Boxing

FORMER BOXING HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, LEON SPINKS IS DEAD

Published

4 years ago

February 7, 2021

***World heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali (left) and US Leon Spinks fight in Las Vegas during their world heavyweight championship match on Feb 15, 1978. PHOTO: AFP***

Leon Spinks, the gap-toothed fighter from the St Louis slums who pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in boxing history in 1978 by defeating Muhammad Ali to take the undisputed world heavyweight title, has died at the age of 67 after a long battle with cancer, a spokesman said on Saturday (Feb 6).

Spinks passed away with only a few close friends and family present due to Covid-19 restrictions.

“Leon fought his battle with numerous illnesses resiliently, never losing his trademark smile,” The Firm PR said in a statement sent to Reuters.

“Showing true Spinks determination, he never threw in the towel.”

Spinks rose to fame winning the light-heavyweight gold medal for the United States at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

He shocked the boxing world just two years later when he defeated Ali in a split decision.

That would be the highlight of his career as Ali would get his revenge in the rematch seven months later in New Orleans.

Spinks would fight for a heavyweight crown only on one other occasion, losing to Larry Holmes in 1981.

On Saturday, Holmes wrote on Twitter: “You gave me a hell of a fight but you were a good guy. You lived your life the way you wanted and it was a good one. I pray you Rest In Peace.”

Spinks retired in 1995 at the age of 42 with a pedestrian 26-17-3 record, including 14 knockouts.

Much of his post-boxing life was marked by substance abuse, subsistence jobs and obscurity.

But in the late 1970s he had plenty of reasons to flash his trademark broad smile, sometimes accentuated by two missing front teeth.

After serving in the Marine Corps, Spinks won a gold medal in the light heavyweight competition at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

He was undefeated in his first seven professional fights but few thought he had any chance at all against the legendary Ali, even though the champ was past his prime going into their Feb 15, 1978, fight in Las Vegas.

His aggressive style and superior stamina allowed him to outduel Ali in a 15-round split decision, becoming the first boxer to take the title from Ali in the ring.

His reign did not last long. Seven months later, he squared off again with Ali at the Superdome in New Orleans and a properly prepared Ali won a 15-round unanimous decision. Spinks already had been stripped of his World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title for refusing to fight No. 1 contender Ken Norton in favour of the Ali rematch.

After the second Ali fight, Spinks was never again a serious championship contender, although in 1981 he took on Larry Holmes for the WBC crown.

Holmes beat him on a technical knockout in the third round.

Spinks continued fighting, often for embarrassingly small purses, until retiring following a unanimous decision loss to Fred House on Dec 4, 1995.

When his brother Michael Spinks upset Holmes for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight championship in 1985, he and Leon became the first brothers to have held world heavyweight championships.

The Spinks brothers were often bullied growing up in a notoriously rough housing project in St Louis, Missouri and learned to fight as a matter of self-preservation.

In a way, Leon remained a raw, naive child of the rough streets and after he won the title, the life of “Neon Leon” became a cautionary tale.

“It might have looked to people like I was having a good time,” Spinks told the Chicago Tribune, “but deep down I wasn’t because I wasn’t who I wanted to be. I never had anything when I was young. We were poor and now I had so much, so I tried to enjoy it. Having money like that makes you feel you can do anything you want but you can’t.”

Spinks was unsophisticated and did not seem to mind being photographed without his false teeth – replacements for the ones he lost to a head-butt in the Marines, he said.

He endured a series of arrests for driving violations and problems with drinking and drugs, including an arrest for cocaine and marijuana possession.

In 1981 he was mugged outside a bar in Detroit and later woke up naked in a hotel, missing several thousand dollars worth of clothes, jewellery and cash, as well as his false teeth.

The millions of dollars he won in the ring were lost to exorbitant spending and mismanagement, Spinks said.

In the late 1990s media reports said he sometimes stayed in a homeless shelter in the St Louis area and was taking random minimum-wage jobs.

In 2005 Spinks was living in Columbus, Nebraska, working as a janitor at a YMCA and at a McDonald’s.

In his 50s he began showing signs that the punches he took to the head had brought on a form of dementia.

In October 2011, Spinks married Brenda Glur, who began managing his personal appearances, and moved to Nevada, where he had two emergency abdominal operations in 2014.

-Reuters

Boxing

Anthony Joshua seeks world title and redemption against Dubois

Published

13 hours ago

September 20, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Anthony Joshua will have his first title-seeking fight as he faces fellow British boxer, Daniel Dubois on Saturday at the Wembley Stadium in London.

It is his first title fight since losing his belt to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021.

A win for Joshua on Saturday carries great fortunes. A win makes hm the IBF World Champion. The victory would make him the number one contender to unify the heavyweight division.

