Over a decade, the ‘Four Kings’ thrilled the world. The various styles, characters, and personalities of the four greats – Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, and Roberto Duran – served up one of the hottest, most followed, in fact, unmissable rivalries ever seen in boxing.
It began in 1980 when Duran proved too tough, hungry, and savage for Sugar Ray. Duran won a 15-round decision in a fight that many say deserves to rank as one of the best in history. That night in June of ’80, a young, talented, and starving-hungry Thomas Hearns was just weeks away from becoming the other welterweight champion.
Two months after Duran had got under Leonard’s skin and had proceeded to beat him up at points during their epic, Hearns smashed Pipino Cuevas to win the second half of the 147-pound crown. Hearns was every bit as great, as super-special as Duran and Leonard, and he would prove it in time.
Regarding the ‘Four Kings’ battles, we must now fast-forward. So much had happened to all four kings by the summer of 1984. Leonard had sensationally made Duran throw up his hands and quit in their rematch. Leonard had then topped Hearns in a majestic showdown to prove who the best welterweight in the world was. Hagler had toiled his way to the world middleweight title. And Duran had come back to win a belt at light-middleweight.
By June of ’84, Leonard was in retirement, Hagler was an undisputed middleweight ruler, Hearns was the best on the planet at 154 pounds, and Duran was looking for another challenge. Duran had pushed Hagler hard in dropping a close 15-round decision for the middleweight crown, while Hearns had, a year earlier, moved up after his epic loss to Sugar Ray to edge “Fifth King” Wilfred Benitez to become a two-weight ruler.
Now, in the summer of ’84, Hearns and Duran collided.
But this fight proved to be different—wholly and disturbingly different. Hearns went into the fight, with Duran predicting a quick KO. Did anyone believe him? Duran, above his ideal fighting weight but still snarling, with those coal-like, dark, and chilling eyes, would be too tough for Hearns.
But in the lead-up to the fight, Duran could not come close to intimidating Hearns, Duran’s baleful stare doing nothing to bother “The Hitman.” But still, how would the fight go?
Hearns was 26 years old and 38-1(32). Duran was 32 years old and 77-5(58).
The large crowd at Caesars Palace had no idea what extraordinary blend of violence/skill/power/accuracy/killer instinct they would see, this in short order. Instead of being a great, competitive fight, Hearns turned this one into a slaughter, into a “Hit.”
Hearns, his machine gun of a right hand firing wicked bullets, dropped Duran twice in the opening session. It wasn’t all right hands that inflicted the damage, but Tommy’s Tommy Gun was back at full-on gangster mode. Cut, stunned, and left with nothing but a desperate attempt to show his ‘I-couldn’t-care-less’ machismo, Duran returned to his corner. Eventually.
In round two, Hearns, as sleek, beautiful, and powerful as he would ever be in the ring, wasted no time. Duran was still game, but Hearns was all over him. Backed into the ropes and left with nowhere to go, Duran was soon placed out of his growing misery by one of the most damaging, exquisite, and perfectly thrown right hands of all time.
In the annals with Sugar Ray Robinson’s textbook, one-punch icing of Gene Fulmer, Hearns’ rapid right took down a seemingly indestructible fighter. The flash-second Tommy’s bomb landed, Duran was OUT. Crashing face-first, in ‘Rocky’ movie-like fashion, Duran hit down hard, not to get up anytime close to before the count of 10.
Hearns was on top of the world. The pound-for-pound king. Never had Duran been manhandled so ruthlessly. Had any of the ‘Four Kings’ scored such a scorching KO? Would they ever do so?
It remains a chilling KO, a chilling sight. Thomas Hearns was just about the perfect fighter on the night of June 15, 1984. One could say no such thing exists, but Hearns, after doing away with a fighter many say could be one of the top-five finest fighters ever born, sure looked as close to perfection as has ever been seen in the prize ring.
Today, 40 years ago, we may have seen the perfect knockout.
