Sugar Ray Leonard enjoyed a number of epic battles throughout his career, many of them coming against fellow members of the ‘Four Kings.’
Leonard is often credited as being one of the greatest fighters of all time, with his long list of accomplishments including becoming a five-weight world champion from welterweight to light heavyweight.
His prime years came throughout the 1980s, where he would establish himself as one of the ‘Four Kings’ alongside fellow icons Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran.
Leonard holds the accolade of being the only man to defeat the other three members of that legendary group, having picked up two wins against Duran, one win against Hearns and one against Hagler. He also failed to win some of those battles, suffering a defeat to Duran, along with a draw against Hearns.
Having shared over 70 rounds against each of the aforementioned legends, Leonard revealed to the Ring Magazine who he deemed to be the best of the trio.
“It was Tommy [Hearns]. I don’t think anything matches our first fight.”
Leonard claimed a 14th round TKO victory over Hearns at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in September 1981, becoming the undisputed welterweight champion in the process.
The career of Hearns was just as illustrious to that of Leonard, with ‘The Hitman’ becoming the first boxer in history to win world titles in five divisions, doing so at welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, super-middleweight and light heavyweight.
His final record stood at 61 wins, 5 defeats and 1 draw, and he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012.