barry finding jems all over the place...

COLUMBUS, Neb. -- At the Columbus Family YMCA on a recent Saturday morning, the Champ punches only a time clock.

The man who dethroned Muhammad Ali on a February night in 1978 in one of the greatest upsets in boxing history puts on his gloves -- not the red Everlast boxing gloves, but the orange Rubbermaid cleaning gloves. He methodically gets the cart with the brooms and the cleaning chemicals and gets to work.

Leon Spinks, 52, has crash landed in the Great Plains. Nearly broke but far from broken, the former World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association heavyweight titleholder (and Olympic gold medalist) spends his days fighting his demons -- dementia, boredom, and hangers-on who have taken advantage of him.

He gives his glasses to Cassie Billings, a college student working the front desk, for safekeeping.

''I tell guys I don't fear anything," she said. ''I have a friend named Leon Spinks and he'll kick your butt."

There's not a trace of sadness in Spinks. There are, he figures, people worse off than him.

''It ain't what you do," said the custodian. ''It's how you do it.