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Michael Spinks, a native of St. Louis, Missouri,
is a former boxing|boxer whose brother, Leon
Spinks, beat Muhammad Ali for the world's
Heavyweight championship. His nickname, Jinx,
rhymed with his last name, and his right hand also
earned a nickname: The Spinks Jinx.

Spinks had a 93-7 amateur boxing record, with 31
wins by knockout. He won the Gold medal at the
Olympic Games of 1976 in Montreal, Canada. 

Spinks then turned professional with a win over
Eddie Benson, knocked out in one on April 17 of
1977 in Las Vegas. Spinks began with that, a 31
fight winning streak that would almost extend to
the end of his career. After four more wins,
Spinks finished '77 with the first fight that
began a gradual ascent in opposition quality: an
eight round decision over Gary Summerhays, a
popular young boxer of the time.

In 1978, Spinks won two fights, including an eight
round decision over former world Middleweight
title challenger Tom Bethea, in the same undercard
where his brother Leon dethroned Ali as 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 world Super
Middleweight champion Murray Sutherland, former
world Light Heavyweight champion John Conteh and
fringe contenders Ramon Ronquillo and Alvaro Yaqui
Lopez (who challenged for a world title no less
than four times). Of his five wins that year, 3
came by knockout, Sutherland and Johnny Wilburn
being the only ones who lasted the distance.

By 1981, Spinks was already a top ranked
contender, and after beating former and future
world Light Heavyweight champion Marvin Johnson by
a knockout in four rounds, the World Boxing
Association|WBA made Spinks their number one
challenger, and so, on July 18 of that year, he
met WBA's world Light Heavyweight champion Eddie
Mustafa Muhammad, once again in Las Vegas. Spinks
dropped Mustafa Muhammad in round 12, and went on
to become world Light Heavyweight champion with a
15 round decision win. He defended the title once
in '81, beating Vonzell Johnson by a knockout in
seven. 

After four successful defenses in 1982, including
a knockout win in eight in a rematch with
Sutherland, Spinks had become a superstar, if at
least in the boxing world. He began appearing on
the covers of all boxing magazines, such as KO
Magazine and Ring Magazine, and boxing fans
started clamoring for a unification fight with
World Boxing Council|WBC world champion Dwight
Muhammad Qawi. Tragedy struck his life, however,
when in January of 1983, his girlfriend died in a
car crash, leaving Spinks the single parent of his
three year old daughter. 

Meanwhile, the fight all the fans wanted was being
asked for by boxing critics and magazine editors
too. And finally, on March 18, two months after
his girlfriend's death, Spinks and Qawi met in a
boxing ring. The fight was broadcast by HBO
Boxing, and, according to the book The Ring:
Boxing In The 20th Century, Spinks had a very
tough moment to overcome before it even started:
His daughter asked him, while he was in his
dressing room, if her mother would come to watch
the fight. Spinks almost broke in tears, but soon
had to recover and get into the ring, where he and
Qawi fought to unify the crown. Spinks was floored
in round eight, but he got up and won a 15 round
majority decision to become the undisputed world
Light Heavyweight champion. He defended the title
one more time before the end of the year, against
Oscar Rivadeneira in Alaska, whom he beat by a ten
round knockout.

Spinks fought only once in 1984, retaining his
crown with a 12 round majority decision over Eddie
Davis. He and Qawi were only a couple of weeks
away from fighting a rematch in September of that
year, but that fight got called off when Qawi got
injured during training. 

In 1985, Spinks beat David Sears and Jim McDonald,
both by knockout, in title defenses, before
challenging Larry Holmes for the world's
Heavyweight championship in a fight recognized by
the International Boxing Federation|IBF. Holmes
was trying to tie Rocky Marciano's record of 49-0
as the Heavyweight champion with the most fights
undefeated, but it was Spinks who made double
history that night, winning a 15 round split
decision and becoming the first world Light
Heavyweight champion ever to win the world
Heavyweight title after being Light Heavyweight
champion. With this, Michael and Leon had also
become the first pair of brothers ever to be world
Heavyweight champions. The fight was, once again,
broadcast by Home Box Office|HBO. When Michael
became a world Heavyweight champion, he became a
household name, being featured in Budweiser
commercials and making cameo appearances in
different Hollywood movies.

In 1986, Spinks and Holmes went to an immediate
rematch, and had the same result, Spinks winning
by a 15 round split decision. After that, he
retained the world Heavyweight championship once
again, by a knockout in four against Stefan
Tangstad. In 1987 he was stripped of the crown by
the IBF for refusing to fight their number 1
challenger, Tony Tucker, and accepting a higher
offer to fight Gerry Cooney in a non title bout
instead. Spinks knocked out Cooney in five rounds,
and, after Mike Tyson had unified the Heavyweight
belts (including Spinks' IBF belt, which Tyson
took away with a twelve round decision over
Tucker, who had become world champion when he beat
James Buster Douglas), fans started clamoring for
a superfight between them. 

And so, in 1988, Superfight 88, Tyson Vs. Spinks,
came. Tyson inflicted the first and only defeat on
Spinks' record by knocking Spinks out in the first
round.

After that fight, Spinks retired and never came
back to boxing as a boxer. He is now a member of
the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, and manages
young boxers along with his former manager, Butch
Lewis.

Spinks had a record of 31 wins, 1 loss and 21 wins
by knockout as a professional.

==See also==
*The Brawl for it All

start box
succession box |
  before= Larry Holmes |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (IBF) |
  years= 1985–1987 |
  after= Tony Tucker

end box