Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns
| Date | September 16, 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title(s) on the line | Undisputed world welterweight championship WBC & WBA welterweight unification |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Boxer |
 Ray Leonard |
Thomas Hearns |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Sugar | The Hitman Motor City Cobra |
|
| Hometown | Palmer Park, Maryland | Detroit, Michigan | |
| Pre-fight record | 30-1 (21 KO) | 32-0 (30 KO) | |
| Recognition | WBC welterweight champion | WBA welterweight champion |
| Date | June 12, 1989 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title(s) on the line | WBC/WBO super-middleweight titles | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Boxer |
Ray Leonard |
Thomas Hearns |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Sugar | The Hitman Motor City Cobra |
|
| Hometown | Palmer Park, Maryland | Detroit, Michigan | |
| Pre-fight record | 35-1 (25 KO) | 46-3 (38 KO) | |
| Recognition | WBC super-middleweight champion | WBO super-middleweight champion |
Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns are considered to be two of the best boxers of all-time. They fought twice, once in 1981 and once in 1989. Both fights are considered to be classics.
Sugar Ray Leonard won the WBC welterweight title with a fifteenth-round knockout of Wilfred Benítez in 1979. He lost it to Roberto Durán by a close decision in June 1980 and regained it five months later in the infamous No Más Fight, in which Duran quit in the eighth round. In June 1981, Leonard moved up to the light-middleweight division for one fight, knocking out Ayub Kalule in nine rounds to win the WBA light-middleweight title.
Hearns won the WBA welterweight title in 1980, scoring a second-round knockout of Jose 'Pipino' Cuevas in Detroit, Michigan. He made three successful title defenses, stopping Luis Primera, Randy Shields, and Pablo Baez.
Promoted as "The Showdown," Leonard (30-1 with 21 KO) fought Hearns (32-0 with 30 KO) on September 16, 1981 at Caesars Palace in Paradise, Nevada to unify the world welterweight championship in a scheduled fifteen-rounder. They fought before a live crowd of 23,618 and a worldwide TV audience of some 300 million.
The fight began as expected, Leonard boxing from a distance and Hearns stalking. Leonard had difficulty with Hearns' long reach and sharp jab. By the end of round five, Leonard had a growing swelling under his left eye, and Hearns had built a considerable lead on the scorecards. Leonard, becoming more aggressive, hurt Hearns in the sixth with a left hook to the chin. Leonard battered Hearns in rounds six and seven, but Hearns miraculously regrouped. Hearns started to stick and move, and he started to pile up points again. The roles reversed: Leonard became the stalker and Hearns became the boxer.
...
Wikipedia