Ali Wins Title Three Times: Boxing History Made

Muhammad Ali, thirty-six years old and visibly slower than the fighter who had shaken the world in the 1960s, outboxed Leon Spinks over fifteen rounds at the Louisiana Superdome on September 15, 1978, to become the first boxer in history to win the world heavyweight championship three times. The crowd of 63,350, the largest ever to watch an indoor boxing match, watched Ali dismantle the young champion with the ring intelligence and tactical discipline that had defined his prime, compensating for diminished speed with angles, clinches, and an infallible sense of distance. Spinks had pulled off one of boxing’s great upsets seven months earlier, taking the title from Ali in a split decision in Las Vegas. A former Olympic gold medalist with only seven professional fights, Spinks had overwhelmed Ali with relentless pressure while the aging champion coasted through early rounds, assuming he could take control whenever he chose. He was wrong that night, but the loss stung Ali into the most disciplined training camp of his later career. The rematch was a masterclass in adjustment. Ali controlled the pace from the opening bell, using his jab to keep Spinks at range and tying him up whenever the younger fighter tried to force inside exchanges. Spinks, whose corner struggled to adapt, spent much of the fight lunging forward into counters. Ali won the unanimous decision with scores that were never seriously in doubt, then circled the ring with his arms raised in a gesture the world had seen many times before but never under quite these circumstances. Ali had first won the title from Sonny Liston in 1964 as Cassius Clay, a brash twenty-two-year-old who proclaimed himself the greatest and then proved it. He lost the title not in the ring but to the U.S. government, stripped of his belt for refusing military induction during the Vietnam War. He regained it by knocking out George Foreman in Kinshasa in 1974. The third coronation in New Orleans completed an arc unmatched in the sport’s history. Ali announced his retirement after the fight, though he would unfortunately return twice more, suffering losses that foreshadowed the neurological decline of his later years.