Leon Spinks, who surprised the boxing world by beating Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight title in 1978, died Friday night at the age of 67, according to the Firm PR, which represents him.
Spinks suffered from prostate and other cancers.
The St. Louis native, who had won a gold medal as a light heavyweight in the 1976 Olympics, was only 13 months and eight fights into his professional boxing career when he stepped into a ring in Las Vegas against Ali on February 15, 1978.
But Spinks – a tough underdog who has never progressed beyond 10 rounds – came right after the champion, who was 36 years old and was clearly on the flip side of his career.
Spinks, then 24, had enough stamina to survive a 15th round of Ali – delivering one of his own in the closing seconds. The split-decision went to Spinks, who showed his famously gaping grin after becoming the only fighter to take a title from Ali in the ring.
But that would be the highlight of Spinks’ career. First, he was deprived of the WBC title because he refused to defend against top competitor Ken Norton. Instead, Spinks opted for a rematch with Ali, who took back the WBA title seven months after their first fight in a unanimous decision at the Superdome in New Orleans.
The boxing world has lost Leon Spinks. We extend our condolences to Brenda, family and friends. May he rest in peace pic.twitter.com/rGnPfbHWAp
– Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) February 6, 2021
Spinks would fight for the heavyweight title one more time, a TKO loss to Larry Holmes for the WBC belt in June 1981. He then dropped to the cruiserweight division, but lost his only title shot to Dwight Muhammad Qawi in a sixth round TKO in March 1986.
Spinks retired at the age of 42 after losing a unanimous decision to Fred Houpe in December 1995 and finished his career with an unremarkable record of 26-17-3 (14 KO’s).
Spinks, who fought in wrestling and mixed martial arts later in his career, faced financial and medical problems later in life. In 2014, he suffered intestinal damage and was hospitalized after swallowing a piece of chicken bone. It led to multiple operations. In 2019 he was in and out of hospital while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
Spinks was the brother of Hall of Fame former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Michael Spinks and the father of former undisputed world welterweight champion Cory Spinks.