The latest installment of Mike Tyson’s immensely enjoyable, ‘Hot Boxin’ show is absolutely must-see stuff. The former heavyweight champ, relaxed, with joint in hand, is joined by three genuine greats in Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, and Sugar Shane Mosley. Recently uploaded on YouTube, the nearly 90-minute show sees these four living legends, each of them ego-free, simply talk about boxing. A short tribute is paid to the great Marvelous Marvin Hagler, who of course sadly passed away last month. Tyson speaks of how underrated Hagler was, before “you guys (Ray and Tommy) gave him life by fighting him, giving him what he deserved.”
Hearns and Leonard are both clearly still upset at the sudden death of their former rival.
Leonard and Hearns, who of course fought each other twice, with both battles being epic encounters, poke fun at one another yet the mutual respect is evident. The segment in the show where Leonard and Hearns re-watch their 1989 return fight is fascinating to watch. Leonard says Hearns’ jab was something special, with Sugar Ray also recalling how arm-weary he was during the fight. “I threw a ton of punches,” Leonard says, when re-watching the fight “for the first time in so long.”
“Tommy showed his heart in coming back,” Leonard says. “This is a great fight,” says Tyson. “I had posters of you guys on my f*****g wall when I was a kid,” Tyson says. It really is amazing watching Leonard and Hearns watching themselves, with Tyson and Mosley equally enthralled. At the end, Leonard tells Hearns that “you won the fight.” It was as we know, scored a 12 round draw. Hearns and Leonard get up to go head-to-head, at which point Tyson says ‘”oh, f**k!” The way these special, special fighters bounce off one another, in a show that goes ahead with each legend acting as if nobody else is watching, really is priceless stuff.
Tyson, an avid student of boxing since his early years, recalls the savagery of Hearn’s KO wins over Pipino Cuevas and Roberto Duran. “I cried when you did that to Roberto Duran,” Tyson tells Hearns. “Roberto was already a veteran fighter when he fought you,” Tyson tells Hearns. “I had great respect for Roberto, still do,” Hearns says.
Tyson also recalls the time when, as a young kid, he met the incomparable Sugar Ray Robinson. Tyson says he had some trouble with Robinson’s bodyguard but that he was able to briefly speak with his idol. “He told me to always stay in shape and do my roadwork,” Tyson says. “I left the arena and I ran ten miles!”
Tyson says he is “humble” at having such “boxing royalty” on his show. We fans can be thankful for Tyson being able to bring together such greats of the sport. As one poster wrote, though, what a shame Marvelous Marvin and Roberto were not able to be in attendance also. As it is, with Tyson successful in getting two of the “Four Kings” on his show, the former heavyweight king has delivered a quite epic 90-minutes. You must check it out now if you haven’t yet seen it.
