Net Worth Ranker
What Is Leon Spinks’s Net Worth?
At the time of his death, Leon Spinks, the American professional boxer, had a net worth of $400,000. Throughout his boxing career, Leon Spinks earned at least $5 million.
Early Life and Amateur Career
Leon Spinks was born on July 11, 1953, in St. Louis, Missouri. His early life laid the foundation for a successful amateur boxing career. Specific details about his childhood home or schooling are not readily available in the provided sources.
Leon Spinks won three consecutive national AAU light heavyweight championships from 1974 to 1976. He represented the United States in international tournaments during this period. In 1974, Spinks secured a bronze medal at the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships. The following year, in 1975, he won a silver medal at the Pan American Games. Culminating his amateur achievements, Leon Spinks claimed a gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where his brother Michael Spinks also won gold in the middleweight division. Spinks finished his amateur career with a 178-7 record.
Professional Boxing Career and Earnings
Leon Spinks debuted as a professional boxer in early 1977 in Las Vegas, defeating Bob Smith via knockout. His subsequent fight took place in England, where he beat Peter Freeman by knockout in the first round. Leon Spinks proceeded to defeat Jerry McIntyre, Pedro Agosto, and Bruce Scott before drawing with Scott LeDoux in October 1977. In his final fight of that year, he beat Alfio Righetti by unanimous decision. Leon Spinks reached a new level of fame in February 1978, when he secured a split-decision victory over Muhammad Ali after 15 rounds. He consequently won the WBA, WBC, and The Ring heavyweight titles, making him the only boxer to take a title from Ali in the ring.
After being stripped of his WBC title for not defending it against Ken Norton, Leon Spinks had a rematch against Ali, losing his WBA title. Spinks fought his next match in 1979, losing to Gerrie Coetzee in the first round. In early 1980, he bounced back with a knockout victory over Alfredo Evangelista. That was followed by a draw with Eddie López in March. Leon Spinks won his final two fights of the year, against Kevin Isaac and Bernardo Mercado; both were TKO victories. In his only fight in 1981, Leon Spinks lost to Larry Holmes via TKO. He improved the next year in the cruiserweight division, beating Ivy Brown and winning the vacant NABF cruiserweight title by beating Jesse Burnett. Leon Spinks only had one fight in 1983, a loss to Carlos de León.
Returning to the ring in 1985, Leon Spinks had an impressive winning streak, defeating Lupe Guerra, Rick Kellar, Tom Fischer, Tom Franco Thomas, and Kip Kane. Spinks secured his final championship opportunity in 1986 when he faced Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the WBA cruiserweight title; he lost via TKO. Over the remainder of his professional boxing career, which lasted through 1995, Spinks had highly mixed results. After losing most of his matches from 1986 to 1988, he had a solid run in the early 1990s with wins over Lupe Guerra, Rick Myers, and Jack Jackson, among others. However, his performance declined again during the final two years of his career, with the lowlight being a loss to John Carlo in his professional debut. After losing to Fred Houpe in late 1995, Spinks retired. While the specific purse amounts for each fight are not detailed in the provided text, his overall career earnings reached at least $5 million. These earnings occurred during a period when boxing purses were significantly lower than today, making this a substantial amount at the time.
Professional Wrestling and Other Ventures
Leon Spinks joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1986, participating in an MMA fight against Antonio Inoki. He lost to Inoki by submission. Spinks’s next pro wrestling appearance was for the United States Wrestling Association in 1990, when he lost to Jerry Lawler. The year after that, he made his debut for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in Japan, teaming with fellow boxer Rufus Blackborn. In 1992, Spinks won the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship by defeating Tarzan Goto. He retired from wrestling the following year. Specific financial details regarding his earnings from professional wrestling or other ventures are not included within the document.
Financial Difficulties and Later Life
Despite earning at least $5 million during his career, Leon Spinks experienced financial problems later in life. Unfortunately his finances were not properly managed. At one point, he was forced to take a job as a janitor at a YMCA in Nebraska.
Personal Life and Family
With his wife Brenda, Leon Spinks had two sons, Cory and Leon. Cory competed as a professional boxer from 1997 to 2013, holding multiple world championships in both the welterweight and light middleweight classes. Leon had been an aspiring light heavyweight boxer before he was shot to death in 1990. In 2012, Spinks was diagnosed with brain shrinkage due to all the punches he took during his career. Later, in 2019, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Leon Spinks passed away in Henderson, Nevada, on February 5, 2021.
