Leon Spinks

Bomani
Born	Leon Spinks (1953-07-11) July 11, 1953 St. Louis, Missouri
Nationality	United States
Other names	"Neon" Leon
Statistics
Weight(s)	Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	46
Wins	26
Wins by KO	14
Losses	17
Draws	3

Leon Spinks

Medal record
Men’s Boxing
Representing United States
Olympic Games
	1976 Montreal	Light Heavyweight
World Amateur Championships
	1974 Havana	Light Heavyweight

Leon Spinks (born July 11, 1953 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a former American boxer. He had an overall record of 26 wins, 17 losses and 3 draws as a professional, with 14 knockout wins. While still an amateur, he also became a member of the United States Marine Corps. Spinks went from being heavyweight champion of the world to being homeless in little more than a decade. [1]

He won the gold medal in the light heavyweight division during the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, alongside brother Michael Spinks, who also won a gold medal in those games. Two years earlier, at the inaugural 1974 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Havana, Cuba, he captured the bronze medal. His Olympic teammates included Sugar Ray Leonard, Leo Randolph and Howard Davis Jr.

Professional career

He debuted professionally on January 15, 1977 in Las Vegas, beating Bob Smith by a knockout in five rounds. His next fight, his debut abroad, was in Liverpool, England where he beat Scotty Child by a knockout in the first round. A couple of fights later, he saw a slight improvement in opposition quality, when he fought Pedro Agosto of Puerto Rico and knocked him out in the first. He then drew with Scott LeDoux and beat Italian champion Alfio Riguetti by a decision.

Spinks then ranked number one among the world's heavyweight challengers. He made history on February 15, 1978, when he beat Muhammad Ali in a 15-round decision in Las Vegas. Spinks thus won the world heavyweight title in only his eighth fight, the fastest ascent in history. Ali, who had not been the same since his last fight with Joe Frazier, expected an easy fight, but he was out-hustled by Spinks who never seemed to tire in the bout. The victory over Ali was the peak of Spinks' career. In this victory, Spinks became the only man ever to take an actual title belt away from Muhammad Ali in the ring, since Ali's other losses were contests where no official world title belt that he was in possession of was on the line at the time. Spinks' iconic gap-toothed grin was featured on the cover of the February 19, 1978 issue of Sports Illustrated. He never again fought as efficiently.

Spinks was known to be a party animal with a large entourage during his reign as heavyweight champion. A young Mr. T served as one of his bodyguards during that time.

Spinks was stripped of his world title by the WBC for refusing to defend his title against their #1 ranked contender, Ken Norton. Spinks instead agreed to fight a return bout against Ali for the WBA crown. The WBC subsequently stripped Spinks of the title and awarded it to Norton, regarding his defeat of Jimmy Young in 1977 as a retroactive title fight. Because of the WBC's action, Spinks was the last undisputed heavyweight champion until the emergence of Mike Tyson.

The second Ali fight was different from the first; Spinks lost the title to Ali in New Orleans at the Louisiana Superdome on September 15, 1978 by a unanimous 15-round decision. This time it was Spinks who did not train hard enough. Ali, despite his declining skills, gave every ounce of himself in this fight and did everything he could to out-smart and out-box the much younger Spinks. By regaining the title, Ali became the first three-time heavyweight champion.

In his next fight, his only bout of 1979, he went to Monte Carlo, where he was knocked out in the first round by future WBA world heavyweight champion Gerrie Coetzee. In 1980, Spinks beat former world title challenger Alfredo Evangelista by a knockout in five, boxed to a draw in ten with Eddie The Animal Lopez, and beat the WBC's number one ranked challenger Bernardo Mercado by a knockout in nine. The Mercado fight took place on the night that Ali challenged WBC World champion Larry Holmes to try to become the first boxer to win the world heavyweight title four times.

After the win over Mercado, Spinks earned a title bout against Holmes. In what would be Spinks' only fight in 1981 and his last championship opportunity at heavyweight, he was defeated by a knockout in the third round in Detroit on June 12. It was also Spinks' last heavyweight bout for several years, as he moved down in weight and began boxing in the cruiserweight division. He beat fringe contender Ivy Brown by a decision in ten rounds, and former and future title challenger Jesse Burnett by decision in twelve rounds.

When his brother defeated Holmes for the IBF heavyweight championship in 1985, Leon became half of the first pair of brothers to have held world heavyweight championships. Michael and Leon kept the distinction as the only pair until the Klitschko brothers joined them over a decade later.

Spinks competed in several boxer vs. wrestler matches in New Japan Pro Wrestling in the 1980s, including losing by submission to Antonio Inoki. In 1986 Spinks earned his last championship opportunity, as he took on Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the WBA cruiserweight championship. It was the second time that a fighter fought both Spinks brothers, as Qawi had been defeated by Michael Spinks three years earlier for his WBC light heavyweight championship. Unlike Michael, Leon was unable to defeat Qawi and lost by TKO in the sixth round.

Spinks boxed for eight more years, with mixed results. In 1994 he lost a bout by KO to John Carlo, noteworthy for being the first time a former heavyweight champion had ever lost to a boxer making his pro debut. This humiliation was increased by the fact that Spinks lost by KO and was unable to land a single punch. He retired at the age of 42 after losing by decision in eight to Fred Houpe in 1995.

After boxing

During the 1990s, Spinks worked for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, winning its world title in 1992. In the late 1990s, Spinks was a headliner on year-round, touring autograph shows.

As of 2005 Spinks lived in Columbus, Nebraska, worked at a local YMCA and McDonald's, and volunteered at an after-school program for youth. He told a reporter his life is "comfortable", and that he keeps a low profile. Spinks still currently resides in Columbus.

His son, Cory Spinks, held the undisputed welterweight title and was the International Boxing Federation Junior Middleweight champion in 2006 - 2008.

Amateur career

• 1974, 1975, and 1976 National AAU Light Heavyweight champion
• Defeated future champion Michael Dokes for first AAU title in 1974.

Olympic results

• Defeated Abellatif Fatihi (Morocco) KO 1
• Defeated Anatoly Klimanov (Soviet Union) 5-0
• Defeated Ottomar Sachse (East Germany) 5-0
• Defeated Janusz Gortat (Poland) 5-0
• Defeated Sixto Soria (Cuba) RSC 3

See also

• List of heavyweight boxing champions
• List of WBC world champions
• Notable boxing families

References

Grossfeld, Stan (December 21, 2005). "Riches to rags". The Boston Globe. Retrieved November 23, 2008.

External links

• Leon Spinks' Amateur Boxing Record
• [2]