What if Leon had stuck with it between 82-88, and fought more top light heavies and cruiserweights? Yaqui Lopez, Marvin Johnson, Saad, Marvin Camel, Lee Roy Murphy, Ocasio, Holyfield, Eddie Mustafa, or even his own brother? I think it's a mixed bag, personally. I fell Leon could beat most of those guys (with plenty of fits), but would lose to Holyfield. Leon was bigger than all those guys, which would most likely be a factor.
The biggest issue with Leon was his drug and alcohol problems. He had the talent and heart to beat anyone of those guys but he had major substance abuse problems that pretty much wrecked his career. He was at his best fro. 76' to 78' and had glimpses of greatness a few years after but after the Holmes loss he was done for. He fought in way to long and was probably suffering from CTE by the mid 80's
Unfortunately, you're right. Although, the Burnett fight was Leon's last hurrah imo. The Burnett fight took up the rest of his career. Leon did start late for a fighter though, I think he was 25.
You know, I could post hundreds of threads on Leon Spinks, and you would answer every one of them, I think.
Leon was in a shambolic state, both physically and mentality, because of substance abuse and lack of discipline. I encourage anyone interested in the Spinks brothers to read 'One Punch From the Promised Land'. If the stories of Leon's drinking, drugging, and whoring weren't attested to by so many credible sources his appetites would be unbelievable. Apparently he was drunk more than he was sober during the training camp for the Olympics, so it's not like he only went nuts after the fame of beating Ali. That book dispels any notion that Spinks could have made an impact at cruiserweight. Apparently he was getting worked over so badly by .500 level fighters in sparring that his handlers had to tell the sparring partners to lay off him.
The cruiserweight division appeared on the surface as the ideal weight class for Leon Spinks given that he was on the small side yet still had a shred of success at heavyweight. In fact he was predicted by many to be the savior of that division which since its creation a few years earlier hadn’t generated much interest at all. But despite all projections it didn’t pan out that way. For whatever reason weather it be bad luck, lack of devotion, poor lifestyle habits or anything else, Leon didn’t fair well at cruiser . In fact he failed rather miserably.
I remember him talking about how he would wake up, start boozing, get drunk, fall asleep, wake up and start boozing again. He said he had bleeding ulcers. George Benton talked about how they literally could not get him to train, and about finding him in bed with a hooker eating fried chicken and drinking malt liquor when he was supposed to be training for a fight. It is a shame. I have come to appreciate Leon a lot, and now he is almost gone from us. He'll always be remembered as the man who upset Ali, and as one of boxings good guys.
