Spinks, Leon

Spinks, Leon

▪ American boxer
born July 11, 1953, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.

      American boxer who won an Olympic gold medal in 1976 and was the world heavyweight champion in 1978. He and Michael Spinks (Spinks, Michael) became the first brothers to win gold medals in the same sport at the same Olympics and, as professional champions, the first brothers in boxing history to win world titles.

      Spinks, a light heavyweight, had a successful amateur boxing career. Although he lost in the finals of the 1976 Pan American Games, he beat Sixto Soria of Cuba for the light heavyweight title at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. In 1977 Spinks (6 feet 1 inch [1.85 metres] tall) began to fight professionally, moving up to the heavyweight division. After seven bouts he challenged Muhammad Ali (Ali, Muhammad) for the world heavyweight title in February 1978 in Las Vegas and upset the champion in a split decision. In New Orleans seven months later, however, Ali won a rematch. In 1981 Spinks challenged Larry Holmes (Holmes, Larry) for the heavyweight title and lost in three rounds. He fought just one more title fight in his career; after dropping 10 pounds to box at the newly formed cruiserweight level, he lost in six rounds to Dwight Qawi in 1986. Spinks retired from professional boxing in 1995, having won 26 of his 46 bouts, 14 of which were by knockouts.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Leon Spinks — Fiche d’identité Nom complet Leon Spinks Surnom Neon Leon Nationalité …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Leon Spinks — Nombre Leon Spinks Nacimiento 11 de julio de 1953 St. Louis, Missouri Estados Unidos …   Wikipedia Español

  • Spinks, Michael — ▪ American boxer born July 13, 1956, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.       American boxer who was both the light heavyweight (1981–85) and heavyweight (1985–88) world champion and an Olympic gold medalist (1976). He and Leon Spinks (Spinks, Leon) became the …   Universalium

  • Spinks — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Spinks est un nom de famille notamment porté par : Michael Spinks Leon Spinks Voir aussi Spink  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Leon Spinks — Daten Geburtsname …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Spinks — is a surname, and may refer to* Leon Spinks, a former professional boxer * Cory Spinks, a professional boxer and son of Leon Spinks * John Spinks, a former president of the University of Saskatchewan * Michael Spinks, a former professional boxer… …   Wikipedia

  • Spinks — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Cory Spinks (* 1978), US amerikanischer Boxer Leon Spinks (* 1953), US amerikanischer Boxer Michael Spinks (* 1956), US amerikanischer Boxer Terry Spinks (* 1938), britischer Boxer …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Leon (given name) — Leon is a name in several Germanic languages meaning thunder, and is used as both a given name and a surname. In a Greek or Spanish context, the name Leon means lion . A common Francophone given name and surname, it comes from the Latin leo… …   Wikipedia

  • Leon Spinks — Infobox Boxer name=Leon Spinks realname=Leon Spinks nickname=Neon Leon height=height|ft=6|in=1 weight=Heavyweight Cruiserweight nationality=United States birth date=birth date and age|1953|7|11 birth place=St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. death date|=… …   Wikipedia

  • Cory Calvin Spinks — Cory Spinks [[Datei:|200px]] Daten Geburtsname Cory Calvin Spinks Kampfname(n) Next Generation Gewichtsklasse Halbmittelgewicht …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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