Nigel Benn has named one fighter who he feels would have emerged victorious against Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns.
The Four Kings largely thrived in different weight classes, with Duran even capturing world honours at 135lbs before eventually moving up to face middleweight rivals Leonard and Hagler.
And while Hearns, on the other hand, had weighed as low as 147lbs, his spindly frame was perhaps always better suited to the higher divisions.
He did, of course, lose to then-WBC world welterweight champion Leonard in 1981, before coming away from their rematch in 1989, this time at a catchweight of 164lbs, with a 12-round draw.
Of the four legends, though, it could be said that Hagler, who never competed in any other division throughout his 67-fight career, was the most natural middleweight.
But while Hagler could have quite easily made an excursion to 168lbs, it is perhaps unfair to pit him against super-middleweight great Joe Calzaghe in a prime-for-prime battle.
Yet that is precisely what Benn, a former two-division world champion, has attempted to do, while also throwing the names of Leonard, Duran and Hearns into the mix.
In an interview with The Sun, Benn opined that Calzaghe, a former world super-middleweight champion, would have beaten all of the Four Kings.
“Old timers will tell you [Calzaghe] would never have lived with Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler or Tommy ‘Hitman’ Hearns.
“I disagree – Joe would have beaten them all. How many fighters would love to finish with a record like Joe’s?
“Outside of Wales, I don’t think he got the recognition he deserved. Forty six fights unbeaten is a heck of an achievement. I don’t think we will ever see his like again.”
Again, it is difficult to see how these fantasy matchups make a great deal of sense, given that Leonard, and Duran especially, would have been terrifically undersized against Calzaghe, a fully-fledged super-middleweight.
Hearns against Calzaghe, meanwhile, is perhaps the most sensible suggestion, particularly when considering that the former had finished his career at 175lbs.
