Former Olympian and World Heavyweight Champion Leon Spinks Dies at 67
By Gabriel F. Cordero
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 07 Feb 2021
Leon Spinks.
Former world heavyweight champion Leon Spinks has passed away at the age of 67. Spinks succumbed to cancer in Las Vegas on Friday. He is best known for defeating the legendary Muhammad Ali for the world title in February 1978. He became the WBC and WBA heavyweight champion in just his 8th fight. Ali regained the belt by unanimous decision in fifteen rounds seven months later. An estimated 90 million viewers watched Ali-Spinks II in the US, with 2 billion viewers worldwide. Spinks' overall professional record was 26-17-3 with 14 KOs.
He won the Olympic gold medal at light heavyweight in 1976 in Montreal, Canada alongside others like Sugar Ray Leonard, Leo Randolph, Howard Davis Jr and his Brother Michael.
In his career, he faced, among others: Muhammad Ali, Gerrie Cooetze, Larry Holmes, Carlos De Leon, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Randall Cobb and Alfredo Evangelista among others.
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