Tommy Hearns faced each of his fellow four kings – Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler – during his 67-fight professional career, but one of them was on another level when it came to punching power.
‘The Hitman’ was considered a monstrous puncher himself, scoring 48 stoppages in 61 victories, before ending his prolific campaign as a five-division world champion.
Down at welter and super-welterweight, the American boasted a significant height and reach advantage over the majority of his opponents, including Leonard and Duran.
Against Leonard, though, Hearns suffered a 14th-round stoppage defeat in 1981, albeit in a closely-fought battle, before rematching his rival at super-middleweight in 1989.
On that occasion, many felt Hearns was unfortunate to come away with a draw, though he would nonetheless claim the WBO title at 168lbs in his following outing.
His encounter with Duran, meanwhile, came in 1984, when the knockout specialist orchestrated a second-round finish to retain his WBC super-welterweight title.
But despite Duran – who supposedly once knocked out a horse – being known as ‘Hands of Stone’, it was actually Hagler who gave Hearns a sterner test in the power department.
The pair collided in a thrilling three-round middleweight contest in 1985, with Hagler ultimately emerging from their iconic battle as the unified world champion.
Speaking with Marko Boxing nearly four decades later, Hearns still regards ‘Marvelous’ as the most formidable puncher he ever came up against.
“Marvin Hagler was [in] a different class [to] Roberto Duran. I think Marvin was the hardest puncher [I fought].”
Given that Hagler was a natural middleweight, whereas Duran typically campaigned in the lower divisions, it is perhaps unsurprising that Hearns arrived at this conclusion.
