Sport

Brendan Crossan: Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns the pick of the all-time bunch

Sugar Ray Leonard, pictured fighting Marvin Hagler, was involved some of the best bouts in the history of the sport
Sugar Ray Leonard, pictured fighting Marvin Hagler, was involved some of the best bouts in the history of the sport Sugar Ray Leonard, pictured fighting Marvin Hagler, was involved some of the best bouts in the history of the sport

FORTY years ago last week the immortal words were uttered by the great Angelo Dundee: “You’re blowing it, son. You’re blowing it.”

Sugar Ray Leonard’s left eye was badly swollen and closed. Apart from some joy in the mid-rounds of the world championship welterweight bout in Ceasar’s Palace, Las Vegas on September 16 1981, Tommy Hearns had given Leonard a boxing lesson.

Both men in their absolute prime of their careers, Sugar Ray just couldn’t find a way past the Hit Man’s poker left jab.

Hearns had the full skills set.

The wing span of an albatross, he carried dynamite in both fists and had every punch in the book. He was just a beautiful boxer.

If you broke both of these great fighters down, it would be desperately difficult to separate them.

But what undoubtedly gave Sugar Ray the edge was his chin. His was made of granite and Hearns made of glass.

At the end of the 12th round and Leonard looking completely demoralised sitting on his stool, trainer Angelo Dundee told him he was “blowing it”.

In his 2011 autobiography, Leonard recalls: “The way Angelo said it was as important as what he said, with the perfect mixture of urgency, encouragement and affection… He knew precisely how to get through to me at the most pivotal moments, and no moment in a fight, or in my career, was more pivotal than this.”

In the 13th round, Sugar Ray landed a beautiful overhand right that began the sharp decline of Hearns in an incredible fight.

Known back then as the awesome ‘Motor City Cobra’, Hearns was gone.

He came out for the 14th but it was only a matter of time before Sugar Ray stopped him.

Eight years later, the two men laced up their gloves again and fought to a draw – a bout, fought at super middleweight, Hearns clearly won with a couple of heavy knockdowns despite Leonard scoring 10-8 rounds of his own in round five and 12.

But both men were pale shadows of their ’81 selves, their reflexes shorn by the passage of time. Thankfully, there wasn’t a third fight between them.

Last week, Leonard posted a short video on social media in front of Ceasar’s Palace to mark the 40th anniversary of his first fight with Hearns.

It's a fight that no-one will ever forget.

Immediately, Sugar Ray's post made me think about all the great fights in boxing over the years.

Where does the first Leonard-Hearns fight rank?

Which fight was better? With a notebook and pen you try and whittle the illustrious list of great fights down to your top five.

Of course, it’s a purely subjective business. Tomorrow you might have another five.

For sure, no five choices will be the same.

There are so many variables involved too: the boxing era you were born in, how your favourite fighter might colour your judgement or even simply how a particular fight made you feel.

So, with a thoroughly flawed criteria, you flick through the archives. Indeed, Leonard was involved in some memorable bouts.

His first dalliance with Roberto Duran in 1980 that went the full 15 rounds stands the test of time for skill and courage from both men – even though Sugar Ray’s game-plan was desperately flawed, as he later proved in the rematch five months later forcing the ‘Fists of Stone’ to quit.

For pure bloody drama, Marvin Hagler’s three-round destruction of Hearns would feature in so many fight fans’ top five all-time bouts.

The context of Evander Holyfield’s rematch with Riddick ‘Big Daddy’ Bowe in 1992 – when a sky-diver gate-crashed proceedings - was another thrilling chapter in the history of the fight game.

Heavyweight champion Holyfield had been dethroned a year earlier by Bowe in a fight that will be remembered for the 10th round and Holyfield’s incredible powers of recovery to rock his opponent after being out on his feet a minute earlier.

For Holyfield to come back and win the return against all odds on a majority decision was fit for a Hollywood film script.

Holyfield, a blown-up cruiserweight in reality, was such an engaging fighter: vulnerable, yet a beautifully balanced fighter.

His first bout with Dwight Muhammad Qwai and his shock win over Mike Tyson would undoubtedly feature in many people's top 10 fights.

Take your pick from Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward's trilogy in the early 'Noughties', and all Azumah Nelson and Jeff Fenech needed in their first meeting was a phone box, while the devastating conclusion to Meldrick Taylor’s gallant but ultimately failed attempt to topple Julio César Chavez back in 1990 are other timeless bouts.

Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope knock-out win over George Foreman. Watching the great Eusebio Pedroza fall to Barry McGuigan in the seventh round at Loftus Road and succumbing to the Clones Cyclone has to be up there too.

Manny Pacquiao was the proverbial powder keg the lighter weights yearned for, and arguably the best of his ring wars came against Erik Morales in their first meeting - a points defeat he later avenged

At the final bell, and with both fighters out on their feet, Larry Merchant summed it up: “Nobody is going to ask for their money back.”

Here are my top five bouts of all-time. They'll probably change tomorrow...

1. Tommy Hearns versus Sugar Ray Leonard I (1981)

2. The Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier (1975)

3. Erik Morales versus Marco Antonio Barerra I (2000)

4. Diego Corrales v Jose Luis Castillo I (2005)

5. ‘Jersey Joe’ Walcott v Rocky Marciano I (1952)