The Fab Four: Part Two: Boxing's Last Golden Era

By Lea Worrall

Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns were involved in the last golden era of boxing: a time where proving to be the best around was far more important than losing an unbeaten record. These four warriors had some epic struggles between 1980 to 1989. Throw Wilfred Benitez into the mix and you had one of the best periods in boxing of all time.

 

Duran: Brought up in great poverty, there was nothing he wouldn't do to provide for his family. This dark-eyed warrior liked nothing more than to inflict pain and suffering on his opponents in the ring: outside it, he was a good-hearted and generous man.

 

Hagler: The mean, brooding middleweight felt the boxing authorities were against him from winning the world middleweight championship. The blue-collar champion, who would apply Vaseline to his own face and carry his own gym bag, reigned supreme for seven years, and to this day still feels aggrieved by his points defeat in his final contest.

 

Leonard: The darling of boxing turned professional to the tune of $40,000, casting an envious eye on the more established practitioners. He had the knack of retiring for long periods and coming back against the odds. This charismatic man who faced boxing's best had to tackle his own personal demons outside the ring.

 

Hearns: Not noted as a puncher in the amateur ranks, only to take the professional scene by storm, knocking out almost everyone he faced. he made history by becoming the first five-weight world champion.

 

The Fab Four Part Two picks up exactly where Part One left off, exploring the rest of their explosive careers including the epic Hagler versus Hearns war right up to each man's retirement.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lea Worrall
• Release date: Aug 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223560395

Book preview

cover-image, THE FAB FOUR PT 2 6x9 Hard & Paperback

Lea Worrall lives and works in Gloucester and is married with two children. He currently writes for his own Boxing History Blog and is the author of Mike Tyson The Iron Years and Boxing Legends & Champions

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First Published 20th June 2020

Copyright © Lea Worrall 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Cover design by L & M. Worrall

For my Dad, Glyn Worrall

Other titles include:

Mike Tyson The Iron Years

Boxing Legends & Champions

More Boxing Legends & Champions

The Fab Four Part One

Contents

1983

1984

Thomas Hearns Vs Roberto Durán

1985

Marvelous Marvin Hagler Vs Thomas Hearns

1986

1987

Marvelous Marvin Hagler Vs Ray Leonard

1988

1989

Ray Leonard Vs Thomas Hearns

Ray Leonard Vs Roberto Durán

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2005

2006

Epilogue

1983

29th January 1983, Sports Arena, Los Angeles

Light-Middleweight Contest

Roberto Durán Vs Pipino Cuevas

With the Hispanic fan base growing on the West coast of America, Bob Arum saw a huge opportunity to put Roberto Durán and Pipino Cuevas in the ring together in Los Angeles. If you fight him at 154 and beat him, I promise I can get you a world title fight with Marvin Hagler, the promoter promised Durán.

Ex-WBA welterweight champion Cuevas returned to the ring in February 1981, six months after getting knocked out in two rounds by Thomas Hearns. The Mexican knocked out Columbia's Bernardo Prada in the second round. It turned out to be the Colombian's final contest.

That June he faced Denmark's European welterweight champion, Joeregan Hansen. Still only twenty-three, he flattened the thirty-eight-year-old Dane with a first-round technical knockout. On 07th November 1981, he came across the unfancied American Roger Stafford.

The Mexican was on the canvas in the second round and went on to drop a ten-round unanimous decision. The result was such a shock that The Ring magazine called it their upset of the year.

Cuevas didn't box at all through 1982, ending his fourteen-month hiatus against Roberto Durán.

Both men were considered washed up, Durán was thirty-one and Cuevas only twenty-five. They were both guaranteed $50,000 plus a percentage from the closed-circuit TV receipts. The winner was mooted to get a shot at WBA light-middleweight champion Davey Moore, not bad for a pair of boxers considered well past their sell-by date.

Durán entered the ring wearing white shorts trimmed with black, weighing in for the contest at 152 pounds (68.95 Kg). Cuevas, attired in red trunks, scaled in at 149 pounds (67.59 Kg). The capacity crowd of 16,824 produced a gate of $408,000. They cheered frantically as the first round got underway.

