Leon served in the United States Marine Corps from 1973 to 1976. Spinks is a boxing legend -- he was inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2017. Spinks was later stripped of the WBC title for facing Ali in an unapproved rematch seven months later, which he lost by unanimous decision. . During the 1990s, Spinks worked for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, winning its world title in 1992, making him only the second man (after Primo Carnera) to hold titles in both boxing and wrestling. It was Spinks' last heavyweight bout for years, as he began boxing in the cruiserweight division. In the dressing room, Spinks hunkers on a bench, out of breath. Clarion Hotel Ballroom, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Won vacant WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title. “But now I’m going to wait till I’m done to do my partying.”. It was one of the few occasions when Ali left the ring with a bruised and puffy face. It is, by most accounts, a life that bears consideration. Sam Solomon, who trained Spinks for the first Ali fight, has told reporters that Spinks used to retire to his room, lock the door and crank up the music. Even when his career veered toward the criminal, it somehow remained more ridiculous than desperate. A Little Bit of Texas, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Curry disqualified after refusing to answer the bell for round 9, believing the fight was scheduled for 8 rounds. Spinks was a little more than a year removed from winning the gold medal in the 1976 Olympics, and carried a 6-0-1 professional record into the Ali fight. “You know, you can’t have a good time without money and I never had that. In the 1980s Leon Spinks competed in several boxer vs. wrestler matches in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), including losing by submission to Antonio Inoki. Spinks also had a brief career as a professional wrestler in the 1990s, working for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and holding the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship in 1992.[2]. Spinks faded just as quickly as he'd risen following the loss to Ali. Spinks was due to face the World Cruiserweight number one David Pearce, but the fight was called off on 24 horrs notice after the fighters had both weighed in, due to the BBBoC stance on Pearce fighting abroad. 40 Black playwrights on the theater industry’s insidious racism. Once the final scoring was announced, Spinks raised his arms again and flashed the toothless grin that would be immortalized in newspaper photographs and on magazine covers all over the world. © 2020 Advance Local Media LLC. Spinks explains this strange time. Muhammad Ali was playful at the press conference for his rematch with Leon Spinks, but he was all business during the fight – the last victory of his legendary career. When his brother Michael Spinks defeated Larry Holmes in a controversial upset for the IBF heavyweight championship in 1985, they became the only brothers to have held world heavyweight championships. Outside the ring, my life was cocaine, weed, cars and women. Later that night it is announced that Spinks’ comeback fight has been postponed another three weeks. I didn’t know what it takes. [1] However, he did challenge once more for the WBC heavyweight title in 1981 (losing to Larry Holmes by TKO in the third round), and the WBA cruiserweight title in 1986 (losing to Dwight Muhammad Qawi by TKO in the sixth round). What preparation had he had? But he did it publicly so that each inevitable gaffe was recounted as part of a continuing saga in personal failure. He lunges awkwardly and it is not nice to see. Leon Spinks, gone from boxing for nearly two years and gone from the Carson monologue for only a bit longer, is making a comeback, probably on both fronts. All rights reserved (About Us). [4] Spinks retired at age 42, after losing an 8-round decision to Fred Houpe in 1995, who was coming off a seventeen-year hiatus. Steve Sipple, "Ex-champ Leon Spinks cleans up in Columbus". The title, stripped from Spinks, was then awarded to Norton. In Spinks' only fight in 1981, and what would be his last opportunity to win the heavyweight title, he had a clear loss by a TKO in the third round at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on June 12. Where to vote. Leon Spinks, right, scored one of boxing's greatest upsets when he captured the world heavyweight championship with a 15-round split decision over Muhammad Ali on Feb. 15, 1978, in Las Vegas. Another boxer, toweling off nearby, answers, “Dog-eat-dog.”, The other boxer answers, “No slack whatsoever.”. It was (is) a couple miles South of where the Last Chance Bar was ( SouthEast corner of Eight Mile Rd and Woodward ) September-12-10, 10:24 PM #5. Then it turned out that he couldn’t handle the lesser cruiserweights either. He had that title for less than half a year. In 1990, Leon's other son, Leon Calvin, was shot to death in East St. Louis as he was driving home from his girlfriend's house. How to vote. The money was going and so were the friends. He looks at his shoes. He is 31; it is his last chance and, accordingly, he is promising a new regime. In August 2017, Leon was inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame along with his brother, Michael. A kid whose mother once had to protect him on the streets becomes heavyweight champion of the world. In 2009 Spinks was featured as part of the 2009 documentary Facing Ali, in which notable former opponents of Ali speak about how fighting Ali changed their lives. As he turns, his foot hooks a light standard that a TV crew had set up for interviews with other Kronk fighters. A boxer-buffoon whose social inadequacies long inspired a community of comedy writers. Like the Spinks we remember, he does not back away, ever. [3] Spinks was never given a rematch; Ali retired after the fight (although he came out of retirement a few years later to fight Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick). Instead of leaving his room, he simply left cities. Spinks said that, on more than one night, he cried himself to sleep. Although Kronk people claim to have rehabilitated Bridges, there is no denying his 4-12 record. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (each updated 1/1/20). Ali won two of his three titles back from Spinks seven months later, claiming a unanimous decision at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. And who since George Washington was known so well for false teeth? ", Olympic boxing champions – men's light heavyweight, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leon_Spinks&oldid=981320091, AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists, Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing, Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States, Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 1974, 1975, and 1976 National AAU light heavyweight champion, This page was last edited on 1 October 2020, at 16:11.