The Greatness of Manny Pacquiao

The seven weight divisions status means little to me, as many of the weight divisions are artificial not natural. Yes, I know weight are all artificial in the sense that they are human creactions and have changed historically. By saying the junior titles are not natural, I mean they are not original - a fact - and they add nothing to the sport - my opinion - and that it is unfair to boxers who won three titles in the natural weight divisions (Armstrong, Duran) to have their accomplishments eclipsed by modern day fighters who can put on a few pounds and win a title - and they have so many to choose from, another absurdity - in another weight division, a complaint that seems so obvious to me as to be uncontroversial. At best, Manny has claims to championships in two weight classes: flyweight and lightweight. That's something in itself.

What is more significant about Manny is that he has moved from being a world class flyweight (WBC is a venerable authority going back to the 1960s) to a world class lightweight (again, winning the WBC title), and is now competing among the best welterweights in the world. He has secured his pound-for-pound status by beating top fighters across a great weight span and by displaying rare ability. If we were to judge fighters like Manny on accomplishments, any record book that honored the tradition of boxing would not have Manny accomplishing much at this point (he only defended his WBC flyweight title once and didn't defend his lightweight title at all). But if we judge him the way we judge Ezzard Charles, Sam Langford, Charlie Burley, and other all-time greats who didn't accumulate titles, then Manny shines. He's a throwback, and if he beats Floyd Mayweather, I think he's top twenty all-time material.

Hopkins and Title Defenses

Bernard Hopkins did not register twenty defenses of the world middleweight championship for the simple fact that many of his purported title defenses were not for the world middleweight championship. Moreover, the IBF title is not only not the world championship but isn't a legitimate boxing title, for it has no history and its existence, like the existence of most of the purported world boxing titles, is detrimental to the sport of boxing. Only the WBA and the WBC organizations have a history and have advanced the sport, both going back to the 1960s and furthermore are rooted in championship organizations (NBA and NYSAC) going back to the early decades of the twentieth century.

If we recognize Hopkins as becoming middleweight champion of the world with his April 2001 victory over Keith Holmes, the established two-time WBC champion, then Hopkins recorded seven successful title defenses before losing his claim to Jermaine Taylor. But even then this is problematic. Arguably, if we apply the old rules, Hopkins was never middleweight champion at all.

In 1987, Marvin Hagler was the linear champion. He held a lineage unbroken since the 1940s. He lost his championship to Ray Leonard that year. Leonard defended his championship successfully once, against Roberto Duran in 1989, and this lost it to Terry Norris in 1991. Why lineage is tranferred is very clear: championships are foremost won and lost in the ring, all of these fights were under the middleweight limit of 160 lbs, and Leonard never really retired after his fight with Hagler. Thus lineage transfers down the line. Keith Mullings beat Norris (who was three time middleweight champion by then) in 1997. Javier Castillejo beat Mullings in 1999 and then lost to Oscar de la Hoya in 2001. Shane Mosley beat de la Hoya in 2003 and then lost to Winky Wright in 2004. Paul Williams beat Wright in 2009. Thus Paul Williams stands in a direct line to the middleweight championship that can be traced to the 1950s.

But, Andy, many of these were light middleweight champions. Irrelevant. Robinson often fought as a middleweight weighing between 147 and 154 lbs. The junior middleweight division is an artificial weight class. The 160 lbs division is an original weight class, and any fight in which the participants weigh less than 160 lbs and the linear middleweight championship is present is for the middleweight championship. Old school, I know, but old school rules almost always brings sanity to boxing (with the exception of Ray Robinson's return to the sport, and there things are very messy).


Whatever the case, this remains indisputably true: Carlos Monzon has the most title defenses of any middleweight champion (not titlist or claimant) with 14 and Marvin Hagler is second on the list with 13 (his last defense was unsuccessful).

