Ironically Duran was the worst, because somehow he decided to be the worst... he partied hard and that showed; for example, during the infamous "no va mas" episode. Had Duran opted to stay focused and trained hard, perhaps now we would be discussing about "Fab-Duran and the almost-as-fab-three"
I disagree that Duran was the weakest of the fab four. In fact p4p he may very conceivably rate the highest. Of course when matched against the other three head to head, he fell short, but that was due to things like size and old age. I think Marvin Hagler's achievements from a legacy standpoint are tad below that of Leonard, Hearns, and duran.
It's probably fair to say that if Hagler had fought Duran like he fought Hearns, it wouldn't have been as "close" and Duran wouldn't have lasted the distance.
you cant say Hearns was the worst becuz he deposed long reigning Cuevas in 2 Duran in 2 who had just gone 15 with Hagler outpointed Benitez while a very fragile and supposedly finished version, drew with Leonard
p4p Leonard and Hearns were the worst. h2h I might have picked Duran if not for these: Even h2h, Duran did better against Camacho than Leonard did, better against both Barkley and Hagler than Hearns did, in a way better against Leonard than Hearns did, and better against Hagler than Leonard would have done if he was against Hagler of the state and conditions that he was against Duran. ______ ______ Also Leonard's highest profile wins are all irrelevant. He always picked fights under his own conditions and against drained opponents. Leonard's record is deceitful. His best wins are Adolfo Viruet, Kevin Howard and another one I did not bother to boxrec. And some day I may learn that they too only got a short notice/came in injured/ drained whatever against him.
So, how about reiterating or also specifying your AT placement for the four fighters in their best weight division (i.e., who was closest to the top all-time not overall in boxing history but in one single division or weight class). For example, so and so is the 6th best AT at WW, so and so is the 4th best AT at MW, etc.
Duran at Lightweight is no worse then 3rd all time and many consider him the best ever. SRL is likely 2nd all time at WW although unlike Duran, nobody really considers him the best (that belongs to SRR) Hearns is a top 10 welterweight And Hagler is an all time top 5-10 middleweight.