Sugar Ray Leonard fought a who’s who of boxing greats, but one stood out above the rest when it came to punching power.
The five-weight world champion and Olympic gold medallist broke out onto the world stage during a golden era of boxing in the 1980s.
Along with Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran, Leonard formed part of the iconic ‘Four Kings’, a quartet of world-class boxers who competed in and around the middleweight division.
Leonard was the only member of the illustrious group to beat the other three, although he did have to avenge his loss to Duran.
The first time they met in June 1980, Leonard made the ill-advised decision to stand and trade with Duran after the Panamanian puncher got under his skin in the build-up.
It led to a fantastic fight, but one Leonard would ultimately lose via unanimous decision.
Recalling the bout years later, Leonard admitted that Duran hit him harder that night than anyone else he ever shared the ring with.
“I stood toe-to-toe with this guy, but I knew by the end of 12 rounds this is not smart, because Duran, they call him ‘manos de piedra,’ or ‘hands of stone’,” said Leonard.
“He hit me so hard I said, ‘Who else is in here with me?’
“But I knew because fighters know when they lost, so when they were calling the decision, I knew I lost.”
During his ‘Best I Faced’ segment with Ring Magazine, he added: “In the first fight, he hurt me a number of times.”
After tasting the first defeat of his professional career, Leonard didn’t wait around to activate the rematch clause in his contract with Duran.
The pair squared off again five months later in an entirely different fight altogether.
This time, Leonard elected to stick and move, picking Duran off from the outside.
After eight rounds of chasing, an exhausted Duran turned away from Leonard, waved his glove, and uttered the now infamous words ‘no mas’ (‘no more’ in Spanish).
The pair met for a third time nine years later in a bout billed as ‘Uno Mas’ at the now-defunct Mirage resort in Las Vegas.
By this point, Duran was 38 years old and no longer had the movement to shut down his fleet-footed foe.
Leonard comprehensively outboxed Duran at range, but in stark contrast to their sequel, the rugged veteran stuck it out till the end to lose a lopsided decision.