Round-by-round scoring
The champion's score on the left.

round 1: 10-9 Close, but Leonard edges it. Duran a bit reckless.
round 2: 9-10 Duran hurts Leonard.
round 3: 9-10 Duran on fire.
round 4: 9-10 Still on fire.
round 5: 10-10 This is one of those rare times that I scored an even round. Leonard has big moments. Duran is the constant aggressor. Duran is ducking a lot of shots. The exchanges are even.

First third...
Leonard: 47 points
Duran: 49
Duran decisively wins first third of fight.

round 6: 10-9 Very close. Leonard edges it with some clean hard shots.
round 7: 10-9 The fight moves to the center of the ring. Leonard even had Duran on the ropes for a spell. Duran comes on at the end, but Leonard edges it.
round 8: 10-9 The round is fought almost entirely in the center of the ring. Duran comes on at the end with some tremendous shots, but he is resting mostly. Leonard carries the round by a slim margin.
round 9: 9-10 Pretty much all Duran. Leonard is resting, perhaps. And holding a lot. Leonard appear to be cut by a butt. Maybe this is distracting him.
round 10: 9-10 Leonard does some impressive shining at the end and ends with a good shot. He started off the round with a good shot. But Duran outhustles him in between.

After two-thirds...
Leonard: 95
Duran: 96
Leonard carries middle third of fight, but by the slimmest of margins. For a while it looked like he was crawling back into the fight. But Duran came on big in 9 and 10. Duran clearly has the momentum going into the championship rounds. Leonard needs to do something dramatic.

round 11: 9-10 Leonard is tired. Duran has second wind. Leonard tries to put Duran on the ropes but Duran turns Leonard right back around. He is pounding Leonard throughout the round.
round 12: 9-10 Another big round for Duran. Leonard is very tired. Duran is landing clean hooks and right hands, while digging to the body. Leonard is missing a lot of punches.
round 13: 9-10 Duran has taken clear command of the fight. He is teeing off on Leonard head. Hooks, right hands. Leonard’s head snaps back several times. Even off the ropes Duran is landing punch after punch and Leonard is just leaning on him. Leonard needs a knockout to prevent Duran from snatching his undefeated record and he has nothing in the tank and although he hurts Duran in the final seconds, it has been one of Duran’s most dominant rounds in the fight.
round 14: 9-10 Both fighters are very tired. Duran outhustles Leonard and lands several clean shots. He buckles Leonard’s knees. It’s amazing how Duran makes Leonard miss. The bolo punch gets a lot of attention, but you can see clearly from the close up that it doesn’t land – it misses Duran by almost a foot - and Leonard is in any case holding and hitting in a flagrant foul. (I can’t believe people fall for gimmicks like this. Remember Leonard's low blow bolo on Hagler and the attention it received?)
round 15: 10-9 Duran gives the round away. He knows he has won big and knows Leonard doesn’t have the stuff to knock him out.

Final score...
Leonard: 141
Duran: 145
Duran romps through the championship rounds to seal the deal.

The officials scores are surprisingly close. Angelo Poletti scores a lot of rounds even (10 of them, in fact). At least the judges got the unanimous verdict right. Can you imagine how crazy a majority decision or draw would have been? I can’t even contemplate a Leonard win. You really have to wonder sometimes what people are looking at when they score a fight.

Ridiculously, the New York Times had Leonard winning the fight 144-142. This is the same New York Times that absurdly scored the Hagler-Leonard fight a draw. That rag seems to spot Leonard several rounds before the fight begins.

Some people I talk to score round 1 even and then maybe find another round for Duran in between 6-8. But then these same people often given Leonard round 5, which I don't. Almost everybody I talk to has Leonard evening up the fight in the second third. I thought that was the standard understanding of the fight, but I respect your opinion. Leonard doesn't win very many rounds at all decisively, so I guess I can see how you might give some of those to Duran.

