Leon Spinks 1990, Leon's other son, Leon Calvin, was shot to death in East St. Louis as he was driving home from his girlfriend's house. Calvin was an aspiring light heavyweight pro boxer with a record of 2-0, with the two pro bouts occurring only a month before he died. Leon's grandson and Calvin's son, Leon Spinks III, is an aspiring light heavyweight southpaw boxer with a pro record of 11-3-1 with seven knockouts, his last outing being a six round draw with Robbie Cannon in October 2017. Leon has slurred his words since his active boxing days, and was diagnosed in
Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks if it ended in a knockout, but favoured Spinks if it went the distance. 1940s middleweight champion Rocky Graziano predicted Spinks would "psych out Tyson, then knock the hell out of him." Archie Moore gave Spinks "a wonderful chance" of winning. Floyd Patterson, who like Tyson had been trained by Cus D'Amato, said "I originally picked him [Tyson], and I still do, but now I give Spinks a chance." Spinks entered the ring as a 4–1 underdog. Minutes before the fighters were due to enter the ring, there was a commotion in Tyson's dressing room when Butch Lewis noticed a