Neon Leon Spinks to be chief second in Corey Spinks corner
http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slu...v=st&type=lgns
By Mark Staniforth PA Sport Boxing Writer
Leon Spinks dethroned Muhammad Ali to become the proud owner of the so-called richest prize in sports after only eight professional fights but was bankrupted by his prodigious appetite for self-destruction.
Few former world heavyweight champions have fallen so far, so fast. In the seven intervening months before he lost his title in a rematch, Spinks succumbed to the trappings of superstardom.
Known as "Neon Leon" for his hedonistic lifestyle, Spinks was arrested four times during that period for offenses ranging from driving the wrong way down a one-way street to drug possession.
He disappeared from his training camp for days on end. On one occasion, promoter Butch Lewis tracked him to North Carolina.
"He's in a little shack drinking moonshine whiskey," Lewis told Ali biographer Thomas Hauser. "He's smoking dope, groggier than hell, like this is a dream and he's gonna enjoy it because any day now he's gonna wake up. And that's how it was the whole time when he was champ."
Years later, having claimed he did not see a penny of the $3.75 million he was supposed to have banked for losing the rematch, Spinks' trademark gap-toothed grin was borne out of necessity rather than choice.
He was mugged of his famous gold front teeth and spent time in a homeless shelter in Detroit. In recent years, the former heavyweight champion has cleaned toilets at the YMCA in Columbus, Nebraska for $5.15 per hour.
Those who have met Spinks in recent years speak of a proud former champion, afflicted by arthritis and the possible onset of some degree of dementia, yet quietly seeking to retain his dignity by earning his keep.
If Spinks has more than paid his dues for those seven tumultuous months which culminated in the loss of his title, it is one episode from that period which now offers itself to provide unexpected redemption.
Five days after his victory over Ali, Spinks became the proud if presumably somewhat errant father of a second son, Cory, who went on to emulate both Leon and his uncle, Michael, by becoming a world champion.
This Saturday night in Memphis, Tennessee, Cory Spinks, the former undisputed welterweight champion, will make an ambitious step up to middleweight to face Jermain Taylor, the division's globally recognized top fighter.
A new generation of boxing supporters might not recognize the shy and slightly stooping figure in Cory's corner, with his features hidden beneath a tugged-down baseball cap and the gap-toothed grin tucked away until the time is right.
But it will be "Neon Leon," back under the blazing ring lights which yielded so many opportunities and prefaced so much pain. Having patched up their differences, Cory has invited his father to be his chief second on fight night.
"Having him there for this fight will give me an extra boost," Cory Spinks said. "It'll make me fight harder. He beat a bigger champion and that's what I'm going to do against Jermain. My father gives me in the inspiration that makes me feel I can do it."
Giving away weight is nothing to the Spinks clan. Leon gave away 27 pounds to Ali in their first fight. Michael gave away 22 pounds on the night he became the first to defeat reigning world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes.
"What they accomplished was amazing and I want to add to that legacy," Cory Spinks added. "I want to show people that boxing runs through the blood of a Spinks, not just the name."
It is a mighty task for Cory, greater arguably even than facing a fading legend in your eighth professional fight. The sharp and fleet-footed challenger must somehow overcome Taylor's crude but relentless force.
Last July, Spinks moved up to fight at light middleweight for the first time, scoring a majority decision over top contender Roman Karmazin. He jumped at the chance to face Taylor when original opponent Sergio Mora withdrew.
The father will be there, as much for Leon's sake as Cory's, one suspects. He will impart his own quiet words of advice should they be required and provide a constant reminder that boxing miracles do happen.
Spinks will be happy to keep his anonymous existence while any neon within him flickers on through his son.
"I didn't understand what it meant to be heavyweight champ," he once said. "I was just Leon, and that's all I ever wanted to be."
MIDDLEWEIGHT MEDDLING: Leading middleweight contender Kelly Pavlik, who faces tough Colombian Edison Miranda on the Memphis undercard, has trashed Taylor's decision to defend his unified title against Spinks. "People are tired of seeing Taylor fight the guys he's fighting," Pavlik told maxboxing.com. "Cory Spinks is a great, great fighter, but not at middleweight. This is one of the biggest fights in the weight class and once I beat Miranda, Taylor is probably not going to take the fight. So this is pretty much like a world title fight for me."
Boxings rising Middleweight Star.
Kelly Pavlik vs. Edison Miranda