However, if you watch the ebb and flow you will see that Leonard is able to crawl back into the fight because Duran's furious pace winds him a bit and the fight moves more to the center of the ring. This is strategic. Duran decides to take a few breathers so he can dominate down the stretch. By the 9th round, Duran clearly has his second wind and takes it over, putting Leonard back on the ropes. Watch the fight again and you will see what I'm talking about.

By the middle of the championship rounds Leonard clearly needs a knockout or several knockdowns to win. Duran puts far too much distance between Ray and himself in the final third. Leonard was exhausted. It isn't until the 14th that Duran starts to fade. Throughout the fight Leonard is only able to get things done when Duran pulled back on the fury. Otherwise he's popping Leonard with shots from all angles and particularly nailing Leonard with hooks.

When I watch the fight with people I make them aware of three key things observers often miss. So I will suggest these here.

The first is Duran's body punching. He is constantly punching underneath. Leonard does some shining to the body, but he is ineffective in coming up with solid punches underneath. Body punches are extremely important punches in boxing, but observers often miss them or don't accord them their deserved importance.

Second is Duran's constant punching. Leonard tries to tie Duran up by clutching Duran's arms under his arms. But whenever Duran has a free hand, he's banging. All these punches count. I have noted that many observes stop counting punches when one fighter is holding.

Third, Duran slips punches. Duran is the absolute master of this. He has a uncanny ability to move at the last fraction of a second. He does this so that his opponent is committed and he can counter. Duran almost always leaves exchanges having the last word. He steps up this tactic down the stretch. Leonard is missing like crazy. Also, Duran is ducking down and Leonard does not change his style to account for this. Instead of coming up with his punches, Leonard is firing hooks over Duran head or overhand rights that hit Duran's back. These are not scoring punches. The one dramatic uppercut Leonard does throw, the bolo, which gets observers excited, misses by a country mile.

Pernell Whitaker

Pernell Whitaker was the Willie Pep of my generation. An outstanding amateur and an Olympic gold medalist in 1984, he won his first 15 professional fights (including a win over Roger Mayweather), and his sixteenth, in 1988, was a challenge for the WBC world lightweight title!

In that fight, Whitaker dropped a controversial split decision to the outstanding Mexican lightweight Jose Luis Ramirez. Ramirez was the far more experienced fighter, sporting a record of 100-6. Whitaker was clearly advanced beyond his record, dazzling Rameriz. Whitaker's mistake was putting on too keen a defensive effort, which left Ramirez appearing to have made more of a fight of it. Most observers believe Whitaker was robbed. It would not be the first time controversy would surround a Whitaker fight.

Four fights later, Whitaker was matched with Ramirez again were matched again four and this time Whitaker was awarded a clear unanimous decision, claiming a part of the lightweight championship. He defended his claim twice, including a win over all-time great Azumah Nelson (32-1). Nelson had, in only his 14th professional fight, nearly defeated the great featherweight Salvador Sanchez, and six fights later he knocked out Wilfredo Gomez for the WBC featherweight. The fight with Whitaker was close, but Whitaker's size and skill prevailed.

In 1990, Whitaker unified the lightweight championship by picking up the WBA title in a one-round blowout of Juan Nazario. He defended the world championship three times.

By 1992, Whitaker had outgrown the lightweight division and set his sites on the welterweight champion James McGirt (59-2-1). Whitaker outpointed McGirt over twelve rounds in 1993. Whitaker would defend the welterweight championship eight times, including a controversial draw against Julio Cesar Chavez (87-0) and a rematch with James McGirt (64-3-1). The Chavez draw was a big disappointment, as most observers felt Whitaker won the fight convincingly. Whitaker also ventured into the middleweight division, defeating Julio Cesar Vasquez (53-1) over 12 rounds.

In 1997, Whitaker lost his welterweight championship to Oscar de la Hoya in a controversial 12 round decision. It is this writer's opinion that Whitaker deserved the verdict. There would be no rematch.

