BoxRec

On September 16, 1981, on a Wednesday night, I believe, two great champions went at it for all the marbles! It was the World Welterweight Title Unification between WBA World Welterweight Champion, Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns, 22, of Detroit, MI, versus WBC World Welterweight King Sugar Ray Leonard, 25, from Palmer Park, MD.

Seldom we see a bout between two all time greats in their own division at the peak of their powers going at each other. This case was one of the few cases where a superfight of this magnitude were almost even in all areas.

I remember myself rooting for Leonard in that hot night in Las Vegas, NV. I was confident that he was going to win the fight. I believed at the time, that he was the better fighter. But, I knew also that Tommy was a great fighter. A hell of a fighter. The first time I noticed of him was in an old magazine from the US named Sport, back in the summer of 1980. I read that he was one of the prospects to become world champion one day. The month after that issue, The Hitman destroyed long-time champion Pipino Cuevas in such an easy and brutal fashion to become WBA welterweight king. He destroyed the Mexican in only 2 rounds! Hearns was 32-0, with 30KOs. A lanky 6'1" boxer that had a cobra lightning jab and a devastating right cross. Plus, he could box. The majority of the American press picked him to be the undisputed champion of the world since the great Jose " Mantequilla" Napoles.

Leonard, the year before, suffered his first defeat as a professional when the great Roberto Duran of Panama took the crown from him. Five months later after that fight in Montreal, Duran quit inexplicable in the rematch that now is famous as the "No Mas". Then, in June of '81, Sugar Ray took the WBA crown from Ayub Kalule of Uganda of the Jr middleweight class. Some critics were saying that he was becoming more of a banker than a serious boxer.

This fight was a see saw battle. A great technical fight that had everything, including drama. It surpassed the expectations of a great fight thanks for the quality of both fighters. A big rivalry was on between these two extraordinary boxers. Many rounds were the boxer turned puncher, and the puncher turned boxer.

Leonard put Hearns in queer street in the 6th and 7th rounds. Hearns was in bad shape. It was the first time he was ever rocked like that. Leonard put it on him in both rounds. Hearns won in my view 3 of the first 5 rounds. Maybe one even. But, after the 8th, people at ringside saw that Hearns could be versatile. That he could box. So he went back to basics. And he was outboxing Leonard. He closed almost Leonard's one eye shut . By round 13th, Hearns was ahead in all judges scorecards. Leonard had to come to grips as his time was running out. His eye almost totally shut. His trainer, the legendary Angelo Dundee, was screaming in Leonard's ear, "You Blowing it, Son", "You blowing it!" Leonard was not going to outpoint Thomas. He went to work and almost stopped him in the 13th. It was over in the 14th, with a game Hearns on the ropes , helpless. Referee Davey Pearl stopped the contest and Leonard became the undisputed welterweight champion of the world. It was an all time classic. The greatest win in Sugar Ray's boxing career.

There are 3 versions of this fight on tape. The original fight version is by the call of the late legendary announcer Don Dunphy with Marv Albert and Ferdie Pacheco doing color commentary. The other version is of Tim Ryan and the late legendary boxing trainer Gil Clancy. And the third version of this fight was of legendary announcer Howard Cossell of ABC with Leonard and Hearns analyzing the fight. All three versions of the commentary of that fight were good.

One of the true really great matches, both in build up and the actual fight, where both protagonists were at the zenith of their fistic prowess...most superfights come when at least one of the fighters are past their best.

Just to think, if these two were around today, they probably would never have fought.

Two great champions & a fight for the ages.

I saw the Don Dunphy/Ferdie Pacheco/Marv Albert commentary of the fight. It was pretty good. Dunphy said that the fight was stopped too soon. Was the fight stopped too soon? Or did The Hitman was rescued from further punishment by referee Davey Pearl?

Anyway, I had the great Thomas Hearns winning the fight 126-121 at the time of the stoppage. He was definitely winning the fight. But, the great Sugar Ray Leonard proved to be a great champion coming from behind with a close left eye and rallied. Leonard had lots of heart. I don't care what anybody says. Hearns had a lot of heart in that fight, too. He showed that he could be versatile. The only thing for him missing in his arsenal was how to know how to clinch. He was unexperienced in that aspect of his arsenal. Plus, maybe coming at 145lbs was not good for him as some boxing critics said like Gil Clancy. Clancy definitely did not like Hearns coming to the ring at 145.

