When people mention The Fab Four in a boxing context, the usual assumption is that we’re talking about Leonard, Hearns, Hagler and Duran but there have been a few other Fab Fours in boxing history that take us from around the same time as those 80s superstars through to the current day. Observe: 1. From the late 1970s through the early 1980s, Bobby Chacon, Rafael Limon, Cornelius Boza-Edwards and Rolando Navarette engaged in combinations of fights at super featherweight that stand up with some of the very best in boxing history. 2. Between 2000 and 2012, from the first Barrera-Morales fight to the final Pacquiao-Marquez fight, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez engaged in a set of individual rivalries that were the life blood of the sport from super bantamweight all the way up to welterweight. 3. Most recently, Roman Gonzalez, Juan Francisco Estrada, Carlos Cuadras and Sisraket Sor Rungvisai met in some classic encounters predominantly taking place in and around the super flyweight division. What are your thoughts on these three other sets of Fab Fours? Do they compare to the Fab Four of Leonard, Hearns, Hagler and Duran at least in terms of the quality of the fights and the compelling nature of the rivalries? Which series of fights between each of the three groups did you enjoy the most? And could you put together a single top 10, or even a single top 5, covering all the groups that were the best fights that happened? So many questions…
As a reminder, here are the fights each set of Fab Fours took part in against each other. Leonard, Hearns, Hagler and Duran: Duran-Leonard 1 (1980) Duran-Leonard 2 (1980) Leonard-Hearns 1 (1981) Hagler-Duran (1983) Hearns-Duran (1984) Hagler-Hearns (1985) Leonard-Hagler (1987) Leonard-Hearns 2 (1989) Leonard-Duran 3 (1989) Chacon, Limon, Boza-Edwards and Navarette: Limon-Chacon 1 (1975) Chacon-Limon 2 (1979) Chacon-Limon 3 (1980) Boza-Limon (1981) Boza-Chacon 1 (1981) Navarette-Boza (1981) Limon-Navarette (1982) Chacon-Limon 4 (1982) Chacon-Boza 2 (1983) Barrera, Morales, Pacquiao and Marquez: Morales-Barrera 1 (2000) Barrera-Morales 2 (2002) Pacquiao-Barrera 1 (2003) Pacquiao-Marquez 1 (2004) Barrera-Morales 3 (2004) Morales-Pacquiao 1 (2005) Pacquiao-Morales 2 (2006) Pacquiao-Morales 3 (2006) Marquez-Barrera (2007) Pacquiao-Barrera 2 (2007) Pacquiao-Marquez 2 (2008) Pacquiao-Marquez 3 (2011) Marquez-Pacquiao 4 (2012) Gonzalez, Estrada, Cuadras and Rungvisai: Gonzalez-Estrada 1 (2012) Gonzalez-Cuadras (2016) Rungvisai-Gonzalez 1 (2017) Estrada-Cuadras 1 (2017) Rungvisai-Gonzalez 2 (2017) Rungvisai-Estrada 1 (2018) Estrada-Rungvisai 2 (2019) Estrada-Cuadras 2 (2020) Estrada-Gonzalez 2 (2021) Estrada-Gonzalez 3 (2022) That’s a total of 41 fights across the four groups… and that’s not including Wilfred Benitez as part of the most famous of the Fab ‘Four’. If we add him in, that’s a further 3 fights (v Leonard (1979), Duran (1982) and Hearns (1982)) I’d also say that as an absolute bare minimum, at least a quarter of those 41 fights are all-time classics. Quite incredible.
