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The champ and his champion: Spinks' wife in his corner

The air conditioner was broken. The transmission was slipping. The ignition switch was about to lock.

But while the temperature outside climbed toward 100 degrees and hot air rushed in through the rolled-down windows, the 2004 Honda Accord gamely motored on. Spinks, 62, whose victory against Muhammad Ali in 1978 made him boxing’s heavyweight champion of the world, rode in silence for almost half an hour before he finally spoke.

“Where are we going?” he said.

The blond-haired woman behind the wheel looked surprised. Over the last six months, she and Spinks had made this trip together dozens of times.