Ah, the Juan Domingo Roldan slip/push knockdown. Hagler vs Hearns was my favorite fight along with Pryor vs Arguello 1. Huge boxing fan myself. I remember the first fight I watched was Ali vs Norton 1 when Kenny upset him. I liked all weight classes. Back in the day I could tell you who all the WBC, WBA and IBF (which was a new sanctioning body) champions were in every weight class. Bought the magazines and watched all the fights I could. I drove an hour and a half to watch Hagler vs Hearns on the big closed circuit screen. Glad I did. Was a big Hearns fan back then along with Alexis Arguello. I was even in attendance at the Cobo Arena in Detroit when Hearns won the LH title from Andries in 1987. I liked Hagler as well. Hagler had an iron chin. Hearns nailed him with a huge right hand and uppercut the first 30 seconds of the fight which did make Hagler briefly hold on. Hagler was always wrong for Tommy. Matchups make fights. Example. Hearns blew out Duran but Hagler barely squeeked by Duran. What a great era that was with Hagler, Hearns, Duran and Leonard. A book called Four Kings by George Kimball about those guys and that era is an excellent read. Boxing died out when they lost the casual fanbase by putting most of the fights on pay per view that they had shown for free on network TV in the 70's and 80's. Too many titles too, which causes confusion.
What an era in boxing . Boxing is the ultimate style makes fights sport. You see this dynamic in other sports of course which is why comparative scores as a way of judging teams or match-ups can be so faulty. I remember seeing Hears take apart Pipino Cueves in such a brutal display of power that is actually a bit frightening. Kimball does a great job with that book .There really could have been or should have been a fifth king .His name was Wilfred Benitez who had as much natural ability as anyone did pound for pound. I liken Benitez to a really talented child actor who kind fo goes off the rails earlier in life and in their careers .
He lost a good 15 round fight to Leonard as a young guy { younger than Leonard but more of a veteran} in a fight it was reported he barely trained for . Benitez turned pro at 15 and won a title at 17 beating a good champion Antonio Cervantes a grown man in his early 30's . What were many of us doing at 17 ? Working out and lifting for football , playing summer baseball goofing off with our friends , going to the beach and sneaking into the movies? As good or better a defensive fighter than Mayweather . Kind of toyed with Duran winning a unanimous decision in 82 , a couple years after his loss to Leonard. Lost to Hearns in a good fight with both guys putting the other down, but Hearns won a 2-0-1 decision, winning by a few points and a lot of points { Boxing judges often see things differently LOL} on two and the third judge had it a draw.
this was kind of the end for Benitez who never really recovered , stopped training hard at all and had some personal issues and kind of faded away and went into a decline . Turning pro at 15 wasn't a good move , even winning a title at 17 and a half years old . He had a father who was his trainer and two older brothers who fought and were good but not in the youngest one's class and he was moved along too quickly . I would have loved to see what may have been if he had kind of been moved along at a more natural pace.
So many great fights between real warriors adn as Tiger Alum says many of these fights were on Saturday afternoons on network TV . Seems incredible now. A few come to mind . A good friend of mine and long time teammate in baseball and backfield mate in football's Dad was a professional boxer . He got the level of being an opponent for guys moving up a bit , so above a tomato can for sure but he lost those fights that would have elevated him. Did well boxing in the Golden Gloves . He had a large amount of boxing memorabilia and then hundreds of tapes that i had some access to . My friend boxed until he was 12 and was very good doing well in the Silver Mittens { 10-16 age groups I saw him fight a few times and he won each fight } but the other sports took precedent as the time commitment grew. . He taught me and a few other friends to box at the local Rec center that had a boxing ring. We sparred with each other , hit the bag and had a lot of fun .I got a pair of those big sparring gloves when I was 9 . The old man passed a while back and cancer got my Friend a few years ago { He eventually played football at Harvard } .
Speaking of this family , when we were kids the old man took us to watch a closed circuit viewing of the 'brawl in Montreal at a local movie theater . Leonard and Duran 1 . This was just before these mega fights were shown on pay per view cable stations . I can still remember the smell and the atmosphere. Leonard lost a close decision and took a beating on the arms and to the body especially as he chose to prove his manhood and stand toe to toe with the " Hands of Stone " Panamanian legend for the duration. Leonard would avenge the loss with a masterful boxing exhibition 5 months later in New Orleans in the famous " No Mas " fight with Duran basically quitting at the end of the 8th round .Duran had gotten out of the shape adn had to drop about 20 pounds late in the game and then after making weight it was said he ate like a starved Pig after the weigh in . Said it was the reason he couldn't fight anymore . Well the reality was he had no answers at that point of the fight , wasn't getting killed but wasn't going to win and he knew it . Frustration and Leonard mocking him after being mocked and disrespected by Duran in Montreal was too much for the proud Duran who threw in the towel.
As TA alluded to , that Pryor Arguello first fight was a classic. A bit infamous ? That Panama Lewis bottle 'The one that I mixed" ?Arguello hit him him with a few bombs that would have taken out most mortal men . Pryor shook them off and had more energy in the last few rounds and stopped Arguello late . So many epic battles during the 80's . Could go on all day. Thanks TA for jogging some good memories of a really special era.