Joshua is 34 years old and has an impressive track record. His media presence is huge, especially in the wake of his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021.

In an interview with the BBC, he talked about what he has done to get back so close to success.

“I’ve worked hard and I’ve been through a lot of pain and I’ve worked hard to get better,” he said. “I hope those experiences don’t happen again. As you saw that night [after the second Usyk defeat], I don’t like to lose,” he said.

Now another door is opening for a champion whose career shows no signs of slowing down.

Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) takes on fellow Englishman Daniel Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs). Dubois is 27 years old.

A victory for Joshua would place him in the elite group of boxers who have won the world heavyweight title three times: Vitali Klitschko,Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Michael Moorer and Muhammad Ali. A place among the greats.

Joshua’s career spans twelve years. It began with the 2012 Olympic gold medal, fittingly at London 2012. It may seem risky, but fans and the boxing world see it as a stepping stone to the fight everyone wants to see: A potential showdown between Joshua and former champion Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs), 36, who faces Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) in a rematch on 21 December.

However, it is all up in the air because if Dubois wins on Saturday, the British legend could be derailed once again. Fury would also have to beat Usyk in his next fight for the big fight to happen. Either way, there are plenty of possibilities. Can you see Joshua and Usyk meeting for a third time?

Boxing

Undisputed World Boxing Champion, Oleksandr Usyk detained and released in Poland

Published

3 days ago

September 18, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Undisputed heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk has been released after detention by law-enforcement officers at Poland’s Krakow airport, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday.

“I was outraged by this attitude towards our citizen and champion,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

“Our champion was released and no one is detaining him anymore.”

It was not immediately clear why the 37-year-old Usyk was detained. The WBC, WBO and WBA champion, who also won gold at the 2012 London Olympics, has been a national hero aiding Kyiv’s war efforts.

Poland’s foreign and interior ministries did not immediately reply to Reuters’ requests for comments.

“Friends, everything is fine,” Usyk said in an Instagram post. “There was a misunderstanding that was quickly resolved. Thank you to everyone who was concerned.”

He added, “Respect to the Polish law enforcement officers who perform their duties regardless of height, weight, arm span, and titles.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X that his ministry will contact the Polish foreign ministry, as it considered the detention “disproportionate and unacceptable in relation to our champion.”

Polish TVP Info, a television news channel run by state broadcaster TVP, published a social media video on its website showing Polish law-enforcement officers walking the handcuffed Usyk through what appeared to be an airport.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the video.

Usyk beat Tyson Fury in May to become undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion in a thrilling contest at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.

The 37-year-old Ukrainian is the first boxer to hold all four major heavyweight belts at the same time and the first undisputed champ since the end of Lennox Lewis’ reign in April 2000.

Usyk’s charity fund, Usyk Foundation, aids Kyiv’s forces in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion against Ukraine in 2022. It buys, among others, ambulances and delivers humanitarian aid to the front line.

Usyk’s wife, Yekaterina Usyk, who posted a blurred photo of her husband surrounded by uniformed officers, said in an Instagram post in English that she was thankful her husband was free after a misunderstanding.

-Reuters

Boxing

Tyson says Paul will ‘run like a thief’ in the ring

Published

1 month ago

August 20, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Boxer Mike Tyson attends a news conference, ahead of a sanctioned professional fight versus Jake Paul which is set to take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on July 20, in New York City, U.S., May 13, 2024. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado/File Photo

Mike Tyson said he was fit and ready for his Nov. 15 fight against Jake Paul as the two boxers had a joint news conference in New York City on Sunday.

The match was originally scheduled for July 20 but was postponed after former heavyweight champion Tyson, 58, had an ulcer flare-up that forced some resting time.

“Iron Mike”, who has a 50-6 record with 44 knockouts, was one of the most feared heavyweights in history but has not fought a professional fight since 2005.

When asked why he returned to the ring so long after retirement, Tyson’s response was clear: “Because I can. Who else can do it but me? We have a YouTuber fighting the greatest fighter ever to live.”

“He may have been in the ring with people who have the same intentions, but the actuality, no.

“As soon as I catch this guy it’s going to be totally over, he is going to run. He is gonna run like a thief.”

Paul, who was booed and heckled by the crowd, claimed he would put Tyson to sleep.

“I am here to make 40 million dollars and knock out a legend,” Paul said.

“I love Mike and I respect him but we are not friends anymore until Nov. 15,” he said.

When asked if he was afraid of being in the ring with Paul, Tyson replied sarcastically: “I am terrified.”

YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul, 27, is 31 years his junior and has a 10-1 boxing record.

The fight will be streamed live globally on Netflix and will take place at the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

-Reuters