Spinks Showed That Ali Was Past His Prime

It was a changing of the guard, a milestone heavyweight championship fight.

The heavyweight championship that Muhammad Ali had defended so skillfully and often so bravely 19 times slipped from his grasp 21 years ago tonight in a Las Vegas ballroom.

Ali, in his prime arguably the century’s greatest fighter, lost by split decision in 15 rounds to Leon Spinks, who had only seven professional fights.

Ali had twice stood up to Sonny Liston, beaten George Foreman, Ken Norton and Joe Frazier. But he was 36 now, and there he was, in there with a kid from the Olympics he once wouldn’t have hired as his sparring partner.

Ali got a rematch and regained his title, but the loss to Spinks showed that the Ali of old was gone.

It was considered boxing’s biggest upset since Ali, as a decided underdog then known as Cassius Clay, beat Liston in Miami in 1964.

Spinks, never known for his eloquence, surprisingly walked into Ali’s dressing room afterward.

“You’re a great fighter and a fine man,” he told the fallen champion.

“Thanks,” Ali mumbled, holding an ice pack to his head. “You ain’t so bad yourself.”

“Ali was my idol when I was a kid,” Spinks told reporters. “He’s still my idol. I can’t honest say I feel sorry for him, in my heart, because this is something I always wanted. But I can’t say anything bad about the man. He gave me a great fight.”

Also on this date: In 1932, at Lake Placid, N.Y., Eddie Eagan became the first athlete to win gold medals in both the winter and summer Olympics. He had won a boxing gold at the 1920 Games. . . . In 1974, Boston’s Phil Esposito scored the 1,000th point of his NHL career. . . . In 1948, in the first-ever NASCAR race, Red Byron won a 150-miler at Daytona, Fla.