I found this, another addition to the fighting Spinks family.
He was all arms and legs, 132 pounds stretched over a 5-foot- 10 frame that was often off-balance.
In other words, he bore almost no resemblance to his fistic forebears. Especially when he took a standing eight count as the opening bell was still echoing.
Leon Spinks Jr. does have one thing in common with his famous ancestors.
He attacks and keeps attacking.
That's how the grandson of Leon Spinks, great nephew of Michael Spinks and nephew of Corey Spinks - all former world champions - won his debut in the Novice Division of the Budweiser Golden Gloves Championships.
Spinks, 17, had just enough stamina to outlast Ronald Freeman of the 12th & Park Rec Center on Friday night at Family Arena.
Spinks said he was boxing "since I was little," which he defined as age two.
That was just about the sad day 15 years ago when his young father, Leon Calvin, was found shot to death in an abandoned car on the Martin Luther King Bridge.
"Little Leon" Calvin was just two bouts into his pro career when slain in an unsolved mystery.
"He ain't gone. That's why I got these, to remind me of him," said Spinks Jr., snapping a rubber band above each taped wrist.
Spinks Jr. prayed before his first bout. And then spoke to someone else.
"I asked my daddy," he said, "and my daddy came through for me, rest his soul."
The name game can be confusing in the Spinks clan.
Leon Sr.'s sons - Leon, Darryl and Corey - bore the surname of their mom, the late Zadie Mae Calvin, who never married their dad.
Corey uses Spinks as a ring name, although his legal name is still Calvin.
Uncle Corey Spinks had this critique of his gangly nephew: "He's cool. He's doing all right."
Then the ex-welterweight champ smiled and said, "He's got some work to do."
The Novice Division is for boxers with fewer than 10 bouts.
In accordance with amateur rules, which stress safety, Spinks took his opening eight-count because he was defenseless, not because he was hurt.
Freeman charged back and was on the verge of scoring another standing-eight, but Spinks Jr. got reprieve when his helmet was knocked loose.
He proved to be a shifty target after that, ducking like his Uncle Corey as both southpaws flailed away. Spinks Jr. then landed a right hook that shook Freeman into a standing-eight near the round's end.
Spinks Jr. took charge in the second round. After absorbing a hard right, he twice forced Freeman to turn his back and flee across the ring, then scored another standing-eight with a big left that wobbled Freeman.
In the third and last two-minute round, both fighters ran out of oomph. They had barely enough strength to hug each other before and after the decision.
"It was exciting," said Spinks Jr., hoisting his championship belt, "and this is mine."
Another memento for the family trophy case.
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