Leon Spinks was born in 1953 in Missouri. He was a brother of Michael Spinks – the Olympic middleweight gold medallist. Not like his brother, Leon Spinks was a heavyweight boxer (at just 205 pounds) but also known as the lightest heavyweight fighter in boxing history. He won the heavyweight gold medal at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, but his most important fight came two years later when he met in the ring Muhammad Ali. This boxing match was not only his eighth professional fight but he also became one of very few boxers in heavyweight class who won against Ali during his prime. Seven months later, Ali dethroned Spinks in a rematch. That was the fastest gained and the shortest kept crown in the history of box.