First fight I ever watched as a child was Leon Spinks' win against Ali. I think the next time I saw him fight was in clips of his bout with Tex Cobb. It was a piece about boxers who fought too long. So I've seen Spinks in the Kronk trunks against Qawi. Was Steward able to revitalize Leon's career? Did he fight better while with Steward?
No...he was at his best under Benton. Partying ruined him. Having Sam Solomon working with him didn't help either.
Spinks went to Kronk in 85, or should i say Steward was asked to train him. He used his connections to get him a handful of low level fights which led to the Qawi match. He was damaged goods at this point. Drugs, partying etc.
I recently read the biography of the Spinks brothers (sorry, can't recall the title). It was amazing to read about how hard Leon partied. It delved deeply in his psychology, about how he behaved that way because he subconciously never believed he deserved the heavyweight title (because he didn't really earn his shot, and only beat a shot, underprepared Ali). The guy was drunk constantly, smoking cigarette, and going on coke binges with hookers staying up for days at a time. The book discussed how Qawi delighted in torturing Spinks as revenge for never getting the rematch with Michael. I seem to recall Qawi taunting Steward afterwards and that the two had some kind of vague grudge.
The rematch was so close to happening too. Frommemory Qawi's father died and he wanted a rescheduling and Spinks mob got mad. I wonder if it had anything to do with Spinks still fighting the initial match 2 months after his wife died.