In 1999, Whitaker lost a lopsided decision to Felix Trinidad. It was clear Whitaker was not the same fighter he was before. Rumors had it that he was using cocaine. In fact, his victory over Andrei Pestriaev was converted to a no contest after he tested positive for cocaine.

In 2001, Whitaker fought one more fight, a fight in which he broke his clavicle, and hung up the gloves for good.

Whitaker retired with a record of 40-4-1. However, only two of those blemishes were deserved. He deserved wins over Ramirez, Chavez, and de la Hoya. His final record should read 43-2.

Whitaker, a left hander, was a defensive wizard, proving to be very difficult to hit cleanly. He was awkward offensively and often befuddled his opponents. His fight with Chavez is an excellent illustration of his ability to stay in the field of danger while avoiding taking any significant punishment. He was one of those rare instances of a master boxer. The fact that he accomplished such a high level of performance while having relatively few ring bouts (he claimed his first title in only his 20th bout) makes his career even more astonishing. At the same time, this was disappointing for fight fans, as we would like to have seen a lot more of Whitaker in the ring. He was a real joy to watch, and one of the greatest lightweights and welterweights in ring history.

Leonard-Duran Scorecard

First, round-by-round scoring and round descriptions. The champion's score is on the left.

Round 1: 10-9 Close, but Leonard edges it. Duran a bit reckless.

Round 2: 9-10 Duran hurts Leonard.

Round 3: 9-10 Duran on fire.

Round 4: 9-10 Still on fire.

Round 5: 10-10 This is one of those rare times that I scored an even round. Leonard has big moments. Duran is the constant aggressor. Duran is ducking a lot of shots. The exchanges are even.

First third summary: Leonard: 47 points. Duran: 49 points. Duran decisively wins first third of fight.

Round 6: 10-9 Very close. Leonard edges it with some clean hard shots.

Round 7: 10-9 The fight moves to the center of the ring. Leonard has Duran on the ropes for a spell. Duran comes on at the end, but Leonard edges it.

Round 8: 10-9 The round is fought almost entirely in the center of the ring. Duran comes on at the end with some tremendous shots, but he is resting mostly. Leonard carries the round by a slim margin.

Round 9: 9-10 Pretty much all Duran. Leonard is resting, perhaps. And holding a lot. Leonard appear to be cut by a butt. Maybe this is distracting him.

Round 10: 9-10 Leonard does some impressive shining at the end and ends with a good shot. He started off the round with a good shot. But Duran outhustles him in between.

After two-thirds: Leonard: 95 points. Duran: 96 points. Leonard carries the middle third of fight, but by the slimmest of margins. For a while it looked like he was crawling back into the fight. But Duran comes on big in 9 and 10. Duran clearly has the momentum going into the championship rounds. Leonard needs to do something dramatic.

Round 11: 9-10 Leonard is tired. Duran has second wind. Leonard tries to put Duran on the ropes but Duran turns Leonard right back around. He is pounding Leonard throughout the round.

Round 12: 9-10 Another big round for Duran. Leonard is very tired. Duran is landing clean hooks and right hands, while digging to the body. Leonard is missing a lot of punches.

Round 13: 9-10 Duran has taken clear command of the fight. He is teeing off on Leonard head. Hooks, right hands. Leonard’s head snaps back several times. Even off the ropes Duran is landing punch after punch and Leonard is just leaning on him. Leonard needs a knockout to prevent Duran from snatching his undefeated record and he has nothing in the tank and although he hurts Duran in the final seconds, it has been one of Duran’s most dominant rounds in the fight.

Round 14: 9-10 Both fighters are very tired. Duran outhustles Leonard and lands several clean shots. He buckles Leonard’s knees. It’s amazing how Duran makes Leonard miss. The bolo punch gets a lot of attention, but you can see clearly from the close up that it doesn’t land – it misses Duran by almost a foot - and Leonard is in any case holding and hitting in a flagrant foul. (I can’t believe people fall for gimmicks like this. Remember Leonard's low blow bolo on Hagler and the attention it received?)

