I loved Hearns. He always came to fight and got the short end of the stick because he lost to Leonard and Hagler in two classics, especially with the Hagler one where he broke his hand in the first round.
One of my favorite factoids in sports: The first three opponents to beat Hearns all went to the hospital after the fight.
hearns hit like a brick. He and Hagler were the men, but those weight classes were the golden era of boxing IMO.
I like all of them. I probably like Hearns the least, and I still like him. [video=youtube;9VI-M9Yw-28]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VI-M9Yw-28[/video]
And I've watched the Leonard / Hagler fight 20 times probably, and I think Leonard won the fight, and I've thought he won the fight each and every time I watched it. I love that fight. It's like a Rorsach Test.
Duran was an animal. He went into the fight with Leonard at 74-1 and was probably a better fighter in the 70s than when he was more famous later on for fighting the big names of the 80s. He had Hagler beat and, actually, would have won against Marvelous if the 12 round rules had been in effect then as they are today. As to your earlier comment of the "golden age", I think a case can be made for the 80s middleweights, but also the 70s heavyweights. I, additionally, like the 50s middlewieight era with Sugar Ray Robinson (the best boxer ever) and you could throw in the 20s in there as well.
But which one are you talking about? There are two. One on the first fight, one on the third. I think the one on the third was better.
