Boxing Legend Leon Spinks’ Cancer Has Spread, Will Continue Treatment

Leon Spinks has been battling prostate cancer for almost a year and now it has gotten worse. According to USA Today, Spinks’ prostate cancer has spread to his bladder. It was reported last month that Spinks was “fighting for his life” but he was discharged for a Las Vegas hospital on Christmas Eve. He was diagnosed in May and will continue treatment on an outpatient basis.

“It’s going to be a long road and a lot of work,” Brenda Spinks, Leon Spinks’ wife, said in a statement. “But we are bound and determined for the Champ to make a comeback!!!”

When it was revealed that Spinks was diagnosed with prostate cancer Brenda wrote on Facebook: “Reaching out to ask you to kindly send some prayers out for my Beautiful Husband Leon so that he may overcome the obstacles that have crossed his path.”

Spinks is remembered as one for being one of the best heavyweight boxers of all-time. He defeated Muhammad Ali in 1978 to win his first heavyweight championship and it’s considered one of boxing‘s all-time greatest upsets.

“I was very serious during the fight,” Spinks said at the time, via ringtv.com, “but I also had a lot of fun. He kept saying things to me, trying to make me mad, but all he did was make me laugh. It was like he was telling me jokes. One time he called me a dirty name. I said, ‘Oh, Ali, how could you say such a thing?’ Can you imagine your idol calling you a dirty name?”

Spinks fell to Ali later that year, but he went on to win multiple heavyweight championships during his career that lasted until 1995. Spinks competed in 46 fights and he posted a 26-17-3 record. Along with being a former heavyweight champion, Spinks won the gold medal in the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal. He also served in the Marine Corps from 1973 to 1976.

Cancer is not the only health issue Spinks is dealing with. Back in 2012, he was diagnosed with shrinkage in his brain due to the punches he took in his career.

“My brain has got to let me know I’m doing all right and I’ve got to do things to help my brain now,” Spinks said after the diagnosis via USA Today in 2014.