Former World Heavyweight Champion Neon Leon Spinks Dies in Las Vegas at 67
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Las Vegas, NV (February 7th, 2021)– Former World Heavyweight champion “Neon” Leon Spinks, who shocked the boxing world in 1978 when he won a 15 round split decision over Muhammad Ali to win the title in 1978, only to lose it back to Ali by 15 round decision in the rematch, has died in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the age of 67.
Between 1977 and 1995, Leon fought in 45 professional bouts, winning 26, losing 17, and drawing three, with 14 knockouts. Leon won a gold medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal Canada at 178 pounds, and his outgoing bright personality outshined that of his younger more successful brother, Michael Spinks, who won a gold medal at the same Olympics, and who went on to win the world light heavyweight and heavyweight crowns.
Leon was 7-0-2 in his first eight bouts when on February 15, 1978, Spinks won the WBC and WBA World Heavyweight title from Ali at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. On September 15, 1978, Spinks lost the WBA title by 15 round unanimous decision to Ali in the rematch. The WBC title had been stripped from Leon for refusing to fight number one contender Ken Norton. Leon subsequently went down in weight, winning the NABF and WB Continental Americas Cruiserweight titles, and fighting for the WBA World Cruiserweight title against Dwight Muhammad Qawi in 1986. Spinks subsequently went back to heavyweight but was beaten often.
In later years, Leon, who served in the U.S. Marines from 1973 to 1976, was broke, battled dementia pugilistica, and battled prostate cancer which had spread to his bladder and required continuous hospital stays. He is survived by his wife Brenda; son Cory Spinks, a former welterweight and light middleweight champion; and his grandson Leon Spinks III, a southpaw super lightweight with a record of 11-3-2. Leon lost his other son, 2-0 light heavyweight prospect Leon Calvin, who was murdered in July 1990 at age 19.
Leon was also a professional wrestler from 1986 to 1993, compiling a boxing record of 22-11 with 14 knockouts. A rare boxing and wrestling double world champion, Leon won the WWA Martial Arts World Heavyweight title in Japan in March 1990 when he defeated Tarzan Goto. Spinks, who wound up homeless for a time after blowing the five million he earned in the ring, also worked as a greeter at football coach Mike Ditka’s restaurant in Chicago, as a weekend custodian at a YMCA, and unloaded trucks at McDonald’s.
COMMENTS
English