Although they are brothers, they are not the same, like night and day. One is silent and the other is coming out. I've met both of them, take my word for it.
Both Spinks brothers Leon 'Neon' and Michael 'Jinx' won Olympic Gold Medals in 1976 in Montreal, Canada. Leon, the older of the two, had a freshman record of 178-7 with 133 strikeouts.
Leon won AAU titles in 1974, 1975, and 1976. At the Olympics, he defeated boxers from Morocco, the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland and Cuba. He won a silver medal at the Pan Am Games in 1975.
Michael was 93-7 with 35 strikeouts. He was a National Golden Gloves champion in 1974 and 1976. At the Olympic Trials, he went 3-0, defeating Lindell Holmes, the future IBF Super Middleweight Champion. In the box-offs, he broke away from All-Service champion Keith Broom.
At the Olympics, Michael defeated boxers from Cameroon, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union.
On the pay-per-view list, Leon's highlight was defeating Muhammad 'The Greatest' Ali in his eighth fight, going 7-0-1. It was February of 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he showed no fear of taking the fight to Ali, taking the split decision by scores of 144-141 and 145-140, with Ali 143-142.
In September, in a bout at the Superdome in New Orleans, LA, before a crowd of 63,350, Ali won 11-4 and 10-4 twice.
Leon's career was full of good and good times. In his next fight, he was stopped in the first round by future South African champion Gerry 'Bionic Hand' Coetzee, 21-0. He defeated South American champion Bernardo Mercado, 26-2, then lost to WBC world champion Larry 'The Easton Assassin' Holmes, 37-0, in 3 rounds.
In December of 1985, he stopped Kip Kane, 15-1-1. I met him before the war, and he was the kind of person you wanted to hug, relaxed.
In his next fight, Leon dropped 23 pounds and challenged WBA Cruiserweight champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi, 25-2-1, but was stopped in five rounds.
Leon owns a 26-17-3 record with 14 shutouts. After Ali's win, he went 18-17-2.
In the professional ranks, Michael is also the world champion in Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight.
In October 1980, Michael stopped the tough Yaqui Lopez, 49-10, in 7 rounds in Atlantic City. Two fights later, back in AC, he knocked out former champion Marvin Johnson, 27-4, in four rounds. Next, he defeated Eddie Mustapha Muhammad, the WBA World Light Heavyweight champion, 38-5-1.
In his first defense, Michael stopped Vonzell Johnson, 22-2, and retired him. Mustafa Wasajja, 24-0-1, was stopped. Defeated WBC champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi in his sixth defense, 19-1-1.
After nine defenses, Michael won the heavyweight title, defeating Larry 'The Easton' Assassin' Holmes 48-0. In the rematch, he won a controversial split decision. In his third defense, he stopped Gerry Cooney 28-1.
In June 1988, in his last fight, he was stopped by 'Iron' Mike Tyson, 34-0, in the first round, ending his losing streak at 31-1, and then retired.
I met the quiet one, Spinks, twice, once in Philadelphia at a show where I gave him a picture of his 1976 Olympic teammates.
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