The Fab Four: Hagler, Duran, Hearns & Leonard

The Fab Four: Hagler, Duran, Hearns & Leonard

By Simon Graham

During the 1980’s the fabulous four of Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Ray Leonard, and Roberto Duran reigned supreme.

Boxing fans, historians and pundits have and continue to argue about who was the best out of the four. It is an impossible task to come to a conclusion, quite simply they were as good as each other, it is why their fights with each other are rated as some of the best epic battles to take place in the ring.

Each of the fab four had different styles and it is those styles that divide our opinions. Your judgment on who was the better man will ultimately come down to whose style you favour, it is as simple as that!!

To truly decide on who was the best we must quantify the individual boxers, all four had impressive records when you judge their win to loss ratio, but what about the level of opponents they faced. You could argue that the early record of 28 straight wins by Duran was held in his native country Panama against unknown opponents but a win is a win.

After losing to Esteban De Jesus he would then go on another winning streak of 41 fights collecting world titles, and became the first fighter to defeat Sugar Ray Leonard along the way.

Hagler, without doubt, had the tougher journey, he fought top-level opponents for years consistently being overlooked until finally getting a title shot at Vito Antuofermo, only a controversial draw robbing him of the middleweight title.

After finally winning the belt from Alan Minter, Hagler dominated the division for 7 years beating top-ranked fighters which included wins over Duran and Hearns, however another controversial loss this time to Leonard in 1987 would see him retire never to return to the ring.

My personal favourite Hearns, (for no other reason than I liked his style) was a multiple weight champion bouncing up and down the divisions beating top-level fighters the most memorable was his title defence he made of the light middleweight belt a stunning round 2 knockout of Duran. Nobody else ever dispatched Duran with such violence. Again, Hearns fought all the top contenders making him one of the best pound for pound boxers of all time.

Gifted with sublime skills and blinding speed, Leonard’s superstar rollercoaster ride began as our only Olympic champion out of the four.

Leonard was an instant fan favourite. Therefore, if this debate were based on popularity then he would win unanimously.  With wins over Duran, Hearns and Hagler he is another pound for pound great and multiple weight champion, pretty much every fight from 1979 until his final retirement in 1997 was a world championship bout.

There is no overwhelming evidence that points to the ultimate champion of champions here, there are contestable facts that pit one fighter’s claim against the other.

In conclusion, their epic battles both individually and their own round-robin have cemented their legacy’s that will last in the history books for decades to come, but who was the best? that’s for you to decide.