(Associated Press boxing writer Ed Schuyler's round-by-round reports from ringside, as sent out over the teletype, with Schuyler's scoring at the end of each round.)
Larry Holmes (37-0, 27 KOs) vs. Leon Spinks (10-2-2, 8 KOs)
WBC Heavyweight Championship
Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
ROUND 1
Spinks rushes across the ring and, after the two trade jabs, launches a combo that brings the crowd, which booed Holmes during the introductions and has adopted the challenger from St. Louis as its own, to its feet.
Holmes, however, coolly parries away his foes crude swings and answers with a hard right uppercut, slowing Spinks' charge.
Driving Neon Leon into a neutral corner, Holmes drives home a right cross to the head and another to the body.
Spinks escapes to the middle of the ring, but after another murderous right by Holmes just misses landing square, a left hook to the body -- a rare brandishing of that weapon by Holmes -- puts the challenger back in a corner, where he somehow stays upright after eating another huge right.
Spinks grabs Holmes tightly in an effort to preserve his consciousness, holding on until referee Richard Steele separates them just before the bell.
Holmes, 10-9
It's all trainer George Benton can do to bring Spinks to his senses between rounds, but he manages to instill some strategy.
"Hit him in the belly," Benton urges. "Slow him down."
Spinks does just that, preventing the champion from renewing his assault with a series of shots to the body, even though only one lands.
After Steele orders them to fight out of a clinch, Spinks tags Holmes with a left-right to the head, forcing the champion to take a step back for the first time.
But just one.
As Spinks rushes forward to follow up, Holmes sheds the possum act with a hard left jab to the face, followed by a right to the forehead, a left hook that lands flush above Spinks' right ear and a pulverizing right to the jaw, which sends him staggering back into the ropes, then crashing to the canvas.
Spinks gets to all fours by the time Steele's count reaches six, and rises at eight, answering the referee's questions with quick nods and appearing to stand steadily.
Steele waves the two back together with 33 seconds remaining. Eager for the quickest knockout of his championship reign, Holmes strides confidently across the ring. A vicious exchange of head shots leaves Spinks wobbly. The effect of Holmes' unerring jab is beginning to show in the form of swelling under the challenger's right eye.
Holmes follows another jab by ripping home a right uppercut, leaving Spinks sagging into the ropes. But the bell rings as Holmes moves in for the finish.
Holmes, 10-8