Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns and Duran

[omarinbox]

Favourite:
Hagler
Duran
Leonard
Hearns

Rating:
Leonard
Hagler
Duran
Hearns

[BennyST]

Hard to distinguish. All of 'em are great and true ATG's. Probably Leonard and Duran with Hearns and Hagler a very close second are my favourite.

They are all great but it has to be (though you could easily make a case for Hearns being just in front of Hagler too):
Duran
Leonard
Hagler
Hearns

[BennyST]

Hagler and Hearns are 1 and 1a as far as being my favorite.

Career ranking wise:

1. Leonard (I can't deny it, much as I want to)

2. Hagler

3. Duran

4. Hearns

I have to put Duran above Hearns, he was a better fighter.

Career wise, he was the greatest of the lot pretty easily. Head to head, obviously he's going to struggle there being much older, smaller and having fought nearly a decade longer before the other guys even started their careers and having started his pro career at 118 compared with the others who started at 147 and 160.

Unless we're rating them head to head, which I can easily understand everyone putting Duran lower. Although he was the only one to beat Leonard, in fact the only fighter full stop to beat prime Leonard, he also lost a close fight to Hagler and got blasted by Hearns with the greatest right hand ever thrown. Man that was brutal. I can't believe he was able to get up at all. I thought he had died when that landed.

[Thread Stealer]

I don't see how anyone could dislike Leonard. The guy had world class skills. He had pop and he was one of the most likeable guys in boxing.

I don't know about him being all that likable of a person. I know he had a good public image, but he was also a diva with his demands in addition to his outside-the-ring issues.

I guess Leonard was probably my favorite to watch of the four. People have this image of him as a fleet-footed boxer because of the Duran rematch and Hagler fight (much like people think of Hagler as a face-first brawler because of the Hearns fight), but he was usually a relaxed, flat-footed boxer who also had a vicious left hook and was one of the finest finishers boxing has seen.

Duran was the most consistently aggressive of the four and made some exciting fights. Some of his fights were ugly to me though, for all the clinching, which is why I guess I'd say Leonard was my favorite to watch. Not really Duran's fault, guys would hold him, but the first 13 rounds of the Lampkin fight for example are awful to watch. That's not the only Duran fight that was ugly for me. What I loved about Duran was his ability to mix offense and defense. He suckers Dejesus in a corner, slips a combo, spins him, and then attacks his body. He moved his head well before, after, and in between exchanges.