It brought lots of memories when I saw it again. Now guys like GGG and Canelo can't come to terms for a fight. That is why I don't watch boxing anymore. The very best duck the very best nowdays.

The Hitman was also dissapointed that the fight was stopped too soon in his view. He said that he was still in control of his senses. Sugar Ray said that there is no way that the Hitman would have survived that 14th round. Man, the competitive spirit of both fighters were off the chain. That is what I am talking about. Boxing at its best!

elmersalsa wrote:I saw the Don Dunphy/Ferdie Pacheco/Marv Albert commentary of the fight. It was pretty good. Dunphy said that the fight was stopped too soon. Was the fight stopped too soon? Or did The Hitman was rescued from further punishment by referee Davey Pearl?

Anyway, I had the great Thomas Hearns winning the fight 126-121 at the time of the stoppage. He was definitely winning the fight. But, the great Sugar Ray Leonard proved to be a great champion coming from behind with a close left eye and rallied. Leonard had lots of heart. I don't care what anybody says. Hearns had a lot of heart in that fight, too. He showed that he could be versatile. The only thing for him missing in his arsenal was how to know how to clinch. He was unexperienced in that aspect of his arsenal. Plus, maybe coming at 145lbs was not good for him as some boxing critics said like Gil Clancy. Clancy definitely did not like Hearns coming to the ring at 145.

It brought lots of memories when I saw it again. Now guys like GGG and Canelo can't come to terms for a fight. That is why I don't watch boxing anymore. The very best duck the very best nowdays.

I don't believe Tommy's weight was the issue.

It was never a problem when he was decimating opponents in the WW division, so it shouldn't have been a problem when he came up against a man who was his equal.

Tommy himself would never have used that as an excuse.

This is a very well written post. Makes me want to watch the fight again.

elmersalsa wrote:I saw the Don Dunphy/Ferdie Pacheco/Marv Albert commentary of the fight. It was pretty good. Dunphy said that the fight was stopped too soon. Was the fight stopped too soon? Or did The Hitman was rescued from further punishment by referee Davey Pearl?

Anyway, I had the great Thomas Hearns winning the fight 126-121 at the time of the stoppage. He was definitely winning the fight. But, the great Sugar Ray Leonard proved to be a great champion coming from behind with a close left eye and rallied. Leonard had lots of heart. I don't care what anybody says. Hearns had a lot of heart in that fight, too. He showed that he could be versatile. The only thing for him missing in his arsenal was how to know how to clinch. He was unexperienced in that aspect of his arsenal. Plus, maybe coming at 145lbs was not good for him as some boxing critics said like Gil Clancy. Clancy definitely did not like Hearns coming to the ring at 145.

It brought lots of memories when I saw it again. Now guys like GGG and Canelo can't come to terms for a fight. That is why I don't watch boxing anymore. The very best duck the very best nowdays.

Your 126-121 score does not seem to add up. That would mean that you had Hearns winning 9 rounds to 4 without any 10-8 rounds.
You had Hearns up 3-1-1 after 5. you had Leonard winning rounds 6 and 7. Then it appears that you somehow had Hearns winning rounds 8,9,10,11, and 12 with Leonard winning round 13.

That would make it 126-122. (8-4-1). Surely you didn't give Hearns any 10-8 rounds.

It also looks like you did not give Leonard any 10-8 rounds even though Leonard as you said hurt him badly in the 6th, 7th, and 13th rounds. He did knock Hearns down in the 13th, but the referee incorrectly called it a push.

You are bending over backwards in your scoring. Had you simply given Leonard the three 10-8 rounds, then it would be only be 123-122 Hearns.
You said that the fight was a seesaw battle; however:
You also only gave Leonard a total of one round in the entire fight when he did not hurt Hearns. Wow.

I think even the official judges had Hearns ahead, I'm not sure what the scores were, but the scores are ultimately moot since Leonard got the stoppage in the 14th. Excellent fight. I've only watched it once I think. Definitely worth looking back on sometime soon on it's 35th anniversary.

I thought it was closer than a lot of cards.

Ambling Alp II wrote:

elmersalsa wrote:I saw the Don Dunphy/Ferdie Pacheco/Marv Albert commentary of the fight. It was pretty good. Dunphy said that the fight was stopped too soon. Was the fight stopped too soon? Or did The Hitman was rescued from further punishment by referee Davey Pearl?

