Appreciating Leon Spinks!

[Kimmy]

I know this guy turned into a one hit wonder but what he accomplished that Febuary night against Muhammad Ali was history. Spinks, an Olimpic medalist, entered the ring 6 - 0 -1.
Ali was 55 - 2. Why this fight was sanctioned in the first place escapes me but sure enough Neon Leon jumped on Ali and won a deserved SD win.
The reason i bring this up is consider fighters with inexperienced records such as Spinks in todays age. If given a shot against, never an Ali, but a Ruiz or a Brewster, wouldn`t you think someone out there would win having only a few fights?
Should these upstarts be given shots sometimes just as Leon Spinks was?

[Dynamite76]

If they go through the right tests and pass, yes, they should get the shots.By the way, Spinks was a decent pro, but a better amateur.

[The Phantom Menace]

I know this guy turned into a one hit wonder but what he accomplished that Febuary night against Muhammad Ali was history. Spinks, an Olimpic medalist, entered the ring 6 - 0 -1.
Ali was 55 - 2. Why this fight was sanctioned in the first place escapes me but sure enough Neon Leon jumped on Ali and won a deserved SD win.
The reason i bring this up is consider fighters with inexperienced records such as Spinks in todays age. If given a shot against, never an Ali, but a Ruiz or a Brewster, wouldn`t you think someone out there would win having only a few fights?
Should these upstarts be given shots sometimes just as Leon Spinks was?

Even though Leon Spinks really didn't take the boxing world by storm, he did have his one hit. Defeating Ali with little experience was a BIG hit. But also keep in mind that Ali was far from being in his prime.

[ophqui]

i dont think the fight was a case of giving spinks a chance to ***** or whatever, but of giving ali an easy fight at the closing of his career. That still does happen, i mean danny williams and vitali klitsko? very similar situation except danny was overwhelmed.

[rudy]

They can do the same with Audley Harrison he has had about 10 fights let him fight Klitscko now not later

[Kimmy]

Harrisons had 17 fights and he doesn`t stand a chance in hell....i`ve seen like 15 of his fights. He isn`t world class!

[Tha Greatest]

I give lots of props to Spinks

but the same thing wouldn't have happened with a younger Ali

[franker01]

Anyone remember Leon in his pre fight interviews with Howard Cosell? Referred to Ali as "Mr. Man". Seemed a little unsure of himself. Then went out and cleaned his clock. Ah, the memories...

[butterfly1964]

leon spinks was an inexperienced, slow punk who caught an undertrained, overweight, old, didn't care much about the sport anymore muhammad ali. he is a bum if i ever saw one, which is exactly why ali embarrased him four months later when ali only weighed like 3 pounds lighter than the last time! he was still fairly over weight. who has heard anything about leon in the past, say 20 years. to me cassius clay and floyd patterson are the only fighters with an inexperienced record to win the title and go on to become greats. that ali-spinks I fight was a fluke, and it didnt really change boxing at all, like say, clay-liston I "I am thee king of the world. I'm pretty. I'm a bad man."

[Punch Drunk Willie]

In some cases, if they fought the caliber fighters Spinks fought in his first seven. He wasn't weened on a long string of 0-0, 0-1, 1-2 no-names. After only seven fights he deserved a title shot every bit as much as Bonavena, Evangalista, and Jean Pierre Coopman. Problem is, I can't find a heavy with ten fights or less that has fought anyone worthwhile. Can you?

One thing is for sure, you can never take away being the undisputed heavyweight champ of the world from him, no matter what he did after.-- and he wasn't that bad of a guy, just not ready to be thrown into the world spotlight like that with his relative lack of skill and sophistication.