Reynoso: How I Remember Leon Spinks (1953-2001)
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 11 Feb 2021
The famous photo of Leon Spinks celebrating after defeating Ali.
Leon Spinks, member of the 1976 Montreal Olympics champion USA boxing squad and the first fighter to unseat Muhammad Ali as heavyweight champion, died recently after battling multiple cancers for five years.
He was just 67 years old, barely a year older than this writer who cheered for him watching on TV his memorable fight with the great Ali on February 15, 1978. I confess at that time, I was still an Ali "hater".
I also watched again that fight on the giant screen of a Manila downtown cinema a few months later and like hundreds of other sudden Spinks admirers, the feeling of thrill, excitement and euphoria was almost the same.
Leon was hunger and determination personified in that first Ali fight where he won by split decision to win the biggest prize in professional boxing from the sport's early days to that date, the world heavyweight championship.
Leon's performance that night was called Cinderella-like as it instantly transformed him from a commoner to a prince, a virtual nobody to a somebody in heavyweight boxing.
Leon beating Ali was also considered as one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight history at that time that included Ali's own victory over Sonny Liston in 1964, Ingerman Johanson's KO of Floyd Patterson in 1959 and James Braddock's own "Cinderella" win over Max Baer in the 1935.
The Greatest was said to be not 100 percent and unmotivated that night but nobody and nobody gave Leon not even a ghost of a chance to beat even an off shape Ali who had previously fought and defeated two other former Olympic champions like himself in Joe Frazier and George Foreman before.
Leon was the third former Olympic gold medalist to battle Ali but unlike Frazier and Foreman who both have banked more than 20 fights and hundreds of rounds each before facing Ali, Leon had just eight pro bouts previously. And though still undefeated, his record was marred by an unflattering draw against an opt beaten Scott LeDoux who was even coming off a knockout loss to another former US Olympian Duanne Bobbick (losing finalist in 1972 Munich by stoppage to then rising Cuban phenomenon Teofilo Stevenson).
Leon certainly upset the whole applecart so to speak in defeating Ali that February evening at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
But before that first fight with Ali, I remember Leon as part of perhaps the finest American Olympic boxing contingent that not only stood up to but even dominated the then dreaded Cuban and Soviet bloc amateur boxing machines.
He was one of the five Americans to bag the Olympic gold medals in boxing but he was not as popular as teammates Sugar Ray Leonard and Michael Spinks, his younger brother who likewise beat vaunted Cuban and Eastern European foes in the light welterweight and middleweight finals, respectively . The other American gold medalists were Howard Davis at lightweight and Leo Randolph at bantamweight.
But his winning light heavyweight finals versus the lanky and powerful Cuban defending champion Sixto Soria was crucial in clinching for the US the overall championship in boxing in that Olympics.
Before their match, the US had won four golds through Randolph, Howard, Leonard and Michael Spinks. Cuba had won only two but with the big prospect of a third in the heavyweight with Teofilo Stevenson in the finals after knocking out US bet John Tate in the very first round in the semis.
Had Leon lost to the big favorite Soria in the light heavyweight finals, Cuba and the US would have ended with four gold medals each but because Cuba had more silvers, the Cubans would have won the overall championship in boxing in that Olympic.
Perhaps that was playing in the minds of both Leon and his cornermen heading into the light heavyweight finals, the last two bouts on schedule for that day, that they were filled with resolve to win at all cost.
The US network broadcast panel covering the finals that included former heavyweight champion George Foreman was therefore surprised when Leon came out charging from the opening bell. It seemed an invitation for disaster.
The 6-3 Soria had established a reputation as a killer having dispatched his previous three opponents in just a total of five rounds!
But Leon and his corner knew what they were up against: Soria's killer was his powerful straight right thrown from the long range after being set up by his probing left jabs.
So Leon decided to take that threat away by constantly attacking and narrowing the distance and forcing the lanky Soria into a phonebooth war.
In doing so, Leon knew he had to take a big risk and eat some big punches from Soria. But he perhaps also knew he was tough and strong enough to absorb some of those for the chance to land his own bombs. He was not a US Marineman for nothing.
The US broadcast panel was at first skeptical if Leon's professional style of fighting would work against the smooth and suave veteran Cuban amateur standout. But when Leon floored Soria after a furious close quarter exchange, they begun to see the wisdom of the strategy.
Soria stubbornly held on and refused go down without a fight and even won the second round making the third and final stanza very crucial in determining who wins the gold.
Leon vanished any doubts as he virtually braved through a gauntlet of Soria's punches to land another bomb that sent the Cuban face first to the canvas. The ref had seen enough and stopped the fight even as Soria had managed to get back to his feet, unsteadily.
Sequences of that Soria fight flashed back to my mind as Leon clawed back at Ali in the final minutes of the 15th and final round of their first fight after being seemingly smothered by Ali's last ditch attempt to turn the fight around and save his crown.
That's the way I want to remember Leon, the little big man who showed he can.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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