On Feb. 15, 1978, St. Louisan Leon Spinks, who emerged from the projects, rose to the top of the boxing world with a shocking 15-round, split-decision victory over reigning heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in a championship bout held at the Las Vegas Hilton, one of the last championship bouts to be aired (by NBC) on over-the-air television.
Spinks, the 1976 light-heavyweight champion at the Montreal Summer Olympics, was thought to have little chance to unseat Ali, even an out-of-shape one who came into the ring that night. But Spinks, who had had only seven pro bouts, showed more craft than he had been given credit for and never was in trouble even though the fight was a close one, which Ali, according to many observers, still appeared to have won even though he left the ring with a puffy face.
The Las Vegas judges notoriously were not big fans of Ali, though, and two voted for Spinks, who held the title for precisely seven months before losing a 15-round rematch to Ali at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Spinks, who later lost a title bout to Larry Holmes in Detroit in 1981, died Friday night in Las Vegas at age 67 after battling prostate and other cancers. According to the Associated Press, his wife, Brenda Glur Spinks, and a few close friends and other family members were by his side when he passed away.
One of his family members is younger brother Michael Spinks, who, after winning the middleweight Olympic gold in 1976, retired from boxing only to return to become light-heavyweight and then heavyweight champion before losing to Mike Tyson in a first-round knockout for the unified championship.
Michael Spinks, who hadn’t wanted to continue boxing after the Olympics because he said he didn’t enjoy it that much, came back into the ring because he could not find a job other than being a night watchman working the midnight to 8 shift in St. Louis after the city visibly had celebrated both his and his brother’s Olympic accomplishments.
Another family member is Leon’s son, Cory Spinks, who held the undisputed welterweight title and was the IBF junior middleweight champion twice. In 1990, Leon’s other son, Leon Calvin, was shot to death in East St. Louis. Calvin was an aspiring light heavyweight pro boxer having won his first two bouts. Leon’s grandson and Calvin’s son, Leon Spinks III, became a boxer also.
Leon Spinks won three consecutive national Amateur Athletic Union light-heavyweight championships from 1974-76. He finished his amateur career with a record of 178–7 with 133 knockouts.
He and Michael were members of what generally is considered the top Olympic boxing team ever assembled in 1976, with Hall of Fame welterweight Sugar Ray Leonard leading the way.
The victory over Ali was the peak of Leon Spinks’ career. He was the only man to take a title from Ali in the ring as Ali’s other losses were non-title contests or bouts where Ali was the challenger. Spinks’ gap-toothed grin was featured on the cover of the February 19, 1978, issue of Sports Illustrated.
But between winning the title and his rematch with Ali on Sept. 15, 1978, Spinks ran afoul of the law, being charged with felony possession of cocaine, found in his hatband, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana when he was arrested in a White Castle parking lot at 4 a.m.. He also was charged with two driving offenses, and according to reports when police asked for his driver’s license, Spinks replied. “Come on, you know who I am. I don’t have one.”
Spinks was photographed in handcuffs after his March 19 arrest, a picture which appeared in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and which Spinks apparently did not appreciate.
Later that summer, when he was training for the Ali rematch at the Catskills in upstate New York, he spied a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter in the back of the room at a news conference. He asked the reporter to leave because he was upset the picture had appeared in the paper. It made little difference to Spinks that this paper was not the one in question and when Spinks’ bodyguard, Mr. T., intervened with a strong grip on the reporter’s arm, the reporter, choosing discretion over valor, temporarily left the scene.
The seven months between fights was almost too much for Spinks, then 24, to handle. For the rematch, noted trainer George Benton was added to the corner training staff, but on that September night in the Superdome, Spinks seemed confused as he heard babble from three or four different people after every round and, finally, Benton, frustrated himself, walked out of the ring with five rounds to go. Ali won a unanimous decision.
Spinks rebuilt his status and earned a shot at Holmes and lost in the third round in June, 1981. Ironically, Michael Spinks, who had graduated to the heavyweight division, took the IBF title from Holmes in 1985 in a controversial upset.
Michael and Leon became the first brothers to have held world heavyweight championships.
Leon had his last championship fight in 1986, losing to WBC cruiserweight champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi, who had been defeated by Michael Spinks three years earlier for his WBC light heavyweight championship.
Leon Spinks finally retired from boxing in 1992 and won the world title in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling. Later on, he was popular as a greeter at restaurants and at autograph shows.
In August 2017, Leon was inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame along with brother Michael.
