{"id":738111,"date":"2026-08-14T20:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T20:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/738111\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T20:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T20:24:13","slug":"eddie-hearn-says-active-champion-is-on-the-same-level-as-thomas-hearns-and-sugar-ray-leonard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/738111\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn says active champion is on the same level as Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas Hearns and <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/sugar-ray-leonard\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sugar Ray Leonard<\/a> are recognised as two of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in boxing history, but Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn believes that there is one active world champion that is on the same level as the two \u2018Kings\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Hearns became the first ever five-division world champion when he decisioned James Kinchen back in 1988, after sharing legendary fights with Leonard and Marvin Hagler and famously running through Roberto Duran inside two rounds.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Leonard beat each of his fellow \u2018Four Kings\u2019 and became boxing\u2019s second five-division world champion just three days after Hearns\u2019 accomplishment, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/blog\/boxing\/post\/_\/id\/3292\/how-leonard-landed-two-titles-with-one-blow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">knocking out Don Lalonde to simultaneously capture the WBC super-middleweight and light-heavyweight marbles<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the vast achievements of both men, Eddie Hearn told <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/K96Evtm6_UU?si=zzu0NtBhWuqJ9rp5\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Punch Podcast<\/a> that he believes two-division conqueror, Jaron \u2018Boots\u2019 Ennis, to be on the same level as Hearns, Leonard, Terence Crawford and Pernell Whitaker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJaron Ennis, I\u2019ve said it for a while now, I think that you are looking at the pound-for-pound number one in the sport. I think that he is Crawford, I think that he is Leonard, I think that he is Hearns, I think that he is that level, Pernell Whitaker \u2013 I think he is that good.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe performance against Xander [Zayas] was unbelievable, the way that he come in. It\u2019s the way that he fights, people criticise \u2018Boots\u2019 sometimes because ehe gets hit a lot, he chooses to fight like that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want, he can make it boring and box you for 12 rounds, but it\u2019s not what he does and that is why he is one of the most exciting fighters on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following his victory over Xander Zayas, WBA and WBO champion Ennis is currently plotting a charge towards the undisputed super-welterweight throne, with a <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/jaron-ennis-two-fight-plan\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">clash against IBF titleholder Josh Kelly expected to take place in either December or early 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard are recognised as two of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in boxing history,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-738111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}