Round 15: 10-9 Duran gives the round away. He knows he has won big and knows Leonard doesn’t have the stuff to knock him out.

Final score: Leonard: 141; Duran: 145. Duran romps through the championship rounds to seal the deal. Very impressive win. Even more impressive when taken in its totality. Duran whips Leonard's ass.

The officials scores are surprisingly close. Angelo Poletti scores a lot of rounds even - 10 of them, in fact! At least the judges got the unanimous verdict right. Can you imagine how crazy a majority decision or draw would have been? I can’t even contemplate a Leonard win. You really have to wonder sometimes what people are looking at when they score a fight. Leonard and his camp believed they won on the night of the fight.

Ridiculously, The New York Times had Leonard winning the fight 144-142! This is the same New York Times that absurdly scored the Hagler-Leonard fight a draw. That Times seems to spot Leonard several rounds before the fight begins.

Some people I talk to score round one even and then maybe find another round for Duran in between 6-8. But then these same people often given Leonard round 5, which I don't. Almost everybody I talk to has Leonard evening up the fight in the second third. I thought that was the standard understanding of the fight, but I respect your opinion. Leonard doesn't win very many rounds at all decisively, so I guess I can see how you might give some of those to Duran.

However, if you watch the ebb and flow you will see that Leonard is able to crawl back into the fight because Duran's furious pace winds him a bit and the fight moves more to the center of the ring. This is strategic. Duran decides to take a few breathers so he can dominate down the stretch. By the 9th round, Duran clearly has his second wind and takes it over, putting Leonard back on the ropes. Watch the fight again and you will see what I'm talking about.

By the middle of the championship rounds Leonard clearly needs a knockout or several knockdowns to win. Duran puts far too much distance between Ray and himself in the final third. Leonard was exhausted. It isn't until the 14th that Duran starts to fade. Throughout the fight Leonard is only able to get things done when Duran pulled back on the fury. Otherwise he's popping Leonard with shots from all angles and particularly nailing Leonard with hooks.

When I watch the fight with people I make them aware of three key things observers often miss. So I will suggest these here.

The first is Duran's body punching. He is constantly punching underneath. Leonard does some shining to the body, but he is ineffective in coming up with solid punches underneath. Body punches are extremely important punches in boxing, but observers often miss them or don't accord them their deserved importance.

Second is Duran's constant punching. Leonard tries to tie Duran up by clutching Duran's arms under his arms. But whenever Duran has a free hand, he's banging. All these punches count. I have noted that many observes stop counting punches when one fighter is holding.

Third, Duran slips punches. Duran is the absolute master of this. He has a uncanny ability to move at the last fraction of a second. He does this so that his opponent is committed and he can counter. Duran almost always leaves exchanges having the last word. He steps up this tactic down the stretch. Leonard is missing like crazy. Also, Duran is ducking down and Leonard does not change his style to account for this. Instead of coming up with his punches, Leonard is firing hooks over Duran head or overhand rights that hit Duran's back. These are not scoring punches. The one dramatic uppercut Leonard does throw, the bolo, which gets observers excited, misses by a country mile.

Hagler on the Leonard Fight

Hagler is arguing that you can't take it away from the champion under these circumstances because that's what everybody told him after the Antuofermo fight. Remember that? It was a draw because Hagler didn't do enough to take the title. Hagler is wondering, as he has in so many previous interviews, "Why doesn't that argument work for me?" As somebody who always had to worry when fights went the distance, wondering whether a double standard is being applied is hardly an illegitimate question. Like Holmes, Hagler didn't get the respect he deserved. That always seemed to be reserved for the glamour boys like Leonard.

