the world….with great footage of Ali’s two fights with Leon Spinks. 

Next comes a delightful Merchant interview with WBC Champ Larry Holmes… the next Heavyweight legend of boxing in The Golden Age of Boxing after Ali.  In this interview, Holmes pays tremendous respect to Muhammad Ali, in such a way that you could tell how much he loved Ali….although he couldn’t say that, since he was going to have an upcoming bout with The Greatest .

This wonderful video look-back at the year 1978 includes a piece on light heavyweight boxer James Scott….a contender for the title while being a prisoner at Rahway State Prison in New Jersey….with highlights of a fight Scott has with title contender Eddie Gregory for inside the prison….and finishes off with a look to the fighters that would take center stage in the decade of the 1980’s…..which was a decade that included Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Julio Cezar Chavez, Roberto Duran. Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes, Hector Camacho, Salvador Sanchez et al….which just simply provides sufficient evidence of why this was The Golden Age of Boxing.