BoxRec

Hi guys! I hate to necro-bump a decade old thread...but recent events and some internets googling has driven me to reawaken this discussion. I live in Henderson, Nevada (a suburb outside of Las Vegas)...nestled on one side of a retirement community. In our neighborhood, there's a small collection of stores (grocery, bank, few
restaurants, Starbucks...they are literally everywhere). Within this collection of commercial buildings is a small pub/eatery called PT's (which are located all over the
Vegas Valley). On occasion, my wife will go hang out at the pub with her friends to get away from kids/husband/life/etc. A few trips ago, she comes home and starts
telling me about this older gentleman who started talking with the group. The tells them his name is Leon and that he used to box. One of the guys in the group recognizes who he is and tells my wife and her friend..."hey, that's Leon Spinks". The friend proceeds to give a little background info and such. Leon picks up on this and asks if anyone would like a picture. My wife, having no clue who this guy is, politely declined. Of course, when my wife gets home, I flip out a bit telling her she should've taken her pic with him, that he was a famous boxer. At which point I go and wikipedia Leon Spinks only to realize that he was the heavyweight champion and beat Muhammad Ali to gain that title.

Now at this point, the gravity of the opportunity missed is growing in my mind because of the realization of how big a character Leon Spinks was at a certain point in
time. I'm a casual boxing fan but definitely not a fanatic. I loved boxing in the 80's, but eventually migrated away after the Tyson/Holyfield ear incident (which bring
up another 'cool story bro' moment with Tyson that I'll mention later) and have never really found my way back entirely. But my wife, who is completely ignorant to most
things sports, was also realizing the missed chance to mingle with a legend.

Fast forward to last night, same scenario, different week. Wifey goes to the pub to unwind and Leon is there again. After talking with Leon and his wife, she finds out
that they live in the retirement community next to us and they somewhat frequent the pub. My wife starts talking with Leon's wife and finds out a lot of information on
how things are going for them. She and Leon moved to Vegas a few years ago to be close to a facility that does brain research. Leon is starting to deal with bouts of
dementia and each day is a struggle. As the day progresses, he becomes more coherent and functions better...but boxing definitely took its toll on him. As stated in
other locations throughout the internet, he burned through his boxing money a long time ago. He does work with Caesars Palace, but as to what capacity, my
wife didn't know.

One of the cool things that came from all this is that my wife and Leon's wife struck up a food conversation. Leon's wife asked my wife (who is from Hawaii) to teach her
how to make some Hawaiian recipes...so hopefully we'll get to interact more with them in the future. Dinner with the champ would be an awesome event.

Anyways...just wanted to throw this out there. I notice most of the posters in this thread still frequented the board and might find this interesting or informative...or
at least get a chuckle out of a decade-old thread resurfacing.


And...speaking of the dinner with the champ...(a few years ago)I get a text from my wife. She's at Chuck E Cheese (a kids pizza joint with coin operated games and such) with our kids and another friend and who in the world is there other than Mike Tyson and his kids. They didn't really chat with Mike, although my daughter did go up and get her picture with him. We thought it was humorous that the once "baddest man on the planet" had been reduced to daddy-duty at Chuck E Cheese. Wife said Mike seemed cordial and interacted quite a bit with his kids. He was never bothered when people approached him for pics or to chat.

Sorry for the long post! Just thought I'd share.

Interested in any other stories you have of Leon spinks or updates.Thanks

He has pugilistic dementia.

ThatOne wrote:He has pugilistic dementia.

Emile Griffith,Leon Spinks, Marvis Frazier and Joe Frazier at Ring 8 dinner 2010

Leon definitely does NOT have pugilistic dementia, speaks quite well and has full faculties of his brain. Including ALL new teeth also.
He lives on a farm in midwest, tractor and all. Married to caucasion wife and travels extensively to boxing gatherings when asked.
He says he rarely sees Michael since he lives in Maryland, but there is love between the two brothers and talk via phone.



Leon and I, 2009 in Westchester NY for AAIB Org charity event.

This is a nice update. In about 2006 I was working for a boxing site and contacted him for an interview. He was doing janitorial work at a local YMCA. He was certainly broke and barely getting by. Hopefully Ceasars keeps him out of poverty.

CNorkusJr wrote:

ThatOne wrote:He has pugilistic dementia.

Emile Griffith,Leon Spinks, Marvis Frazier and Joe Frazier at Ring 8 dinner 2010

Leon definitely does NOT have pugilistic dementia, speaks quite well and has full faculties of his brain. Including ALL new teeth also.
He lives on a farm in midwest, tractor and all. Married to caucasion wife and travels extensively to boxing gatherings when asked.
He says he rarely sees Michael since he lives in Maryland, but there is love between the two brothers and talk via phone.



Leon and I, 2009 in Westchester NY for AAIB Org charity event.

I got my information from boxrec:

Spinks worked as a greeter at Mike Ditka's restaurant in Chicago after retiring in 1988. He returned to the ring in 1991 and retired for good in 1995. Spinks made in excess of $5 million during career but ended up broke. He was homeless for a while and lived in shelters. In recent years, Spinks, who now suffers from dementia pugilistica, has lived in Columbus, Nebraska, working as a weekend custodian at a YMCA, sometimes unloading trucks at McDonald's, and volunteering to help the homeless. [1]

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Leon_Spinks


As an editorial note I do volunteer work at nursing homes. Many of the residents have vascular dementia that is secondary to the aging process which is another type of brain injury that is caused by a reduction of blood flow to the brain. There are degrees and different levels of coherence. My mom, God bless her, had vascular dementia. It happens when you live to ninety. As the saying goes she had good days and bad days.

Leon was one of the 'accidental' characters in boxing, meaning his demeanour was infectious to those around him. He always seemed to have always had a heart of gold so if he's doing ok today then that's great news

bollox wrote:Leon was one of the 'accidental' characters in boxing, meaning his demeanour was infectious to those around him. He always seemed to have always had a heart of gold so if he's doing ok today then that's great news

This is off the top of my head so I could be very wrong but it seems the 1976 U S OLympic Boxing team with the Spinks brothers and Ray Leonard was one of the best U S Olympic boxing teams ever.