Former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks is fighting for his life
Leon Spinks has trouble swallowing these days, so his wife, Brenda, crushes the seven pills he takes every morning, dissolves them in water and loads them into a syringe. She injects the contents into the retired boxer’s feeding tube.
In June, Spinks, 66, was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He underwent three rounds of chemotherapy but the cancer spread to his bones. In November, Brenda said, one of the doctors treating Spinks said he had a about two weeks to live.
But Spinks, who shocked the sports world in 1978 when he upset Muhammad Ali and won the heavyweight championship of the world, is still fighting.
“He’s a champion, he’s going to keep fighting,”’ Brenda said recently as her husband maneuvered around their house with a walker.
Spinks, who also suffers from dementia, still flashes his famous smile and it’s no longer gap-toothed. His missing front teeth were replaced years ago. Spinks recently started smoking marijuana in an effort to improve his mood and make him more compliant while working with a team of medical health professionals.
The couple’s two-bedroom, three-bathroom house, about 20 miles south of Las Vegas, is replete with photos from Spinks’ boxing career, which include a gold medal from the 1976 Olympics and the heavyweight world championship.
Spinks made $320,000 for his first fight against Ali and more than $3 million for the rematch, according to published reports. There were no other big paydays after Ali won the second fight by unanimous decision.
Brenda, his third wife after they married in 2011, said Spinks has held private autograph sessions — one scheduled for next month — that the couple needs to help offset medical costs.
“When I met him, he didn’t have anything,” Brenda said.
In January, Spinks started taking Zytiga, a medication for people who have prostate cancer and already have undergone chemotherapy. The first bottle of 120 pills was a free sample, but Brenda said the doctor told her 120 pills cost $8,000.
“I think you can get it cheaper,’’ she said. “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten that far yet.’’
About five years ago, following emergency surgery after he swallowed a small piece of chicken bone that punctured his intestines, Spinks began lacing up boxing gloves and hitting the heavy bag as part of his rehab. The expectations are far more modest now and the demands are far greater, Brenda said.
Her 29-year-old son, Michael, has moved in with the couple to provide help, and they have a caregiver seven days a week. Brenda also said she has gotten support from Spinks’ brother, Michael, the former heavyweight and light heavyweight boxing champion; Spinks’ sister, Karen, who spent a month in Henderson; Spinks’ sons, Corey and Daryl; Spinks’ grandson Leon Spinks III; and Brenda’s sister, Sherry.
And there’s ever-present Sam, a black Labrador retriever trained by America’s VetDogs. (Spinks qualified for the service dog because he served in the Marine Corps from 1973 to 1976.) Brenda said Sam got depressed when Spinks was in the hospital and a few times jumped into the hospital bed when visiting Spinks.
“He was so excited to see Leon,” Brenda said.
USA TODAY Sports spent a day recently with Leon and Brenda Spinks and part of the team working to keep Spinks alive.
‘At his fighting weight’
Spinks emerged from the bedroom wearing a “Neon Leon’’ T-shirt that bore the image of his face and famous grin from four decades ago. His once-protruding belly was gone.
Over the past year, Brenda said, Spinks has lost 80 pounds and is down to 194 pounds.
“He’s at his fighting weight again,’’ she said. “And boy, has he been fighting with everyone.’’
She smiled.
Read more on USAToday