This post fight interview with HBO’s Larry Merchant and Michael Spinks took place on April 19, 1986 after then IBF Heavyweight Champion Michaels Spinks had defeated Larry Holmes in their second match at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel…..which from our perspective was a fight that should have never taken place. You see, here at ImaSportsphile, the home of over 630 vintage world championship fights that are in process of being posted….believe that there are only three ways that a challenger for a champion’s crown can take the crown…..KO, TKO or seriously disfiguring the champ’s face…. which is something that Michael Spinks did not do in their first match…..so, this match should never have happened…..whereby Larry Holmes would have retained his title….tied Rocky Marciano with a 50 – 0 record….and gone on to fight someone that was certainly not as challenging as Spinks had proved to be….in order to set a new record for consecutive undefeated victories as the world heavyweight champion. But, the powers that be in the world of boxing at the time…..apparently did not want to see The Easton Assassin…..a black champion….tie the last white boxing champion’s record.
Anyway, Larry Merchant conducts an interesting interview with the reigning heavyweight champion coming into this 2nd fight….who should not have been there in the first and 2nd place….but to the credit of the judges of this fight….they upheld our position that a challenger cannot take a champion’s title by any other way than knockout, technical knockout or disfiguring the champ’s face…..cuz Holmes certainly did neither of those things to Spinks….as seen in this video herewith.
