Leon Spinks

CTL-E-7094 · Person · other · 1953–2021

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07966 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7094.

Leon Spinks, born July 11, 1953, in St. Louis, Missouri, is the older brother of Michael Spinks (S8-12) — with Michael, Britannica records, the first brothers to win gold medals in the same sport at the same Olympics and the first brothers in boxing history to win world titles as professionals. Leon won the light heavyweight gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, defeating Cuba's Sixto Soria in the final, after silver at the 1975 Pan American Games. He turned professional in January 1977 as a heavyweight, and on February 15, 1978, in only his eighth professional fight, he defeated Muhammad Ali by fifteen-round split decision in Las Vegas to win the undisputed heavyweight championship, in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight boxing history; he remains the only man to take a title from Ali in the ring. Stripped of the WBC title for taking an unapproved rematch, he lost that rematch to Ali by unanimous decision on September 15, 1978, in New Orleans. He challenged Larry Holmes for the heavyweight title in 1981, losing in three rounds, and in 1986 lost in six rounds to Dwight Muhammad Qawi in a WBA cruiserweight title fight. Britannica states his totals as 26 wins (14 by knockout), 17 losses and 3 draws in 46 bouts. He retired in 1995 and died February 5, 2021, in Henderson, Nevada. None of his brother Michael's later light heavyweight and heavyweight reigns belongs to this record.

The record

• Also known as: Neon Leon

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0475. Firsts disposition: fastest heavyweight championship in history — the title in his eighth professional fight, thirteen months after his debut, as BoxRec and the wire obituary record it — carried in that dated form; 'only man to take a title from Ali in the ring' is carried as the record's standard characterization (Ali's other defeats were non-title fights or fights where Ali was the challenger). BROTHERS SEPARATION, stated plainly: this is LEON Spinks. The 1978 Ali upset and rematch are his alone; the 1983 Qawi unification win, the 1985 Holmes win and the 1988 Tyson loss are his brother MICHAEL's (S8-12) and appear nowhere in this record's facts. Leon's own later title challenges — Holmes in 1981 and Dwight Muhammad Qawi in 1986 — are his, and the 1986 Qawi bout is also carried on Qawi's record (S8-14) from Qawi's side. Identity/variance: Leon is not an International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, so this record rests on Britannica as its authoritative source rather than the Hall; his nickname 'Neon' (Neon Leon) is documented on his record. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Leon's is the steepest arc in the packet — Olympic champion and heavyweight champion of the world within two years, on the strength of one fearless night against Ali, followed by a long decline the record states without embroidery. Photo: CLEARED, CC BY 3.0, 2010 photograph whose Commons description names Leon Spinks, boxer, in St. Louis; a 1978 magazine image ('Leon Spinks in 1978.png') was passed over because its file description is internally inconsistent (dated January 1978, described as a May 1980 magazine issue), and group files naming both brothers were rejected so the file depicts Leon alone.

Relationships

• Muhammad Ali — related to
  Leon Spinks defeated Muhammad Ali (CTL-E-5679) by fifteen-round split decision in Las Vegas on February 15, 1978 — in only his eighth professional fight — to win the undisputed heavyweight championship, and lost the September 15, 1978 rematch by unanimous decision; graph precedent carries defining Ali bouts as related_to edges (Foreman, Frazier, Holmes) (BoxRec; Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Leon Spinks').

Referenced by

• Dwight Muhammad Qawi — related to → this record
• Michael Spinks — related to → this record

Sources

• Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Leon Spinks." Britannica.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)
• BoxRec. "Leon Spinks." BoxRec.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)
• "Leon Spinks." Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)

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Record CTL-E-7094 · Combined Graph record U-07966 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 3 mapped relationships.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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