This Saturday night in Riyadh, the new boxing capital of the world, a fight is taking place which promises to rekindle the golden age of the ring.
The 1980s, when Four Kings got on with fighting each other – and the best of the rest – rather than 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 hardest game from the anti-climactic depression which followed Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight epoch by engaging in nine epic battles between them to decide who was the greatest of their era.
The nostalgia reflex is being triggered by the imminent clash between two undefeated Russian titans for the undisputed world light-heavyweight title. Namely Artur Beterbiev, who carries with pride a perfect record of 20 knockouts in his 20 fights, and the also undefeated Dmitry Bivol, who brings with him to the Arabian desert the distinction of having recently defeated Mexican legend Canelo Alvarez while boxing his way to 23 victories.
The expectations are high but these two Russians have a great deal to live up to when compared with the momentous wars of the Kings, the four most historically significant of which we are retelling now, in chronological sequence, not order of merit.
Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns met inside the ring for the second time in June 1989
Leonard had triumphed the first time the pair first faced off eight years earlier in Nevada
Leonard had been behind on all three scorecards when he rallied late to secure a 14th-round stoppage
So far, we have detailed the night Sugar Ray Leonard took down Roberto Duran, then the most brutal fight ever seen in a ring, and in part three the most controversial.
And for the fourth and final installment, we have murder, revenge and two monarchs of the ring…
Fight four
June 12 1989 – Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, USA
Sugar Ray Leonard v Thomas Hearns
WBC World Super-Middleweight Championship
Lunch poolside at Caesars Palace.
A privilege to toy with pasta and clink glasses with Sugar and the Hitman.
Reflections in the sun-dappled waters of their two fights which had illuminated this palace of all manner of varieties during the Four Kings’ reign over boxing throughout the 1980s.
And then a revelation confirmed here at the end of this saga.
They say styles make fights. Never more so than when those Sugar sweet skills encountered the Hitman’s concussive punching power.
The first collision, on September 16, 1981, came in their prime flush of youth for the undisputed world welterweight title but was already a fight the world was craving to see.
So wildly did the conflict swing that even this diametrically opposite pair exchanged roles during the heat of battle.
Hearns, having dominated the early exchanges with his customary two-fisted aggression, retreated onto the back foot when Leonard suddenly stormed onto the attack.
Both men bolstered their respective legacies by becoming multi-weight world champions in the intervening years
Then, amidst considerable strife away from the sport, the pair reignited their rivalry in the ring
Angelo Dundee, fabled trainer of Muhammad Ali, triggered that switch. Sensing, correctly, that his Sugar man was en route to defeat he screamed at Leonard: ‘You’re blowing it, you’re blowing it, man. Get after him. Now.’
Such was the violent urgency of Leonard’s response – even with one eye swollen almost shut – that he produced the one result nobody had predicted. The potentially winning Hearns’ lead on all three of the judges’ scorecards counted for nothing when he was so brutally battered on the ropes in the 14th of 15 rounds that referee Davey Pearl was obliged to intervene.
Leonard by TKO. Hearns pleading 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 of size. In the summer of ’89 they would fight for the WBC world super-middleweight title. They agreed a contract to meet at a catchweight 164lb for the 168lb title, with a penalty clause of a half-million dollar fine if one or other went over that limit.
Even though Leonard was guaranteed £10million and Hearns £8.4m, neither took any chance of paying the forfeit. Sugar scaled 160lb at the weigh-in, Hearns 162lb.
Come the morning of the fight, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum had much more than a few pounds to worry about. Dawn had broken over Hearns’ younger brother Henry being arrested for shooting his girlfriend dead, at the fighter’s house.
Arum rushed to the Hitman’s hotel, then came out relieved to announce: ‘Tommy was angry at me for dropping by. He told me: “Look, this won’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 Sugar down in the third and the 11th
However, Leonard had several big moments of his own throughout the duration of the contest
When they resumed their long-interrupted argument, Hearns did land the only two knockdowns. First with a glancing blow to the temple in the third round, then by landing two crisp rights to the jaw in the 11th. It would not be enough. Not quite.
They had traded big rounds mid-bout but Leonard went so powerfully for broke in the 12th and last that one judge, Dalby Shirley, balanced off one of Hearns’ knockdown rounds by scoring it 10-8 to Sugar. Had he gone for a regular 10-9, Hearns would have been awarded by a fraction the revenge victory that most of the crowd expected.
Shirley’s final tally of 112-112 brought on the jeers for a draw, as Jerry Roth voted 113-112 for Hearns and Tom Kaczmarek by the same one-point margin for Leonard.
The initial reaction of both was sporting. Leonard: ‘We both proved we’re champions. I accept the decision.’ Hearns: ‘I’m proud of the draw. The judges could have ruled I lost so I’m thankful for what I got.’
Later there were hints of a different a story. Whispers from the Hearns quarter that as both of their hands were raised, Leonard had whispered in his ear: ‘You beat me this this time. Tommy. That’s between you and me.’ Leonard let it be known that ‘I just told him he was a great champion.’
Sugar once again pressed hard in the closing stages and earned a 10-8 from judge Dalby Shirley
That scorecard would ultimately prove decisive as the bout was controversially ruled a split draw
By the time we broke focaccia at Caesars, a few more years later, their friendship had grown fully-fledged. When I raised that sensitive subject Tommy grinned at Ray, who smiled back and declared: ‘Yeah, I did say that. It’s OK, 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.’
That’s the way it should be when great fighters give their all against each other. The way it was between the monarchs of the ring’s golden age.
THE LEGACY OF THE FOUR KINGS
To put it into Las Vegas context, 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 their daddy cool Dean Martin, Roberto Duran their swinging Sammy Davis Jnr, Marvin Hagler their more serious Peter Lawford, the London-born actor and brother-in-law of President John F Kennedy.
As the first boxer to accumulate $100m in purses; as the winner of world titles in five weight divisions; as a superstar genius of the ring; as the one closest to Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson atop the ranking of all-time greatest boxers; as a very decent golfer in later life… Leonard fully qualifies for the title bestowed on Sinatra by the rest of the Rat Pack: The Chairman of the Board.
Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol have a chance to stake their claims as modern-day successors to the Four Kings when they face off 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 world light-heavyweight champions, the promised successors?
The world of boxing holds its breath while waiting for them to stake their claim in Riyadh this Saturday night.