FOR those fight fans who haven’t got access to the discovery+ streaming service, find a friend who has because it’s featuring an exhilarating documentary series to drool over.
Between November 1980 and December 1989 four giant talents — Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran and Tommy ‘Hitman’ Hearns — had nine unforgettable fights between them. I was lucky enough to cover seven for SunSport.
For unsurpassed brilliance, blood-tingling thrills and skills and enough pathos to empty a box of tissues, those glorious battles will still be talked and argued about 100 years from now.
British director Mat Whitecross was commissioned by American network Showtime to make a documentary of those epics.
Whitecross and his producer Fiona Neilson have come up with a masterpiece, aptly named The Kings, which audiences will rave about for years.
It took two years to make and consists of four, classic one-hour films of such breathtaking magnificence it captures every nuance of those dazzling duels.
The legendary quartet are interviewed in great depth before and after the fights and each one gives a fascinating insight into their complex characters and personalities.
Four fights stand out above the others, the first Leonard-Duran showdown, their return five months later, Hagler-Hearns and Hagler-Leonard.
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I missed Leonard-Duran II and Hagler-Duran but the magnificent seven I did see are indelibly imprinted in my memory, though they took place four decades ago.
If Hollywood had scripted the kind of 15-round war Leonard and Duran waged in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, the critics would have rubbished it as too far-fetched.
They would have said it wasn’t possible for two men to have traded such punishing punches for 45 minutes at such a breakneck speed.
That Panamanian devil Duran got the narrow points decision. Leonard lost his world welterweight title and his unbeaten record.
That fight was choc-full of brilliance and bravery and is still the best I’ve ever seen.
When they met again five months later in New Orleans, Duran, who claimed he had stomach cramps, cried ‘No Mas’ in the eighth round and quit — the most notorious and ignominious capitulation in boxing history.
Leonard had regained his title and reputation but easily his most sensational victory was when his hand and foot speed, plus his ring savvy, completely bamboozled Hagler to earn a memorable 12-round split decision to win the world middleweight crown.
Sugar Ray came out of retirement having had one fight in five years — Hagler who hadn’t been beaten for 11 years never fought again.
Those of us ringside in Las Vegas when Hagler defended against Hearns will never forget the first round — claimed to be the most ferocious opening three minutes of all time. As the bell sounded, they leapt at each other like a couple of ravenous lions fighting over a carcass.
Blood cascaded down Hagler’s face from a deep gash in his forehead.
Concerned referee Richard Steele asked, “Can you see, Marvin?” Hagler’s terse reply was, “I’m not missing him, am I?” before knocking out Hearns in the third round.
The Kings highlights the very best of boxing as well as the worst.
Apart from Hagler, who retired at 33, sadly the others carried on far past their best and got themselves beaten up by inferior opponents.
I found The Kings as mesmerising as When They Were Kings, the documentary about the Ali-Foreman Rumble in the Jungle saga that won an Oscar 26 years ago — and I can’t give it higher praise than that.
