Multiple outlets have reported that former heavyweight world champion Leon Spinks, who was hospitalized last month in serious condition, is suffering from prostate cancer.
Spinks' wife Brenda confirmed the news on Thursday.
Spinks, 66, an Olympic Gold medallist in 1976 best known for a memorable upset victory over Muhammad Ali two years later in a world heavyweight title fight, was battling for his life in a Las Vegas hospital last month.
“It’s going to be a long road and a lot of work,” Brenda said in a statement to USA Today. “But we are bound and determined for the champ to make a comeback.”
USA Today's report says the cancer has spread to Spinks’ bladder. Brenda said that he has returned home and will undergo cancer treatment on an outpatient basis.
His second match with Ali, at the Louisiana Superdome on September 15, 1978, was a completely different fight. This time Ali was in shape and had a tight game plan to outbox and control Spinks for a unanimous fifteen round decision. The victory allowed Ali to become the first three-time lineal heavyweight champion.
Spinks was never able to secure a trilogy fight, as Ali retired after their second meeting (Ali came out of retirement a few years later to fight Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick).
