Watching the Kings documentary showed something

Prime is a matter of schedule and wear.

 

Prime is a cut of beef or grade of a womans privates.

 

You have to consider how different boxing was back then. By the time Duran moved to welterweight he had 80 plus fights. Most top fighters today usually end up with 30 or 40 fights at the end of their careers. Leonard and Hearns came from an era of USA amateur boxing that was highly competitive and by the time they had turned pro they had hundreds of fights and thousands of rounds of sparring.

The US amateur boxing program today is nothing like it was back then and most top American fighters could care less about fighting in the Olympics. They simply don't fight as much coming up which honestly may or may not be a good thing. Leonard and Hearns were pretty well seasoned when they went pro but the also had a lot of wear and tear.

 

I haven't watched it yet. And I've posted this before. But I remember when the four kings were Leonard, Hearns, Benitez and Duran.

I think a VHS highlight tape came out at some point in the late 80s or early 90s that put Hagler in there, and removed Benitez, but for most of the 80s in REAL TIME Benitez was the fourth guy, not Hagler.

You can go back thru old boxing mags from like 1980 on, and those four were THE GUYS.

And there were more prime fights featuring those guys with Benitez. And they all came up thru the divisions basically together.

Leonard-Benitez was a case of both guys fighting at their best. Benitez-Hearns took place before Hearns-Hagler and had both guys (Benitez and Hearns) fighting very close to prime. Leonard-Hearns 1. Leonard-Duran 1 and 2. Even Benitez-Duran took place before Hagler-Duran.

Again, I haven't watched this new doc. But I don't know how Wilfred got bumped out. Maybe the VHS tape was put out years ago by Top Rank, Hagler's promoter. And that started it.

But when I hear the Four Kings in relation to boxing, I always think of Leonard, Hearns, Benitez and Duran. NOT Hagler.

Hagler was a middleweight the whole time, whereas the others were welters together, super welters together (Leonard beat Kalule for the WBA junior middleweight belt a couple weeks after Benitez knocked out Hope for the WBC version), on up to Leonard, Hearns and Duran fighting each other at super middle.

 

He definitely wasn't overlooked at the time.

It may be simply the case of Top Rank co-promoted Leonard-Duran, Hagler-Hearns, Hagler-Leonard, Hagler-Duran, and they didn't own the rights to the Benitez fights, because Don King had them.

So, when they put the tape together, Benitez was out and Hagler was in.

I'm not being snide. I think that's kind of it.

And when they put out that initial VHS Tape and fans in the 90s bought it, that's what they thought of.

Because, AT THE TIME it was going on in the early 80s, Benitez was the fourth guy. You can find countless articles even leading up to 1980 before Hearns fought Cuevas, where the fifth guy was Cuevas. And the articles would mix and match Leonard, Hearns, Benitez, Duran ... and Cuevas ... and ask who would beat whom. Hagler wasn't even on the radar because he was MULTIPLE divisions above them.

All while I was buying magazines in the early to mid 80s, Benitez, Leonard, Hearns and Duran were always linked as they kind of moved up together as a group.

It's too bad, really. When I hear about the inclusion of Hagler, I always feel bad for Benitez. He had a pretty great career. His legacy should be better preserved along with those guys.

 

Duran's prime was at lightweight was probably 1974-78. He was virtually unbeatable at 135 pounds, Leonard was in his prime at welterweight 25 years old and a champion. Fighting two divisions above his prime weight Duran beat one of the 3 best welterweights who ever lived. Roberto is one of the greatest pound for pound fighters who ever lived, he's in a class that includes Robinson, Greb and Armstrong.

 

Still better than the crap we see today.

 

Roberto looks much better on film than Greb.

 

That’s how I always saw it, although all of those guys rose in weight.

I think with Wilfred it’s two things — had he been successful at middleweight and challenged Hagler, regardless of outcome, it would have closed the circle and we would have had Five Kings.

And other than the Duran fight he wasn’t successful against the other three.

 

Dempsey was washed up at 32 when he fought Tunney.
JJ Walcott was washed up at 38 when he fought Marciano.

Guys are just getting started now at 32, or are considered in their prime. Canelo is 31 I think.

Baseball players are even older. Guy play till their 40's.

 

Hagler didn't rise in weight. Benitez moved up five divisions. Leonard moved up five divisions. Hearns and Duran moved up six divisions.

Hagler didn't go anywhere.

Benitez was a three-weight champion, Duran was a three-weight champion, Leonard and Hearns were two-weight champions ... before any of them got in the ring with Marvin.

And, Benitez has as many wins against Leonard, Duran and Hearns (One) ... as Hearns has against Leonard, Duran and Hagler (One) ... and as Duran has against either group of three (ONE).

Hagler doesn't belong in that original group of four.

Leonard, Duran, Hearns and Benitez all fought each other. They all moved up together. They faced each other before any of them fought Marvin.

I have no idea how Marvin got moved in and Wilfred got moved out other than that damn VHS tape ... which I found and it WAS produced by Top Rank - which owned NO rights to Wilfred Benitez footage, but promoted Marvin Hagler.

And I think THAT is all it took.

Which is weak.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/518B7X8WKBL.jpg

 

Cool story.

 

I have no idea what that response means. (LOL)

Those four (Duran, Benitez, Leonard and Hearns) began fighting each other four years before any of them moved up and fought Hagler.

Hell, it was almost six years earlier. Duran and Benitez were supposed to fight in 1977, but Duran pulled out at the last minute and Benitez fought Curry instead.