Hagler made the fight with Leonard. He was aggressor. He threw many more punches and landed the harder shots. Leonard ran, clowned, and fouled. Some people like that shit, but it's not boxing. Furthermore, in a fight with that much controversy, a real champion fights a rematch to clear up the matter. Hagler makes this argument, too. And he's right again. No fight in history screamed rematch more than this one. But Leonard knew he lucked out the first time around. He was the news and he (and Dundee) gave a good enough performance to convince some people he had done enough to win. The second time around he knew the novelty of it wouldn't fly. Leonard needed the Hagler win on his record to make the historical case, especially after getting overwhelmed by Duran and looking so bad against Hearns. Having Hagler erase the win makes the reality of record all the more apparent.

Hagler is making the same arguments that a lot of us make, and we can't all be bitter, can we? Of course not. How can you be bitter for another person? You can't attribute Hagler's argument to bitterness, then. Especially when it's so logical. The Associated Press scored the fight for Marvin by an overwhelming majority. Contrast that with the score of that joke-of-a-paper the New York Daily News and we can see were the gravity lies. The best that Leonard nut huggers over at the New York Times and the Washington Post could do for their man was give him a draw, which means Hagler keeps the title. Go back and check the Associated Press score for the Antuofermo-Hagler fight. Now that was a close fight. Antuofermo did much better against Hagler than did Leonard and look where the controversy goes. Hagler recognizes the significance of the Antuofermo fight to this whole matter. He even acknowledges in the interview the problem with that fight.

Why this controversy about Hagler-Leonard persists is because people who side with Leonard have to keep putting out the idea that it was close and therefore a Leonard victory plausible. One of the dead giveaways is this qualification: "I thought Leonard won the fight and I am a huge Hagler fan." Right. Sure. That's the same qualifier we see on CSPAN when liberals call on the conversative line saying, "I'm a Republican, but I believe Obama is right for our country right now." We are on to this trick, folks. We get it. Another dead giveaway is that any score in which Leonard wins several more rounds that Hagler is a problem because "admittedly the fight was so close." They admit that Guerra's score was absurd. Yet Leonard-loving boxing publications in the aftermath of the fight extolled the virtues of his scoring. Why? Because they wanted the make the miracle as big a possible. But the people didn't buy it. The more time passed, the more people saw the fight beyond the hype the more they said, "What a second, who was pressing, who threw the most punches, who hurt who?" So people on the Leonard side have over time backed off the Guerra score and made up this myth about "it was anybody's fight."

Hagler is perfectly justified in making his points. And, truthfully, he doesn't sound bitter to me at all. He waited for Leonard to give him a rematch. When he realized Leonard wasn't going to do it, he retired. He didn't have anything left to prove. He wasn't going to break Monzon's record, so there was no need in continuing. It was time to move on to what he was planning on doing: acting. Hagler is a very reasonable fellow. And he was in great spirits for the interview. I appreciate the man for his down-to-earthness. He worked his tail off to give us a great ride. The man's got my respect.

How to Rank the Fabulous Five Pound-for-Pound

Of the four notable fighters of the early 1980s - Wilfred Benetiz, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Ray Leonard - Hagler is the outstanding candidate for the top spot. He not only defeated Duran (over 15 rounds), Hearns (by knockout), and Leonard (but was robbed in Las Vegas), but defeated other outstanding fighters, including Mustapha Hamsho, who held a win over Benitez, and Juan Roldan, who thrilled fans with a shotout versus Hearns for the vacant WBC middleweight title. There is little doubt among boxing observers that Hagler would have overpowered Benitez.

Duran decisively defeated Leonard, put on a fabulous, albeit losing, performance against Hagler, and won the WBC middleweight title by defeating Iran Barkley, who had knocked out Hearns (and would go on to decision Hearns at light heavyweight). Duran overwhelmed Carlos Palomino, whom Benitez had, in a controversial split decision, defeated for the world welterweight title. Moreover, Duran was world lightweight champion for nearly the entire decade of the 1970s, posting 12 successful title defenses. Against Duran are these facts: Duran suffered a crushing defeat to Hearns (second round blowout) and was outboxed by Benitez (granted Duran was flat for the fight).