Durán, looking trim at his lightest weight since the Leonard rematch, started the bout behind a stinging left jab. The Mexican, who seldom used his jab, looked to catch the older man with his looping, heavy punches. Durán evaded the shots and countered with a lead right or left hook. Cuevas took a solid right hand as the round came to a close.

The dominant jab of the Panamanian's was a factor again in the second round. Cuevas had some success with his power shots, though he couldn't back up the incoming Durán, who was happy to stand his ground with the harder hitter.

The third was action-packed, both men landed their best punches. A left-right combination momentarily staggered the Mexican, who fired back immediately and traded punches until the bell.

Durán started the fourth behind his jab, using his boxing skills to good effect. Suddenly, a straight right put Cuevas on the back foot and he was forced to fight off the ropes. A combination from Durán put the Mexican in all kinds of trouble as he stumbled against the neutral corner. Referee James Jen Kin stepped in and started the eight count.

Cuevas was allowed to continue and Durán instantly pressured him to the ropes. The Mexican held on for dear life as Kin tried without much success to pull them apart. Once free, 'Hands of Stone' pounded his opponent to the canvas for the second time.

Gamely, the former WBA welterweight champion got to his feet, as his manager, Lupe Sanchez, told the referee to stop the contest with 34 seconds of the round remaining. I wanted the fight stopped because my man was hurt and I didn't want him to take further punishment.

I trained like I have never trained before, stated the slimline Durán. I dedicated this fight to the people of Miami. They didn't lose faith in me while others did.

Watching the fight on closed-circuit television was WBA light-middleweight champion, Davey Moore. Moore was fresh from defending his belt for the third time that very night in Atlantic City, stopping Gary Guiden in the fourth round. Was that Durán looking so good or Cuevas so bad? the champion wanted to know.

Though Durán was optimistic about facing Moore, the champion had WBC counterpart, Thomas Hearns, very much in his sights. I'd have no trouble with Hearns. If Hearns wants to step over to the WBA I'd fight him anytime. It's a big money fight. I know Hearns couldn't beat me. He couldn't take the body punches.

Cuevas, who stated he was going back to Mexico to decide on his boxing future, returned to the ring in March 1984, disposing of Mauricio Bravo in the first round. Though still only twenty-six years old, his career never got back to the heights of his WBA welterweight championship days, making eleven successful defences in a four-year reign.

He finally retired in September 1989, aged thirty-one, suffering a second-round knockout defeat to Lupe Aquino. His final record was 35-15 with thirty-one knockouts.

11th February: Born in Leicester, England on 09th April 1958, the WBC number one middleweight contender Tony Sibson, got a shot at Marvelous Marvin Hagler at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. 13,000 tickets sold out within thirty-six hours of the fight being announced.

Sibson, a popular amateur who represented the Belgrave Boxing Club, was first taken to the gym by his father. He juggled his training with a hod-carrying job on building sites, turning professional realising he could earn a month’s wages in just one fight. He debuted on his eighteenth birthday, stopping Charlie Richardson in the second round in Birmingham, England. In his first eighteen months as a pro he won seventeen in a row, before suffering his first blemish, a draw with Cardiff resident Pat Thomas.

He carried on winning until May 1978, running into Zambia’s Lottie Mwale, who knocked Sibson out in the first round in front of his Leicestershire supporters. He won his next three in a five-month spell, losing an eight-rounder to Eddie Smith in the October.

The following March Sibson gained revenge over Smith and in his next contest won the vacant British middleweight title (vacated by Alan Minter), with a fifth-round TKO over Londoner Frank Lucas.

After three non-title contests, he surrendered the national championship in November 1979 to Kevin Finnegan as referee and sole judge Harry Gibbs scored it 147½-147 (one round). Finnegan had already lost twice to Marvin Hagler, who would say that he was the toughest man he had ever faced.

By March 1980, Sibson became Commonwealth middleweight champion, outpointing the Zambian champion Chisanda Mutti, who was 2-1 as a pro, picking up the vacant championship with a fifteen-round decision. In December of that year, he added the European middleweight championship, knocking out the defending champion from Italy Matteo Salvemini, in the seventh round.

