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The Fabulous Four of the 80's
Part 1 of 4
By: Tackleberry


The Fabulous Four, The Four Horsemen. Whatever name you decide to call this epic group of four fighters, noone can deny what an impact they all had on the sport. They blessed us with no less than 9 fights against each other.

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- Roberto "Manos de Piedra" Duran -


Roberto Duran is truely one of the greatest warriors to ever come out of Panama.

Even before the fights between the fabulous four , Roberto Duran had haunted the the lightweight division. He won his first title in a brutal war against Ken Buchanan that only ended when the referee got in between them and ruled Buchanan unable to continue. He defended his title 12 times. Then a hot summer night in june; June 20th 1980, he entered the ring against the Olympic champion and newest super star: Sugar Ray Leonard. This would kick off a series of fights between the best in the game.

Duran used his animal like furiousity to rip apart every ounce of elegance Leonard had. In the second round Duran hit Leonard with a giant left hook that wobbled him. Sugar Ray had before the fight begun said that he'd not dance around in this fight. He would stand flat footed and fight. Mano a Mano. That is exactly what happened, and the greater man of the night won.

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Leonard got his chance at redempsion only 5 month later. November 25th, 1980. This time however we would not see the same flat fooded Leonard. He would not stand to fight "Mano a Mano". This time Leonard danced around Duran. He used his feet, hand speed, agility, flashy punches to frustrate Duran, who as always was stalking his opponent, hoping to make it a slugfest. In the 8th Duran turned his back to Leonard and looked at the referee and said the words: NO MAS, NO MAS.

The fight was stopped. Duran, the proud warrior from panama had quit. This was the ultimate dissapointment for Duran, and it put him into a shadow of his former self.

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3 years later, 1983, Duran challenged no other than Marvelous Marvin Hagler for his Middleweight crown. In this fight Duran proved that he was back. He fought toe to toe with the much bigger Hagler and to many's surprise he was actually ahead on the judges scorecards after the 12th round. But the last 3 rounds Hagler stepped on the gas and eventually won a very close decision.

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June 15th, 1984. Tommy "Hitman" Hearns vs Roberto Duran.
Duran once again challenged one of the most feared fighters on the planet. Tommy had had a memorable fight with Leonard and looked to get a fight with Hagler. But Duran would have none of that. He stated before the fight "I am back, and I am bad, bad, bad." This turned out to be a slaughter. Duran was unable to get close to Tommy, who peppered him with HARD shots. In the 2nd round Tommy produced one of the most evil knockouts boxing has ever seen. Duran was OUT cold.

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Duran made a MAJOR comeback in 1989 by knocking down Iran Barkley in the 11th to win by split decision. At 39 he was again the Champion of the world, only to lose his title again to Sugar Ray Leonard.

He fought the best. He won some, he lost some. But he will always be remembered as the warrior he was. Roberto Duran, 1 of the Fabulous Four is in the sportlight!

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This is the archive of all our past Spotlights. Click on the Fight or Fighter to bring you to their page.

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- Felix Trinidad vs Fernando Vargas
- Jamie Moore vs Matthew Macklin
- Juan Manuel Marquez vs Juan Diaz
- Julio Cesar Chavez vs Meldrick Taylor
- Rocky Marciano vs Jersey Joe Walcott
- Ricardo Mayorga vs Vernon Forrest

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- Joe Jeanette
- Joe 'The Barbados Demon' Walcott
- Rubin 'The Hurricane' Carter