{"id":1138487,"date":"2020-04-11T10:13:41","date_gmt":"2020-04-11T14:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1138487"},"modified":"2021-02-06T19:45:13","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T00:45:13","slug":"leon-spinks-is-facing-a-sad-ending-after-a-wasted-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/leon-spinks-is-facing-a-sad-ending-after-a-wasted-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon Spinks Is Facing a Sad Ending After a Wasted Boxing Career"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Fame\ncame too soon for Leon Spinks in his boxing career and now it appears his death\nwill be premature, too. The 66-year-old retired heavyweight boxing champion was\nrecently reported to be in increasingly failing health following a cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Leon Spinks reached the top too soon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Larry Holmes Didn&#039;t Always Like Leon Spinks, But He&#039;s Praying for Him Now | TMZ Sports\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2WvkGGWm-_w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Although\nhe reached the peak of his profession, Leon Spinks\u2019 stay at the top was brief.\nHis career was ruined by being rushed up the rankings too soon after the\nstorybook ending to his amateur career in a money grab that turned out to be\npenny-wise and pound-foolish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spinks was a rapidly improving fighter in his early 20s. He beat future champion Michael Dokes for his first AAU title and captured a bronze medal as a light heavyweight at the 1974 World Championships. Spinks then scored silver the following year at the Pan American Games and closed out his amateur career at the 1976 Montreal Olympics by winning a gold medal with a U.S. team that included Spinks\u2019 champion brother Michael and future all-time great <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/did-sugar-ray-leonard-ever-lose-a-fight\/\">Ray Leonard<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leon\nSpinks\u2019 victory in Montreal as a 23-year-old U.S. Marine with a gap-toothed\nsmile made for a compelling story for boxing fans to follow, setting up \u201cNeon\nLeon\u201d for a high-profile start to his pro career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He made his debut the following January with a fifth-round knockout and would fight six more times before the year was over. Inexplicably, he was then granted a February 1978 bout against <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/what-was-muhammad-alis-net-worth-at-the-time-of-his-death\/\">Muhammad Ali<\/a> for the world heavyweight championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For perspective\u2019s sake, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/how-much-is-marvelous-marvin-haglers-net-worth\/\">Marvin Hagler<\/a> was the undisputed middleweight champion of the world for more than six years but had to fight 49 times before that from 1973-79 to get a crack at one of the major title belts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">All downhill after an upset of Muhammad Ali<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Muhammad Ali vs Leon Spinks &quot;Legendary Night&quot; Highlights HD #ElTerribleProduction\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/duhEi-aVCSU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Before Buster Douglas <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/mike-tysons-stunning-loss-is-still-the-biggest-upset-ever\/\">stunned Mike Tyson<\/a>, Leon Spinks\u2019 victory over Muhammad Ali by split decision on Feb. 15, 1978, was considered the biggest surprise ever in a heavyweight championship bout. It earned Spinks $320,000 and the title of undisputed champ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nglory did not last. Although Spinks would earn $3 million for the rematch exactly\nseven months later, Ali won back the championship by unanimous decision. It\nwould be the beginning of a horrendous slide that would result in Spinks going\n19-17-2 over his final 38 bouts, including losses in both his shots at major\ntitles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spinks,\nwho was arrested on a cocaine possession charge shortly after beating Ali, was\nthe victim of bad advice almost from the start of his pro career. He was rushed\ninto the big early paydays after beating a short list of carefully selected and\nlightly regarded opponents. And then he was never trained in what it would take\nto compete against competent heavyweights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A 1-8-1 stretch from\n1986-88 that began with a loss to Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the WBA\ncruiserweight championship sent Spinks into retirement the first time, but he\nreturned to the ring in 1991. He was done for good by the end of 1995.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Leon Spinks is nearly broke and dying<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Leon Spinks, former heavyweight Champion, is fighting against cancer | USA TODAY Sports\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XYIfuEdmOvo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Already\nsuffering from dementia, Leon Spinks was diagnosed with prostate cancer in June\n2019 and the disease has spread to his bones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spinks is fed and administered some of his medicine with a feeding tube. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/boxing\/2020\/03\/16\/health-care-former-heavyweight-champ-leon-spinks-fights-his-life\/5002951002\/\">USA Today reported<\/a> recently that the disease is terminal and that his weight has dropped from 274 pounds to 190. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the help of his third wife, Spinks has held private autograph sessions in recent years to cover some of his medical costs. The Spinks family, including brother Michael, has been lending aid, too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leon Spinks held the heavyweight boxing championship for seven months after beating Muhammad Ali but never again had meaningful success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":1138488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4898],"tags":[12328,16743,11071],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Leon Spinks Is Facing a Sad Ending After a Wasted Boxing Career - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Leon Spinks held the heavyweight boxing championship for seven months after beating Muhammad Ali but never again had meaningful success.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/leon-spinks-is-facing-a-sad-ending-after-a-wasted-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leon Spinks Is Facing a Sad Ending After a Wasted Boxing Career\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leon Spinks held the heavyweight boxing championship for seven months after beating Muhammad Ali but never again had meaningful success.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/leon-spinks-is-facing-a-sad-ending-after-a-wasted-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-11T14:13:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-07T00:45:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Leon-Spinks.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Moriello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Sports7J\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Moriello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/leon-spinks-is-facing-a-sad-ending-after-a-wasted-career\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/leon-spinks-is-facing-a-sad-ending-after-a-wasted-career\/\",\"name\":\"Leon Spinks Is Facing a Sad Ending After a Wasted Boxing Career - 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A graduate of St. John Fisher University, he finds inspiration in the underdogs and the fascinating stories sports can tell (both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat). John expertly covers all aspects of NASCAR. Beginning with his 2014 coverage at Fox Sports of the aftermath of the dirt-race tragedy in which Kevin Ward Jr. died after being struck by a car driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, John has excelled as a journalist who specializes in the motorsports world. He previously spent more than three decades covering high school sports and worked as a beat writer covering Big East football and basketball, but NASCAR is now where the true expertise falls. 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