Leon Spinks

Born July 11, 1953, in St. Louis, Illinois, Spinks was one of eight children raised by his mother, Kay Spinks, in the Pruitt-Igoe housing project, which was notorious for drugs and criminal activity. Before his dad abandoned the family, Spinks would always recall being beaten by his father, who always taunted him by saying, “You’ll never be nothing.”

Those harsh words inspired Spinks to pursue boxing excellence. He and his younger brother, Michael, learned to box at the nearby DeSoto recreation center. Both enjoyed success in the amateur sport, winning gold medals for the US at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

Spinks, who dropped out of school to join the marines, was a three-time marine boxing champion. He also won a bronze medal in the World Championship in 1974, along with a silver medal the following year at the Pan American Games in Mexico before he and Michael both won gold medals at the 1976 Olympics.

On Feb. 15, 1978, Spinks faced Muhammad Ali, a match he won to become the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion, which is considered one of the greatest upsets in boxing history.

Spinks and Ali would face off again just seven months later at the Superdome in New Orleans, where Ali reclaimed the heavyweight title.

After his bouts with Ali, Spinks would fight for a heavyweight crown only one other time, losing to Larry Holmes in 1981. He also fought Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the cruiserweight crown in 1986, but lost the fight.

Spinks retired in 1995 with a 26-17-3 record with 14 knockouts. In 2017, he was inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame.

Spinks was married three times and divorced twice. He is survived by his wife Brenda Glur and two sons, Cory and Darrell, and grandson Leon Spinks III.