Any one remember Karl "The Tooth " Williams? That was some funny ****. He was a complete mockary of Leon Spinks, with the missing teeth, jerri curl, and always getting knocked out.
More of the talent in the family gene pool went to his brother. Of course, massive drug and alcohol use and just being a bit of a loon didn't help.
I do. Except I think that character was supposed to be a mockery of Carl "The Truth" Williams, for the reasons you mentioned.
They took the name of Carl Williams and added "the tooth", but that is Leon Spinks they are making fun of. That charachter looked absolutely nothing like Carl Williams, he had a jeri curl, missing teeth, and was punch drunk.
Poor Neon Leon was a shooting star. He could have been decent if he took care of himself and had a modicum of discipline. But he was a kid and he upset the bigger than life Muhammad Ali. So it figures that he partied like a rock star but it, unfortunately, ruined him. :smoke :smoke :rofl :rofl
I always liked Leon (a former marine). At the 1976 Olympics, for the Lightheavy Gold Medal I believe, the world class Cuban knocks Leon down along the ropes. Leon, from a kneeling position, looks across the ring at the Cuban, and says something like "I am getting ready to knock the crap out of you". The Cuban now looks scared sh*tless........and sure enough Leon goes over and cold-cocks him. Me and my Texas military buddies go crazy and knock down a bunch more Lone Star beers.
Spinks suffered from a variety of issues that made his career less than it might have been - the drug problems are of course central, but so is the fact that he was thrown into world class fights before he had a chance to properly develop as a pro, and that he was always a bit small for the heavyweight division, anyway. Had he been brought along properly, and moved to cruiserweight once that division was created, he might have had more success as a pro. Oh, and of course, staying away from the booze and dope woulda helped.