Not since Pete Rademacher stepped into a ring with Floyd Patterson in 1957 has a heavyweight fought for the title with as little experience as Leon Spinks. Rademacher commuted to the canvas seven times that night, then left in search of an ice pack. Spinks left with the heavyweight crown and the sort of slum-to-stardom story that no savvy scriptwriter would ever dare submit to a director.
The eldest of seven children raised in a crumbling St. Louis housing project, Spinks took his first fight lessons from local street toughs, who dubbed him "Mess-over"...
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