Hearns was cleanly outboxing Leonard in their first fight before the referee inexplicably stopped the action and awarded the fight to Leonard. In fact, over the first 12 rounds, except for two rounds, Leonard appeared to be completely baffled by Hearns' boxing ability. Hearns outboxed master boxer Benitez and blew away Duran and Roldan. He outpointed Leonard in the rematch, dropping him twice. Hearns moved up in weight to win the WBA and the WBC light heavyweight titles in separate fights. Hearns' boxing ability was phenomenal, losing only one decision during his entire career, a close loss to Iran Barkley in their rematch. However, Hagler blew Hearns away and he was wiped out by Iran Barkey to lose his middleweight title.

It is difficult to rank Benitez above Duran even though he defeated him because of Duran's accomplishments, particularly his victory over Leonard (and especially in light of Benitez's loss to Leonard), and his performances against Hagler and Barkley. We can't rank him over Hearns given that he dropped a decision to Hearns.

However, it's difficult to rank Leonard over Benitez. Benitez defeated Palomino, who lost to Duran, defeated Duran, to whom Leonard lost, and lost a close decision to Hearns, who had clearly demonstrated his superiority over Leonard. The Benitez who defeated Duran and fought a close contest with Hearns would have likely have outboxed Leonard. And Leonard's unjust 14th-round stoppage against Hearns should not benefit Leonard in these rankings.

Leonard has trouble against the others because of the reality of his record. He rose to challenge for the welterweight title without having to fight outstanding opposition. He won the title on a controversial 15th-round stoppage against Benitez. He was thoroughly dominated by Duran and regained the title when Duran couldn't continue in a fight where there was no clear leader (it is itself quite revealing that Leonard could not dominate an opponent who would only hours later be hospitalized for severe stomach cramps). Leonard lost almost every round against Hearns (he maybe won two of the 13 rounds) before the referee stopped the fight without cause and awarded the title to Leonard. Leonard lost to a shop-worn Hagler over twelve rounds. Leonard lost to Hearns in the rematch and was knocked down twice. And while Leonard outpointed Duran over 12 rounds in their rubbermatch, Duran was 38 years old and Leonard refused to engage Duran in battle (in my view it should have been ruled a "no contest," as Leonard effectively refused to fight).

So after a comparative analysis, the rankings of the fabulous five look like this:

1. Roberto Duran: world lightweight champion, 12 successful title defense; world welterweight champion; and WBC middleweight champion. Held wins over Palomino, Leonard, Cuevas, and Barkley. Capturing titles in two more weight classes after having dominated a division for nearly a decade is nothing short of phenomenal. Duran is a top five all-time great.

2. Marvin Hagler, world middleweight champion, 12 successful title defenses, including wins over Duran and Hearns, as well as wins over Antuofermo, Hamsho, and Roldan. If there was justice in scoring, Hagler would have 13 successful title defenses. Hagler is clearly the best middleweight of the five and the best middleweight in history. He is a top ten all-time great.

3. Thomas Hearns, WBC middleweight champion (clearest claim on the world title), WBA light heavyweight champion, and WBC light heavyweight (clearest claim on the world title) champion. Held wins over Cuevas, Duran, Benitez, and Roldan. He beat Leonard in their rematch, and he was the victim of a serious injustice in their first fight. He proved in both fights that he could outbox Leonard. While Hearns was among the ten best welterweights and middleweights, crushing defeats to Hagler and Barkley put him outside the top ten all-time pound-for-pound rankings.

4. Wilfred Benitez and Ray Leonard (tie). Benitez defeated Duran whereas Leonard lost to Duran. Benitez did far better against Hearns than did Leonard. A prime Benitez would have done as well as Leonard against an old and faded Hagler. At the same time Leonard was outboxing Benitez in their match before the referee stopped it. Neither fighter is a top 20 all-time great, though.