Sugar Ray Leonard faced a host of legendary names during his career, from Roberto Duran to Wilfred Benitez, but there was one other that sparked much controversy, with Leonard himself unhappy with the result.
Sugar Ray Leonard‘s record of 36-3-1 record involves one loss to Roberto Duran, which Leonard avenged twice, and a loss to Hector Camacho, who retired Leonard and Duran.
It also includes one draw, which came four fights before Leonards final retirement, by way of split decision at the hands of Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hearns.
“You should’ve got the decision”… Sugar Ray Leonard admits Thomas Hearns was the rightful winner in 1989
In 1989, one fight before the final installment of his trilogy with Duran, Leonard, who beat up a waiter, faced Thomas Hearns, who KO’d Duran five years earlier. The fight was a rematch after the pair met eight years prior.
With two knockdowns scored over Leonard in a close fight, many believed Hearns had won. But the air was filled with boos when the scorecards of 112-113, 113-112, 112-112 were announced, ruling the contest a draw.
According to BoxRec, Hearns said of the decision: “I’m proud of having a draw. It could have gone the other way, so I’m grateful I got a draw.”
Leonard, who stared down Benitez, felt the same: “Like Tommy said, we’ll leave it to the judges. I accept it.”
Years later, though, Leonard admitted to Hearns that he believed he should’ve won the fight:
“1989. You should’ve won. You should’ve got that decision.”
Despite much desire for it, the Leonard vs Hearns rematch never happened.
“He was cooked”… Thomas Hearns’ trainer explains why he lost to Sugar Ray Leonard in their first encounter
Back in 1981, Hearns and Leonard fought for the first time in a back-and-forth fight that lasted 14 out of 15 rounds.
The fight was extremely close, with Leonard’s trainer telling him towards the end of the fight, according to BoxRec:
“You’re blowing it, son. You’re blowing it.”
Leonard scored a TKO of Hearns in the fourteenth round, and Hearns’ trainer revealed he had no issue with the stoppage:
“I have no qualms about the referee’s decision. Some people said because Tommy was ahead on the scorecards he should have been given a chance to finish the fight, but the truth is, if he’d made it out of that round he couldn’t even have made it back to the corner, much less lasted another round.”
He concluded: “His legs were gone. He was cooked.”
The referee, Davey Pearl, said of the fight: “I figured Hearns was winning all those light-hitting rounds. But Leonard was doing all the heavy damage. I thought it was close. Jeez, what if I had let the fight go on and Ray just barely won the last round, and they gave Hearns the decision?”
“Caesars wouldn’t have had to tear the stadium down for the Grand Prix. The people would have done it for them.”