In May 1981 he travelled to Spain retaining the European title with a twelve-round unanimous decision over local hero Andoni Amana. Four months later ex-world middleweight champion Alan Minter was next to challenge Sibson for his EBU belt.

Minter, fighting in front of his London supporters, started well behind his right jab for two rounds. In the third Sibson nailed him with a left hook, sending the challenger to the canvas. A crushing right not only finished the fight for Minter, it also ended his career, as Sibson became the only man to kayo Minter and looked towards a world title shot.

A third defence of his title in the November set up a final WBC eliminator against the American Dwight Davison in February 1982. The man from Detroit had only lost one contest in thirty-two, as Sibson widely outscored him over twelve rounds.

Sibson won two more that year, before challenging Hagler for the undisputed middleweight title in front of a sellout crowd of 14,000. The champion received $1.1 million as the challenger, who gave up his Commonwealth and European titles to concentrate on world honours, was paid $557,000.

Sibson arrived in Worcester, Massachusetts, ten days before the contest and was greeted by snowfalls and blizzards, which disrupted his training. He was reduced to running around the sports hall he was allocated as he couldn’t go outside and do his roadwork.

The challenger was dubbed as being Hagler’s toughest opponent for a long while, but the champion had no such problems with his number one contender. Hagler confused his man with his switch-hitting style, stinging him with accurate jabs. At the end of round two, the challenger’s corner instructed him to trade jabs. Hagler, though, was shooting out combinations, digging hooks to the body and landing overhand rights to the head.

In round five Sibson was cut for the first time in his career. Blood seeped from a gash over his left eye and a smaller one over his right. He also had blood dripping from his nose and mouth.

A straight left, followed by a right hook and a left to the top of the head floored Sibson in the sixth. The challenger took a standing eight count from referee Carlos Padilla, turning away from his corner, dropping his trunks signifying he had damaged his protective cup.

There wasn’t time to get a replacement as Hagler advanced forward and detonated three straight rights, decking Sibson again. The challenger rose to his feet, blood covering his face in a red mask. Padilla had seen enough and waved it off with 20 seconds of the round remaining. Once again Hagler made a mockery of the authorities’ top contenders, showing a huge gap in class between the champion and the other middleweights. I never believed that anyone could do to me what he did, the challenger said afterwards. The man is an artist, master. He put me in a cage, locked the door and threw away the key.

The challenger faced Dennis Andries in September 1986 for the WBC light-heavyweight title, losing by a ninth-round TKO. He then challenged Frank Tate, who was making the first defence of his IBF middleweight strap. Tate, fighting in Britain, dispatched Sibson with a right hand in round ten. It proved to be the Leicester man’s final contest, bowing out of the game with a won-lost-drawn record of 55-7-1 (31 KOs).

27th May: Houston’s Wilford Scypion was up next for Marvelous Marvin. Born on 18th July 1958, Scypion became the 1978 National Golden Gloves middleweight champion. He turned professional on his twentieth birthday, knocking out Dennis Hegarty in the very first round. He remained unbeaten but tragedy struck in his thirteenth contest when he knocked Willie Classen unconscious in the tenth round. Classen never woke up, dying five days later on 28th November 1979, aged twenty-nine. It was the dark boxing nightmare that looms above every fighter, he said at a later date and seriously considered his boxing future.

Scypion didn’t retire and stopped his next opponent to go 14-0 before being taken the distance for the maiden time by Jerome Jackson. In his seventeenth bout, he suffered a tenth-round disqualification defeat to Mustafa Hamsho. Scypion was pushed out of the ring and failed to climb back in before the referee, Tom Briscoe, finished his count.

In March 1982 he suffered his third defeat at the hands of James Green, going on a five-fight winning spree, including a twelve-round points win over Frank ‘The Animal’ Fletcher, the USBA middleweight champion and top contender for the world title, before challenging Hagler at the Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island. As Hagler was the unified champion, the two organisations would take turns acting as the host. Last time out against Tony Sibson the WBC provided the supervision and the officials.

