"Spinks"

Back when I was a fan of boxing (I'm still a BIT of a fan of WOMEN'S boxing but I'm even losing interest in THAT), I saw two huge upsets. The first was when Leon Spinks beat the great Muhammad Ali in their first fight, February 1978 (photo above). That fight helped me realize that fights AREN'T always fixed, otherwise Ali would have won. And when Ali beat Spinks in their REMATCH exactly 7 months later, to become a three time World Champion, I became an Ali / Boxing fan!! (The "Rocky" movies helped ALSO....esp. "Rocky II," in 1979).

The SECOND great upset came in 1990, ALSO in February...the greatest upset of all-time. Buster Douglas beat the then-undefeated Mike Tyson though he was a 42-1 underdog. It was "Rocky" in real life!!

Leon Spinks just died, and, of course ALI died a few years back. Both Spinks and Douglas will always be remembered for one thing....beating the champs ALI and TYSON, respectively.

Leon's brother MICHAEL Spinks is still alive and once fought TYSON...a few years before Douglas did. It didn't go so well for MICHAEL, as I recall, he was afraid to come out of his dressing room to face Iron Mike and got pummeled in about 90 seconds. (This was two years or so before BUSTER took that Aura of Invincibility away from Mike, Lol)!!

So, when I hear the name SPINKS, I will always think of LEON and that night of Feb. 15th, 1978. I will think of a brave young man who defied the odds, beat Ali, but then was decent enough to give The Champ a rematch (something TYSON was never given by DOUGLAS). The rematch, in my opinion, was a show of respect and even though Leon lost...he WON in the long run.