Anyway, I had the great Thomas Hearns winning the fight 126-121 at the time of the stoppage. He was definitely winning the fight. But, the great Sugar Ray Leonard proved to be a great champion coming from behind with a close left eye and rallied. Leonard had lots of heart. I don't care what anybody says. Hearns had a lot of heart in that fight, too. He showed that he could be versatile. The only thing for him missing in his arsenal was how to know how to clinch. He was unexperienced in that aspect of his arsenal. Plus, maybe coming at 145lbs was not good for him as some boxing critics said like Gil Clancy. Clancy definitely did not like Hearns coming to the ring at 145.

It brought lots of memories when I saw it again. Now guys like GGG and Canelo can't come to terms for a fight. That is why I don't watch boxing anymore. The very best duck the very best nowdays.

Your 126-121 score does not seem to add up. That would mean that you had Hearns winning 9 rounds to 4 without any 10-8 rounds.
You had Hearns up 3-1-1 after 5. you had Leonard winning rounds 6 and 7. Then it appears that you somehow had Hearns winning rounds 8,9,10,11, and 12 with Leonard winning round 13.

That would make it 126-122. (8-4-1). Surely you didn't give Hearns any 10-8 rounds.

It also looks like you did not give Leonard any 10-8 rounds even though Leonard as you said hurt him badly in the 6th, 7th, and 13th rounds. He did knock Hearns down in the 13th, but the referee incorrectly called it a push.

You are bending over backwards in your scoring. Had you simply given Leonard the three 10-8 rounds, then it would be only be 123-122 Hearns.
You said that the fight was a seesaw battle; however:
You also only gave Leonard a total of one round in the entire fight when he did not hurt Hearns. Wow.

That was only in the last scoring that I have done. In my first time scoring it, I had it closer by one or two points in favor of Hearns. Between 1 to 5 points in Hearns favor is reasonable. The BOTTOM LINE WAS, HEARNS WAS WINNING CLEARLY. NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT.

Round 8 could go either way. Round one could be the only round even. But I gave the edge to Hearns in round one when I saw it again. And it is deservedly so. He was dominating the fight with the jab. Just like he dominated the great Wilfred Benitez when he fought him a year later.

You said yourself it was seesaw battle. Then it became Hearns was clearly ahead.
I agree that Hearns was clearly ahead if you don't give Leonard any 10-8 rounds, and you only give Leonard one out of the other 10 rounds. Which would be ridiculous.

Its the greatest combined display of skill and ringcraft that I have seen, in terms of the aggregate talent in the ring that night. I've probably seen it 8 times, and still every time I see it even in the early rounds when there aren't a huge numbers of punches being thrown, the tension is palpable, the feints and traps they are setting for each other, I'm on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Syntax Error wrote:

elmersalsa wrote:I saw the Don Dunphy/Ferdie Pacheco/Marv Albert commentary of the fight. It was pretty good. Dunphy said that the fight was stopped too soon. Was the fight stopped too soon? Or did The Hitman was rescued from further punishment by referee Davey Pearl?

Anyway, I had the great Thomas Hearns winning the fight 126-121 at the time of the stoppage. He was definitely winning the fight. But, the great Sugar Ray Leonard proved to be a great champion coming from behind with a close left eye and rallied. Leonard had lots of heart. I don't care what anybody says. Hearns had a lot of heart in that fight, too. He showed that he could be versatile. The only thing for him missing in his arsenal was how to know how to clinch. He was unexperienced in that aspect of his arsenal. Plus, maybe coming at 145lbs was not good for him as some boxing critics said like Gil Clancy. Clancy definitely did not like Hearns coming to the ring at 145.

It brought lots of memories when I saw it again. Now guys like GGG and Canelo can't come to terms for a fight. That is why I don't watch boxing anymore. The very best duck the very best nowdays.

I don't believe Tommy's weight was the issue.

It was never a problem when he was decimating opponents in the WW division, so it shouldn't have been a problem when he came up against a man who was his equal.

Tommy himself would never have used that as an excuse.

Tommy wouldn't, but thats Tommy he didn't make excuses.

IMO the weight was something of an issue. Weighing in at 145 and seemingly fighting not much heavier than that, Tommy did look even skinnier than usual

Ambling Alp II wrote:You said yourself it was seesaw battle. Then it became Hearns was clearly ahead.
I agree that Hearns was clearly ahead if you don't give Leonard any 10-8 rounds, and you only give Leonard one out of the other 10 rounds. Which would be ridiculous.

