Best heavyweight Leon Spinks could beat?

This is easy.

Muhammad Ali.

Unless you argue that he could bat some version of Joe Louis, and think Louis greater than Ali.

 

He might have a chance against Butterbean!!

 

Then look for one at the lower end of the spectrum who doesn't like his style.

 

Possibly more people than we might think. he might have beaten Ingemar Johansson. They were of comparable size. Both could punch. Neither had an iron chin. Both liked to fight in close. James Braddock is another. While Braddock was far better than his record shows, he proved at times to be very beatable. A motivated Leon Spinks vs Jimmy Ellis might have been close. There’s some possibilities out there

 

Leon’s “prime” was his ninth fight against a very neurologically impaired Ali. Leon never really had a prime. He was self destructive and unfocused just like most young men from North St. Louis were then and are today. North St. Louis eats the souls of young men. As soon as Leon got some money in his pocket his career ended. Had he grown up somewhere else and was instilled with more discipline, and he met Holyfield’s PED supplier, I am sure Leon would have had a more successful career.

 

Leon Spinks was actually a good boxer. No question that he was on the small side for a heavyweight. He was a Marine and that provided him with structure and focus. Once he left that environment and got some money in his pocket he self destructed.

 

This.

Leon Neon had "accidental champion" tattoed all over his face.

He is sort of an enigma, because he never had a real prime; so it is difficult to evaluate what was his potential.

Sometimes he looks like a wasted potential HoF that never was, other times he looks like the luckiest tomato can ever.

 

I think he'd have probably beaten Jimmy Young.

 

Leon at his best would have beaten a lot of guys. Folks don't realize that by the time he went pro, he had already had hundreds of hard fights not only in the amateurs but he was notorious for hard sparring sessions at about every rec center St. Louis and most of the time he sparred without headgear. Very few men could stand toe to toe with a prime Leon. Just take a look at who he beat in the amateurs with Sixto Soria and Michael Dokes being two of the most impressive.

I pretty much post the same thing in every Leon Spinks thread but I was lucky to meet him numerous times as a amateur fighter in St Louis and he was without question the nicest/most humble ex champ that I have met but he was clearly suffering from CTE which you could see in interviews early in his pro career. By 81' he was a shell of his former self.

 

Bull****! Leon fought his way out of one of the worst ghettos in the country and not only served his country in the Marines but he won Olympic gold against the best that the Soviet Union and Cuba had to offer during an era when winning gold in boxing truly meant something. Sure, he fell into drugs and alcohol later in life but don't discount what that man achieved. Most folks start off with way more that he did and achieve far less. By the way, I'm from STL and you are right that most don't fair well that come from the North side but Leon was an overachiever.

 

This was Leon’s prime. He had about 250 fights at this point and beat one of the most decorated Cuban's ever.

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