EDMONTON - When he was informed that former world title challenger Scott LeDoux died last week after a long battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease, Ken Lakusta sadly shook his head.

“He was a real original ... one of the nicest guys I ever met in boxing,” Edmonton’s two-time Canadian heavyweight champ said of LeDoux, who was 62.

“Me and Scott probably sparred 300 rounds together back in the early ’80s, and we had a charity match here in ’83. He fought to a draw with Ken Norton and lost a split decision to Ron Lyle — but he put both those guys on the floor. He got stopped by Larry Holmes in 1980, but he put up a hell of a fight.

“What I remember most about Scott was how physically tough he was. He was a great puncher and he could really take a shot, too. He always told me: ‘Don’t take no prisoners.’ ”

Nicknamed ‘The Fighting Frenchman,’ LeDoux cracked the world’s top 10 after battling to a draw with Leon Spinks just a few months before Spinks wrested the title from Muhammad Ali in 1978.

The previous year, after losing a controversial decision to Johnny Boudreaux in a bout televised on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, LeDoux attempted to kick Boudreaux while he was doing a ringside interview — but instead he knocked the toupee off Howard Cosell’s head.

“I still watch that tape whenever I need a good laugh,” LeDoux said in a 2008 interview. “Howard never knew what hit him.”

LeDoux retired in the summer of 1983, four months after stopping Larry Ware in Edmonton. His career mark was 33-13-4 (22 KOs).

murray.greig@sunmedia.ca