It was a see saw battle. Anybody could see that. The fight took turns. I gave Sugar Ray round 13th a 10-8 because he dropped the Hitman in that round. The 6th and 7th rounds were not 10-8. Hearns fought back and even that, he was winning round 6 with the jab

Well if you scored round 13 because Hearns hit the deck, then it is 125-122 on your fair and unbiased scorecard. (I guess I'm here to do the the math for you.)

I now know your method for scoring the fight. If Leonard has a huge round, hurts Hearns badly, but Hearns remains on his feet, Leonard wins the round 10-9. If he doesn't hurt Hearns, it's Hearns round. Got it.

Ambling Alp II wrote:Well if you scored round 13 because Hearns hit the deck, then it is 125-122 on your fair and unbiased scorecard. (I guess I'm here to do the the math for you.)
I now know your method for scoring the fight. If Leonard has a huge round, hurts Hearns badly, but Hearns remains on his feet, Leonard wins the round 10-9. If he doesn't hurt Hearns, it's Hearns round. Got it.

Leonard only won CLEARLY the rounds 6,7 and 13th. What other rounds you suggest that he won for a fight being close?

evrenb wrote:One of the true really great matches, both in build up and the actual fight, where both protagonists were at the zenith of their fistic prowess...most superfights come when at least one of the fighters are past their best.

I agree Leonard was lucky Hagler wasn't a bit younger, else Leonard would have been in serious trouble!

Leonard was probably even luckier that Hearns wasn't at his correct weight, the later showdown showed Hearns was just too much, so at Hearn's Light middle or middle rampage years, Leonard would have been knockout a bit like the Duran fight.

Rexob wrote:Leonard was probably even luckier that Hearns wasn't at his correct weight, the later showdown showed Hearns was just too much, so at Hearn's Light middle or middle rampage years, Leonard would have been knockout a bit like the Duran fight.

I have always said that. The greats Roberto Duran, Wilferd Benitez nor Ray Leonard can't beat a monster like the Hitman at 154lbs. I can't see it. I have never seen a fighter so perfectly fit in a weight class as Hearns was at 154lbs. He was so beautiful to see. Especially, when he was wearing the golden trunks of the Kronk Boxing Team. He was awesome, man!

Going in Hearns was considered the slugger and Leonard was considered the boxer.

Well, the slugger certainly did some great boxing and the boxer certainly did some great slugging.


"You're Blowing It Son, you're Blowing It." Angelo Dundee to Sugar Ray.

elmersalsa wrote:

Ambling Alp II wrote:Well if you scored round 13 because Hearns hit the deck, then it is 125-122 on your fair and unbiased scorecard. (I guess I'm here to do the the math for you.)
I now know your method for scoring the fight. If Leonard has a huge round, hurts Hearns badly, but Hearns remains on his feet, Leonard wins the round 10-9. If he doesn't hurt Hearns, it's Hearns round. Got it.

Leonard only won CLEARLY the rounds 6,7 and 13th. What other rounds you suggest that he won for a fight being close?

I gave Leonard rounds 3, 8, and 10. So I actually gave Leonard 3 out of 10 rounds that he did not pummel Hearns. Just crazy isn't it?
Had Leonard up 123-121.
Rounds 1 and 2 were very close and could also have gone to Leonard or been scored even.

The AP had Leonard up 126-122.

Fighter's like Canelo/Stevenson/Mayweather etc etc etc should take note this is what former Legend's use to do Challenge each other while still young and with plenty of time left for a rematch and even a third fight

Ambling Alp II wrote:

elmersalsa wrote:

Ambling Alp II wrote:Well if you scored round 13 because Hearns hit the deck, then it is 125-122 on your fair and unbiased scorecard. (I guess I'm here to do the the math for you.)
I now know your method for scoring the fight. If Leonard has a huge round, hurts Hearns badly, but Hearns remains on his feet, Leonard wins the round 10-9. If he doesn't hurt Hearns, it's Hearns round. Got it.

Leonard only won CLEARLY the rounds 6,7 and 13th. What other rounds you suggest that he won for a fight being close?

I gave Leonard rounds 3, 8, and 10. So I actually gave Leonard 3 out of 10 rounds that he did not pummel Hearns. Just crazy isn't it?
Had Leonard up 123-121.
Rounds 1 and 2 were very close and could also have gone to Leonard or been scored even.

The AP had Leonard up 126-122.

Somebody need glasses then. There is no indication of what I have seen that Sugar Ray won round 10. Neither rounds 1 and 2. A blind man could see that.