Michael Spinks world Heavyweight champion in Las Vegas. 1979 saw Spinks get less than three minutes of boxing action inside a ring, with his only fight ending in a first round knockout of Marc Hans, but in 1980, Spinks took his ascent towards the top to another level, when he beat future IBF super-middleweight champion Murray Sutherland, David Conteh, and fringe contenders Ramon Ronquillo and Alvaro Yaqui Lopez (who challenged for a world title four times). Of his five wins that year, three came by knockout, Sutherland and Johnny Wilburn being the only ones who lasted the distance. By 1981, Spinks was
Tommy Spinks Spinks was selected in the 1970 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings and played professionally during the early 1970s. However, he is not included on the Vikings' web site listing of past players. Spinks was inducted into the Louisiana Tech University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988. Spinks was the son of Methodist minister Otis Spinks (1900–1987) and Grace Spinks (1915–2003), who were living in Ruston, the location of Louisiana Tech, at the time of their deaths. The senior Spinkses are interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park off U.S. Highway 80 West in Ruston. Spinks graduated in 1966 from Woodlawn