In March, co-promoter Bob Arum was told by Dr. Elias Cordova, chairman of the WBA championship committee, the Scypion fight would be over fifteen rounds and officiated by the World Boxing Association.

The World Boxing Council president, Jose Suliman, used the argument that Scypion was their mandatory challenger and only rated number two by the WBA and convinced that organisation’s president Gilberto Mendoza that they should run the show. Dr. Cordova objected and both governing bodies agreed to let the WBA take charge of Hagler’s next two defences.

The contest was originally to be held on 13th May, but an inflamed tendon in the champion’s left knee, which hampered his lateral movement, postponed the bout for two weeks. The length of the contest was also up for debate. Hagler had signed to fight for fifteen rounds, though the WBC had a twelve-round limit for title fights and the WBA had also agreed on the shorter contest. I won the title in a fifteen-round fight, I've defended it six times in fifteen-round fights, and I'm going to defend it this time in a fifteen-round fight.

The WBC shortened their fifteen-round duration to twelve on 01st January 1983, following the death of Deuk Koo Kim. WBC president Jose Suliaman’s rationale was if the fight had been a twelve-rounder, Kim would still be alive.

The Korean challenged Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini on 13th November 1982 for his WBA lightweight title. Mancini knocked out his number one contender in the fourteenth round and the Korean suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and fell into a coma, dying on 17th November. His mother, Yang Sun-Yo committed suicide by drinking pesticide on 29th July 1983. The fight’s referee, Richard Greene, also committed suicide when he shot himself in the head on 01st July 1983.

Pat Petronelli confirmed his boxer would go the extra rounds, causing the WBC to hold an emergency committee meeting to vote on sanctioning the contest over fifteen rounds. We're fed up with the WBC and WBA dictating terms to us, said Pat Petronelli. How can they sanction this fight for 12 rounds and the next two for 15 rounds? It's bad for the sport. We're taking a stand right now. Marvin is disgusted with both organisations. They keep saying, ‘(We're going to) strip, strip, strip (you of your title).’ And we're saying to them, 'If you want to do it, go ahead and do it.' Marvin Hagler will still be the world champion regardless of what they say.

Both the WBA and WBC stated that if Hagler won then they would still recognise him as champion; if Scypion did the impossible then their titles would be vacant. It’s a double standard, said Scypion’s manager Bob Jones. If Hagler wins he’s still the champion, but if our boxer wins, he’s not the champion.

However, Suliman would later rescind this sanction as the referee Frank Cappuccino and judge Joe Cortez were not members of the WBC. The newly formed International Boxing Federation, seeing a golden opportunity to get a bonafide champion in their ranks stepped in and sanctioned the fight. I don’t care to think about that now, Hagler said about the sanctioning dispute. I’m just thinking about Wilford Scypion.

Hagler, who turned thirty-one years old four days before, got a $1.25 million pay cheque, whilst the twenty-four-year-old challenger banked $325,000. Scypion, in awe of the champion, froze like a rabbit in the headlights of an oncoming car. Hagler connected with a wicked left hook to the head, the challenger staggering backwards into a corner, with the champion in hot pursuit. Scypion fired back and Hagler took his foot off the pedal. He was fighting back out of instinct, and that's the time you can get hurt, Hagler later explained. I figured I had fifteen rounds, so there was no hurry.

The champion toyed with his man in rounds two and three and by round four he had had enough, getting Scypion out of there with a volley of punches. It wasn’t clear which punch the finishing shot was, even a replay on HBO couldn’t determine the punch, but the fight was called off with 13 seconds of the round remaining, with the challenger flat on his back. I've beaten everything that's out there, the champion said. There are no big-money fights for me, and I don't feel like just hanging around waiting for somebody to knock me off. I'm going home for a long rest. I'm going to be with my wife and my family, and I am going to think about it.

Of course, Hagler wouldn’t retire and nor did Scypion, never reaching the dizzy heights of a world title challenge again, losing five of his next eleven. His final defeat came at the end of March 1991, losing in the second round against Billy Lewis.

