Spinks fought only once in 1984 when he retained his light heavyweight crown with a twelve-round majority decision over Eddie Davis….as he and Dwight Muhammad Qawi were only a couple of weeks away from fighting a rematch in September of that year… but that fight got called off when Qawi was injured during training.
In 1985, Spinks beat David Sears (a fight seen in the Imasportsphile boxing library)….and this title defense against # 7 rated light heavyweight Jim McDonald on June 6, 1985 as the Riveria Hotel in Las Vegas, NV for his 10th defense of his WBA title….his 4th defense of his WBC light heavyweight title….and his 2nd defense of his IBF title….which he won in an 8th round TKO….before challenging Larry Holmes for the IBF and lineal heavyweight championship….in a match where Holmes was trying to tie Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0 as the heavyweight champion….but it was Spinks who made history that night by winning a controversial and narrow 15 round unanimous decision….thus becoming the first world light-heavyweight champion since Tommy Burns in 1908 to win the world heavyweight title.
What made this fight special was it happened on June 6th….the day of the Normandy Invasion commonly known as D-Day….between two boxer who were ex-Marines….as master promoter Don King brought in the Marine Corp Marching Band to help celebrate the historic day in American history while providing a unique tribute to the Marine Corp….not to mention that he called the fight “D-Day Dynamite”….for this was an event that Don King’s promotion talents equalled his “hair style and verbal stick” at the time of the fight….where this fight was one heck of a brawl well worth watching.
