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BOXING GREAT LEON SPINKS, WHO MADE MANY PRO WRESTLING APPEARANCES, PASSES AWAY

Boxing great Leon Spinks, who once shocked the world beating Muhammad Ali in what was only Spinks' eighth professional wrestler fight. and at one point was one of the best pugilists in the world, passed away today at the age of 67, it was announced this evening.  Spinks had been battling pancreatic cancer of late and has been dealing with a number of health issues in recent years.

Firm PR issued the following statement:  "Leon fought his battle with numerous illnesses resiliently, never losing his trademark smile.  Showing true Spinks determination, he never threw in the towel.”

As a professional boxer, Spinks held a record of 26 wins, 17 losses and 3 draws - 14 wins by Knockout.  Spinks was also a gold medalist in the 1976 Olympics as a light heavyweight.  The same year, his brother Michael won a gold in the Heavyweight division.

Spinks made a number of appearances in professional wrestling over the years, initially for New Japan, losing to Antonio Inoki in October 1986 in the 8th round of a boxer vs. wrestler match.  Spinks then showed up in Memphis, losing to Jerry Lawler in a "boxing match" via DQ in the main event of a Mid-South Coliseum event in June 1990 that had been set up by Spinks appearing as a guest referee for a Lawer vs. Snowman bout with Spinks turning heel and refusing to count.

From there, Spinks was a regular for Japan’s Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling from 1991 through 1993, initially teaming with Rufus Blakborn during the 1991 Strongest Tag League tournament.  During his  time in FMW, Spinks against Terry Funk, Sabu, Mr. Gannosuke among others, and even had a run with the WWA Martial Arts Championship following a win over Tarzan Goto.  Spinks even faced Atsushi Onita in a barbed wire cage match:

Spinks also made one lone appearance making a cameo in the crowd at Extreme Championship Wrestling's Cyberslam '96 in February of that year, sitting in the front row for part of the event, wearing a black hoodie and an ECW T-short.  Beyond being identified on ECW TV, Spinks did not get physically involved beyond the cameo.  Legend has it that Spinks was filmed doing promos after the show putting over the toughness of Taz but ECW opted to never use the footage, in part due to Spinks' condition that night.

In an interesting related note, Spinks' former bodyguard would eventually become a star of his own in film, TV and in pro wrestling, the legendary Mr. T.

PWInsider.com sends our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Leon Spinks.

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