Former boxing champion Leon Spinks, famous for snatching the heavyweight title from Muhammad Ali in 1978, died in Las Vegas at the age of 67.
He had been battling cancer for some time. Spinks, at the height of an amateur career at the highest level, won a gold medal at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 in the light heavyweight category. A year later he entered the professionals and on February 15, 1978 the feat arrived, when at 24 he snatched the title of heavyweight world champion from 36-year-old Ali, winning by points in 15 rounds. But only a few months later, in September '78, the revenge of Ali, who beat Spinks and regained the title for the last time.