The Fab 6 Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle, Ken Norton, George Foreman, Earnie Shavers,Muhammad Ali Ken Norton W12 Muhammad Ali I (1973) Earnie Shavers KO 3 Jimmy Young I (1973) Muhammad Ali W12 Ken Norton II (1973) George Foreman KO 2 Ken Norton (1974) Muhammad Ali KO 8 George Foreman (1974) Jimmy Young D10 Earnie Shavers (1974) Jimmy Young W10 Ron Lyle I (1975) Muhammad Ali KO 11 Ron Lyle (1975) Ron Lyle KO 6 Earnie Shavers (1975) George Foreman KO 5 Ron Lyle (1976) Muhammad Ali W15 Jimmy Young (1976) Muhammad Ali W15 Ken Norton III (1976) Jimmy Young W12 Ron Lyle II (1976) Jimmy Young W12 George Foreman (1977) Muhammad Ali W15 Earnie Shavers (1977) Ken Norton W15 Jimmy Young (1977) Earnie Shavers KO 1 Ken Norton (1979) I probably missed one out, tried to do it chronologically but they fought so often that I was going a bit mad on Boxrec! Just highlights the rich period we had in boxing generally and more specifically in boxing during the 1970´s. Imagine the top 6 fighting these fights, would take 20 years instead over 6 years.
Hi Jel. Could we maybe also have a mini 4 series, with your permission buddy, if so , I would like to put in the mix : Napoles Muniz Lewis Lopez would my list be acceptable, on a smaller scale ? stay safe amigo, chat soon.
Alright my friends, I’m cool with these other groups of 4, 6 or whatever… but can we do those in a different thread? Feel free to create those separately or together, whatever you wish… but I’d like the discussion to focus on the three specific groups I mentioned in the original post. Ta.
My top 5 off the top of my head would be...... 1. Leonard vs Hearns 1 2. Leonard vs Duran 1 3. Hagler vs Hearns 4. Leonard vs Hearns 2 5. Leonard vs Hagler 1. Chacon vs Boza-Edwards 2 2. Limon vs Chacon 4 3. Limon vs Chacon 2 4. Chacon vs Boza-Edwards 1 5. Limon vs Navarette 1. Morales vs Barrera 1 2. Morales vs Barrera 3 3. Morales vs Pacquiao 1 4. Marquez vs Pacquiao 4 5. Marquez vs Barrera 1. Gonzalez vs Estrada 2 2. Gonzalez vs Estrada 1 3. Rungvisai vs Gonzalez 1 4. Estrada vs Cuadras 2 5. Gonzalez vs Cuadras 1
Thanks, D! Ah, I actually meant 5-10 across all four groups rather than top 5 for each, not that I disagree with your choices… Just amended my original post to make it clearer.
My fault - wasn’t very clear in my original post. That’s a heck of a top 20 anyway. Just shows how many classic fights there have been across those groups of fighters. I’ll make a top 10 too.
Mike, uncanny! I had thought of the exact same list. I will also add that if you add in Raul Soriano, all 5 of them fought each other.
1. Chacon vs Boza-Edwards 2 2. Limon vs Chacon 4 3. Morales vs Barrera 1 4. Morales vs Barrera 3 5. Morales vs Pacquiao 1 6. Marquez vs Pacquiao 4 7. Gonzalez vs Estrada 2 8. Hearns vs Leonard 1 9. Leonard vs Duran 1 10. Gonzalez vs Estrada 1 @Jel I think the top 3 are in a league of their own and then i think its just down to personal preference TBH.
Here’s my combined top 10 across all four groups: Chacon-Limon 4 Chacon-Boza 2 Morales-Barrera 1 Leonard-Hearns 1 Duran-Leonard 1 Boza-Limon Morales-Pacquiao 1 Hagler-Hearns Estrada-Cuadras 2 Marquez-Pacquiao 4 It was like pulling teeth to leave some of the obviously great fights like Pacquiao-Marquez 1, Barrera-Morales 3 and the first two Gonzalez-Estrada fights off. Even Leonard-Hearns 2 could have made the list in theory but anyway, this is my attempt at a near impossible task.
We had the same top 3, D - just differed on the order of the top 2 - so we’re in agreement there that those 3 stand out even amongst the other exceptional fights.
Yeah it's going to be down to personal preference in all honesty as i said, but those top 3 definitely stand alone in their own league despite the other fights being amazing aswell. Like to give you an example i watched Marquez vs Pacquiao 4 live and i was on the edge on my seat, and when Marquez knocked out Pacquiao i was in disbelief i was a kid and i was jumping up and down totally gobsmacked from what i've just seen. So for me that fight is a great memory for me, and it's one of the most shocking KO's ever considering Pacquiao was a top P4P fighter.