The era of the ‘Four Kings’ is championed as one of boxing’s greatest, when four of the sport’s biggest superstars each fought one another in a series of legendary battles, but when it came to rankings his fellow ‘Kings’, Thomas Hearns gave an intriguing response.
‘The Hitman’ suffered a first career defeat when he collided with fellow titleholder Sugar Ray Leonard in a welterweight world title unification clash, losing via TKO in round 14 of a blockbuster showdown at Caesars Palace in 1981.
Three years later, Hearns returned to the same venue for his next meeting with one of the ‘Kings’, as he needed only two rounds to dispatch of Panamanian hero Roberto Duran.
Yet, the following year, Hearns would suffer an early stoppage defeat of his own, halted after three high-octane rounds with Marvin Hagler, again at Caesars Palace.
Hearns returned to the Palace for his fourth and final encounter against a ‘King’, as he rematched Leonard and controversially came home with a draw, despite he, the fans and even Leonard believing that ‘The Hitman’ had done enough to get the win.
In an interview by Boxing247, Hearns placed Duran above both Leonard and Hagler on his all-time list of fighters, despite ‘Hands of Stone’ being the only one of those three men that he defeated.
Meanwhile, Hearns positioned himself as the third-greatest fighter of all time, behind only heavyweight rivals Joe Frazier and finally Muhammad Ali; who fought each other on three occasions in one of the most iconic trilogies in boxing history.
