The wonderful and turbulent 1920s were followed by the awfully chaotic '30s, the bombastic '90s heavyweights led to a '00s so bad it drove television networks away from the division, and the post-Muhammad Ali era experienced a veritable boxing ice age.

Larry Holmes did what he could to lead the heavyweights out of the depths even before Ali fully retired. He dispatched several of the previous era’s fringe contenders and even vanquished Ali’s secondary nemesis Ken Norton for the WBC title. Holmes then dedicated his immediate future to facing down a newer generation of heavyweights, not to mention handing Ali his only stoppage loss in 1980.

Even the least popular heavyweight champions are missed when they’re gone, and Ali was as famous and beloved as ever when his career ended. Holmes openly resented Ali’s refusal to pass the torch or be gracious about his old sparring partner’s success, and added to mercilessly battering the old man, it made Holmes a villain.

One of Ali’s rants before their fight stuck to Holmes’ ego: “Holmes would not be around if Joe Frazier was in his prime. Holmes would not be around if George Foreman was in his prime. He was lucky he caught Ken Norton and Earnie Shavers at the end of the trail. This man’s not as good as Leon Spinks.”

Holmes’ attitude probably also made it more likely for pundits to herald his demise, evidence be damned. He moved too much like a cheap version of Ali and wouldn’t last, they said. A few contenders managed to rattle him, and the experts reasoned Holmes therefore must be fighting on borrowed time. Nobody knew Holmes would become a dominant force at heavyweight, but their career obituaries were off by years.

Months after defeating Ali and becoming public enemy number one, Holmes and promoter Don King planned two fights in two months: an April 1981 defense against ranked contender Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas followed by a Detroit showdown with former champion Spinks in June.

Berbick was an eccentric character and the Canadian heavyweight champion. He was usually tough, and on good days he was a talented fighter with loads of promise. Against Holmes, he ended up another hapless contender as the champion hammered out a clear decision and looked toward the much bigger name in Spinks.

Tales of Spinks’ debauchery echoed through his regular party venues for months, sometimes years. He won a gold medal in the unforgettable 1976 Olympics and handed Ali a loss for the heavyweight title in only Spinks’ eighth pro fight. And those two things happening within the span of about 18 months may have been both the best and worst thing for him.

Had Ali been a younger version of himself, he may still have been troubled by Spinks’ swarming style. The planets aligned for Spinks that evening, however, and Leon’s conduct as champion, the inevitable loss in the rematch and in his subsequent fights proved he simply didn’t have the discipline required for greatness.

Spinks drank, snorted and grunted his money away in record time and found himself in constant domestic trouble. Even the bodyguard hired to look after him, future star Mr. T, was helpless against Spinks’ hunger and vices. In fact, one of Spinks’ many adventures initially put him on Holmes’ shit list.

According to Holmes, he and his wife attended a dinner honoring the great Joe Louis in 1980. Throughout the event, a visibly drunk Spinks began throwing miniature boxing glove centerpieces around the room at people as a joke. When he tried to grab the centerpiece in front of Holmes’ wife Diane, she wouldn’t allow it, and a fight nearly broke out as Spinks and Mr. T directed insults toward Holmes, who happily took his wife’s side. Nothing came of it, but Holmes didn’t forget.

Holmes later wrote in his autobiography: “I marked Spinks for a good butt-whupping, deciding right there [during the tussle] I’d try to get him in the ring as soon as I could. Get him in the ring and beat him bad. Hurt him.”

Another matter gnawed at Holmes on the periphery, and that was the rise of New York contender Gerry Cooney. Holmes already felt slighted by both boxing’s media and the public for their chilly reception to his watered down Ali act, and now a fighter newspapers openly referred to as a “white hope” encroached on his publicity and fighting territory. When Holmes signed to face Leon, he knew a fight with Cooney wouldn’t be long behind it.

Spinks’ loss to South African heavyweight Gerrie Coetzee immediately after the Ali rematch and his struggles raised questions shared by boxing fans and oddsmakers: Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena sold less than half its tickets in the lead-up to the Holmes fight, and Spinks was a heavy underdog despite showing up in terrific shape. Cooney, who happened to be ringside, also predicted a Holmes victory.

At the opening bell, Spinks attempted to chase Holmes down like the Ali copy everyone said he was. Holmes’ reach advantage and savvy helped him keep Spinks at the end of his jab, and he appeared to whisper into the challenger’s ear when he could manage to take the fight inside. Spinks even smashed home a number of good body shots in round 2 as Holmes appeared disinterested in fighting inside and simply held on.

The bell accidentally rang about 20 seconds early in round 2, and Spinks finally got Holmes into a corner as the round was allowed to play out naturally. Holmes began round 3 back in control, though, and he chucked a number of left hooks with an audible grunt, suggesting he was done fiddling around with Spinks.

Sure enough, Spinks walked into a counter right hand that hurt him and sent him into the ropes face-first. Holmes then put Spinks on the ropes and measured him with his left before crashing him right hand after right hand, and Spinks went down. Leon got up at the count of nine but had nothing as he sat in a corner and absorbed more punishment until the towel flew in and ended the fight with about 30 seconds remaining as Leon’s brother Michael pleaded for a stoppage.

Holmes sat down to speak with ABC’s Howard Cosell minutes after the fight ended and went through the motions thanking various people, mixing praise, pity and contempt for Spinks. After a handful of questions, Cosell invited Cooney over to the interview, and Holmes immediately warned that he would attack before charging at Cooney and causing a big stir.

Meanwhile, Spinks walked slowly back to his dressing room, where he talked about going back to the gym and fixing mistakes. But his team knew this was probably the end of his serious heavyweight career, and it was.

For once Holmes’ anger and bitterness actually helped him as the melee with Cooney stirred interest in a Holmes-Cooney matchup that would help define early 1980s boxing. It also laid the foundation for Holmes to feud with Leon’s brother Michael years later.

Holmes is unjustly remembered for operating in the post-Ali wasteland. It was difficult terrain to navigate and few survived unscathed, yet Holmes ruled for years. Leon Spinks was just one of the remnants of a bygone era to which Holmes brought closure.