RIP Leon.
Saw him every year up in Canastota. Leon was never really a very healthy guy.
He loved the fans though.
He would hang out in hotel lobbies and at the casino during fights, just so fans would recognize him, and come up and ask for an autograph and bullshit a bit with him.
My Dad and I actually hung out with him for a weekend, at the 1st year of "The Bare-knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame", in Belfast, NY....of all places....around 2008-9 or so, with a few other fans who were up there to help promote the event.
We were watching some fights in a hotel suite, and I'll never forget him bellowing "THAT'S BUUUUUUUULLLLSHIT!", anytime something didn't seem quite right to him.
Leon made lots of mistakes in his life, but everybody around him always seemed to forgive him, and doted on him like he was a lovable little child.
I remember his son Cory (estranged at one time from him), wiping his nose for him, and chaperoning him around the IBHOF one year when Leon wasn't feeling very good at all.
Leon's wife was a saint. Nice lady, who was very patient, and made sure Leon got into as little trouble as possible. His younger brother Michael, always seeming like the big brother looking out of the corner of his eye at him.
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02-07-2021, 10:33 AM
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