Scypion retired with a record of 32-9 (24 KOs) winning the USBA middleweight title from Frank Fletcher in February 1983 and losing to Murray Sutherland in a USBA super-middleweight title challenge in December 1984. Wilford Scypion died on 27th February 2014 at the age of fifty-five due to complications of pneumonia at a hospital in Port Arthur, Texas.

16th June 1983, Madison Square Garden, New York

WBA Light-Middleweight Title

Davey Moore Vs Roberto Durán

On Roberto Durán’s thirty-second birthday he challenged World Boxing Association light-middleweight king Davey Moore. The champion was making the fourth defence of the title in his very short career. Before the contest, Durán said this: I can't find words to express how I failed in the past. There are no excuses. Once I thought I was a man; now I am a man and I know it. In truth, I have such enthusiasm, like it was the first time I came to New York to fight for the title and the people were with me all the time. I've prepared very hard for this. I'm the old lion. I don't fight for the money. I want to show myself that I'm a champion. I do this in search of glory.

Moore was a native of the South Bronx in New York and was an honour student at Stevenson High School. He moved on to the Manhattan Community College and studied business administration for two years. He then transferred to Manhattan College, taking a leave of absence to concentrate on his boxing career.

Born on 09th June 1959, Moore started boxing at the age of fifteen. He walked into the Morrisania Recreation Center and told his future trainer and manager, Leon Washington, I will be the best fighter in the gym within a year.

The young upstart wasn’t far wrong in his self-confidence and in 1976 he captured the New York Golden Gloves Lightweight Novice Division title. In 1977, 1978 and 1979 he won the New York Golden Gloves Welterweight Open Division championship and also represented New York City to become the Intercity Golden Gloves champion during the same three-year period.

He lost out on becoming the 1980 New York Golden Gloves welterweight champion to Pedro Viella, who himself was a three-time New York Golden Gloves champion. He stayed at welterweight trying to grab a spot in the US Olympic Team, losing on points in the finals to future undisputed welterweight champion Donald Curry.

In November 1980 he turned professional. His debut was nationally televised by NBC as part of the Tomorrow’s Champions series. Also on the program were Tony Ayala, Johnny Bumphus, Bobby Czyz, Alex Ramos and Tony Tucker.

Moore outpointed fellow debutant, Jesus Saucedo, over six rounds. Saucedo never boxed again whilst Moore went on to bigger and better things. He boxed men with hardly any losses in their careers, progressing through the ranks. By mid-1981, in his seventh paid contest, he was matched up against the 15-0 Kevin Rooney. Moore stopped Rooney, who only four years later would guide Mike Tyson to the heavyweight title; in the seventh round.

With one more victory under his belt, he travelled to Japan in February 1982, challenging WBA light-middleweight title holder Tadashi Mihara. The 15-0 champion was making the first defence of the vacant belt he won against America’s Rocky Fratto in November 1981.

The challenger put the champion down once in the fifth and three times in the sixth. After the third knockdown, referee Carlos Berrocal cited the three-knockdown rule and waved the fight over, meaning Moore was the new champion and improved to 9-0 (6 KOs). The victory also meant he was the first boxer who was part of the Tomorrow’s Champions group to win a world championship.

The defences came thick and fast. Two months after his title win, he successfully defended the belt against the South African Charlie Weir with a fifth-round knockout in Johannesburg. In July 1982 he was in Atlantic City TKO-ing former champion Ayub Kalule in the tenth round.

He didn’t box again until January 1983, knocking out Gary Guiden in four rounds to go 12-0 with nine stopped before taking on the vastly experienced Durán, 76-4 (57 KOs). The contest was scheduled to take place in Sun City, Bophuthatswana in South Africa. The show was going to be a title doubleheader with WBA lightweight champion Ray Mancini defending his crown against Kenny Bogner. Frank Sinatra, a massive Mancini fan, was also going to put on a concert after the fight.

Two weeks before the bout Mancini had to pull out due to breaking his collarbone, with Sinatra pulling out too. Bob Arum had to move the show to Madison Square Garden and the champion was