Spinks, who was born in St. Louis, had a stellar amateur boxing career. He won the Olympic gold medal at the Light Heavyweight division during the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, alongside brother Michael Spinks, who also won a gold medal on those games.

He debuted professionally on January 15 of 1977 in Las Vegas, beating Bob Smith by a knockout in five. His next fight marked his debut abroad, as he went to The Beatles' hometown of Liverpool, England, to beat Peter Freeman by a knockout in the first round. A couple of fights later, he saw a slight improvement in opposition quality, when he fought Pedro Agosto of Puerto Rico and knocked him out in the first. Then, he drew with Scott LeDoux and beat Italian champion Alfio Riguetti by a decision.

After that, Spinks was ranked number one among the world's Heavyweight challengers, and he made history on February 15 of 1978, by beating Muhammad Ali by a decision in 15 in Las Vegas to become the fastest guy ever to win the world's Heavyweight crown when he became champion in only his sixth fight.  In his next fight, his only bout of 1979, he went to Monte Carlo, where he was knocked out in the first round by future world Heavyweght champion Gerrie Coetzee.

In 1982, Spinks decided to go down in weight and compete in the Cruiserweights. He beat fringe contender Ivy Brown by a decision in ten, and former and future title challenger Jesse Burnett by decision in twelve.

His comeback was, once again, stopped on it's track in 1983 by the twice former and twice future world Cruiserweight champion Carlos De Leon, who knocked him out in six rounds in that year's only bout for Spinks.

Spinks boxed for eight more years, having mixed results. He retired after losing by decision in eight to Fred Houpe in 1995, and he was homeless for a period of time. During the late 1990s, however, he was picked up by Tri Star Sports Promotions to become a headliner on their year-round, touring autographs shows. His life is basically now spent on the road, living at Marriott hotels, because Marriott is a sponsor of Tri-Star's shows. Despite the fact he is making a living out of signing his name, he still remains a willing free autograph signer, and his son, Cory Spinks, is now the IBF's world Welterweight champion.

Spinks had an overall record of 26 wins, 17 losses and 3 draws as a professional, with 14 knockout wins.

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