Michael Spinks

Michael Spinks (born July 13, 1956 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a retired American boxer who was a world champion in the light-heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. Nicknamed Jinx, which spawned the nickname of his right hand: The Spinks Jinx, he is the brother of former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, and uncle of Cory Spinks, a former welterweight and light middleweight champion.

Spinks won the 1974 156-pound Golden Gloves Light Middleweight Championship by defeating Wilber Cameron in Denver, Colorado and then took the Silver Medal in the National AAU 165-pound Championship Competition in 1975, losing in three rounds to Tom Sullivan in Shreveport, Louisiana. He rebounded to take the 1976 National Golden Gloves Middleweight championship with a three-round victory over Lamont Kirkland in Miami, Florida, and that same year captured the United States Olympic Trials Middleweight Championship by defeating Keith Broom in Cincinnati, Ohio. He went on to defeat the Soviet Union’s Rufat Riskiev to win the Gold Medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Spinks finished with a 93-7 amateur record with 35 knockouts.

With the Olympics behind him, Spinks returned to work at a chemical factory in St. Louis, “scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets,” as one source tells it. He had no big contracts awaiting him and, while Michael appeared to experts to be the more promising of the two brothers, Leon was at that time the big shooting star, a television staple of ABC Sports, on his way to a shot at heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Michael had their mother to care for, and he was intent on helping Leon prepare for Ali. All of this pushed Michael’s career to the back burner. It was Butch Lewis in 1977 who convinced Michael to turn professional, and he did.

As a pro, he was undefeated in his first 31 fights, beating such opponents as Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Marvin Johnson and Eddie Davis en route to becoming undisputed world light-heavyweight champion. His most notable feat was becoming the first boxer to defeat Larry Holmes, doing so in back-to-back matches.

Following ten successful title defences, Spinks moved up to heavyweight and as underdog beat the long-reigning IBF heavyweight champion Larry Holmes; in doing so, Spinks became the first reigning light-heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. In his final fight, Spinks was knocked out by Mike Tyson, the only defeat of his professional career.

Spinks was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994 and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. The International Boxing Research Organization and Boxrec rate Spinks among the ten greatest light-heavyweights of all time.