BOXING’S FOUR KINGS – Part Four: JEFF POWELL MBE on Tommy Hearns’ eight-year revenge mission against Sugar Ray Leonard ending in a draw, but what happened after the fight cemented them in the sport’s golden age?
This Saturday night in Riyadh, the new boxing capital of the world, a fight takes place that promises to revive the golden age of the ring.
The 1980s, when the Four Kings continued to fight each other – and the best of the rest – instead of protecting their records by beating up no-hopers.
The decade in which Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler revived the glory of the toughest game of the anti-climactic depression that followed Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight era by engaging in nine epic battles between them to decide who was the greatest of them all in their era.
The nostalgia reflex is triggered by the upcoming clash between two undefeated Russian titans for the undisputed world light-heavyweight title. Namely Artur Beterbiev, who proudly boasts a perfect record of 20 knockouts in his 20 fights, and the also undefeated Dmitry Bivol, who takes credit to the Arabian desert for recently beating Mexican legend Canelo Alvarez while fighting his way through to 23. wins.
Expectations are high, but these two Russians have a lot to live up to when compared to the momentous wars of the kings, of which we now retell the four most historically significant wars, in chronological order and not in order of merit.
Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns met in the ring for the second time in June 1989
Leonard had triumphed the first time the pair faced each other eight years earlier in Nevada
Leonard trailed on all three scorecards when he rallied late to secure a 14th round stoppage
So far we’ve covered the night Sugar Ray Leonard took down Roberto Duran, the most brutal fight ever seen in a ring and in part three the most controversial.
And for the fourth and final episode we have murder, revenge and two monarchs of the ring…
Fight four
June 12, 1989 – Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, USA
Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns
WBC World Super Middleweight Championship
Lunch by the pool at Caesars Palace.
A privilege to play with pasta and clink glasses with Sugar and the Hitman.
Reflections in the sunlit water of their two fights that had lit up this palace of all kinds during the Four Kings’ reign over boxing in the 1980s.
And then a revelation that is confirmed here at the end of this saga.
They say styles argue. Never more so than when those saccharine skills met the Hitman’s concussion.
The first clash, on September 16, 1981, took place in the prime of their youth for the undisputed welterweight world title, but was already a fight the world was eager to see.
The conflict raged so fiercely that even this diametrically opposed pair switched roles in the heat of the moment.
Hearns, who had dominated the early exchanges with his usual two-fisted aggression, retreated onto the back foot as Leonard suddenly charged into the attack.
Both men cemented their respective legacies by becoming multi-weight world champions in the intervening years
Then, amid significant strife outside the sport, the pair reignited their rivalry in the ring
Angelo Dundee, Muhammad Ali’s legendary trainer, brought about that change. Rightly sensing that his Sugar man was headed for defeat, he yelled at Leonard, “You’re screwing it up, you’re screwing it up, man. Go after him. Now.’
The violent urgency of Leonard’s response was so great – even with one eye almost swollen shut – that he produced the one result that no one had predicted. Hearns’ potentially winning lead on all three judges’ scorecards counted for nothing when he was so brutally beaten to the ropes in the 14th of 15 rounds that referee Davey Pearl was forced to intervene.
Leonard by TKO. Hearns pleads for a second chance.
By the time the rematch finally came, in the summer of ’89, both had grown not only in experience and wisdom, but also in size. In the summer of ’89 they would fight for the WBC super-middleweight world title. They agreed to a contract with a catchweight of 164 pounds for the 168 pound title, with a half-million dollar penalty clause if one or the other exceeded that limit.
Although Leonard was guaranteed £10 million and Hearns was guaranteed £8.4 million, neither took the risk of paying the forfeiture. Sugar weighed 160 pounds at the weigh-in, Hearns 162 pounds.
On the morning of the fight, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum had a lot more than a few pounds to worry about. Dawn had talked about Hearns’ younger brother Henry being arrested for shooting his girlfriend in the hunter’s house.
Arum rushed to the hitman’s hotel and then emerged relieved to announce, “Tommy was mad at me for coming over.” He said to me, “Look, this doesn’t affect me. I’ve been waiting eight years to knock this guy out.”
Hearns ultimately scored the only two knockdowns in his rematch with Leonard, knocking down Sugar in the third and 11th.
However, Leonard had several big moments throughout the game
When they resumed their long-interrupted argument, Hearns scored the only two knockdowns. First with a glancing blow to the temple in the third round, and then by landing two sharp rights to the jaw in the 11th. It wouldn’t be enough. Not quite.
They had traded big rounds midway through the match, but Leonard went for broke so powerfully in the 12th and final that a judge, Dalby Shirley, evened one of Hearns’ knockdown rounds by scoring the score 10-8 for Sugar. Had he gone for a regular 10-9, Hearns would have been rewarded with a fraction of the revenge victory that most of the crowd expected.
Shirley’s final score of 112-112 tied the game, while Jerry Roth voted 113-112 for Hearns and Tom Kaczmarek by the same one-point margin for Leonard.
The first reaction from both was sporty. Leonard: ‘We have both proven that we are champions. I accept the decision.’ Hearns: ‘I am proud of the draw. The jury could have ruled that I lost, so I’m grateful for what I got.’
Later there were clues to a different story. Whispers from the Hearns neighborhood said that as they held both hands up, Leonard had whispered in his ear, “You beat me this time.” Tommy. That’s between you and me.’ Leonard said that “I just told him he was a great champion.”
Sugar again pushed hard in the final phase and earned a 10-8 from judge Dalby Shirley
That scorecard would ultimately prove decisive, as the fight was controversially labeled a split draw
By the time we broke the focaccia at Caesars, a few more years later, their friendship had become full-fledged. When I brought up that sensitive subject, Tommy grinned at Ray, who smiled back and said, “Yes, I did say that. It’s okay, Tommy. You deserved to know that. Not just for a great fight. For your career.’
Then he laughed and said, “But don’t forget, I won the first one.”
This is how it should be when great fighters give everything against each other. As it was among the monarchs of the golden age of the ring.
THE LEGACY OF THE FOUR KINGS
To put it in the context of Las Vegas, the Four Kings were boxing’s version of the Rat Pack.
Sugar Ray Leonard was their Frank Sinatra, the leader of the pack, Tommy Hearns was their dad-cool Dean Martin, Roberto Duran was their swinging Sammy Davis Jnr, Marvin Hagler was their more serious Peter Lawford, the London-born actor and brother-in-law of President John F. Kennedy.
As the first boxer to amass $100 million in purses; as winner of world titles in five weight classes; as a superstar genius of the ring; as the one closest to Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson at the top of the rankings of the greatest boxers of all time; as a very decent golfer later in life… Leonard fully qualifies for the title bestowed on Sinatra by the rest of the Rat Pack: Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol get the chance to stake their claims as modern successors to the Four Kings when they face each other in Riyadh
THE SUCCESSION
It has been a long wait for the emergence of true heirs to their throne.
Will it be a Russian coronation? Are Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev, both undefeated light-heavyweight world champions, the promised successors?
The boxing world is holding its breath as they wait to stake their claim in Riyadh on Saturday evening.