Pretend none of them ever fought: How would the Fab 4 rank?

I'd have Hagler first, then Duran. Marv was the only undisputed champion of the only unified world title in boxing throughout his reign, and I think his MW challengers aside from El Cholo, Hearns and SRL were superior to Duran's LW challengers. Take away Duran, Hearns and SRL, and Marv could well break 20 title defenses, something Roberto was never going to do at 135. (Plus, the Panamanian wasn't an officially undisputed world champion until after DeJesus III.)

Without Fab 4 opponents (and even with them, actually), SRL devastated his legacy by retiring after Finch when barely 25.

Duran would be a close second to Hagler, based on LW dominance, weight jumping and obscene longevity. But he didn't have the same discipline Marv possessed, and was always going to eat his way out of 135, diluting his legacy after DeJesus III. Zeferino Gonzales supplies a critical clue between Palomino and Montreal. El Cholo after 135 was going to blow hot and cold. Take away SRL and Montreal, and he probably collects the title at 140 before moving up to 147, 154 and 160, making him the first to five divisional titles.

Hearns would be third. Projections of titles in four weight divisions while still a teen WW contender were obscenely daunting, and Tommy delivered. It was only at his best weight, 154, where he ascended over Fab 4 competition, something he very easily does without Benitez and Duran in the way.

The Fab 4 is largely SRL's legacy, that and Benitez. Take away the Fab 4, then Ray needs to unify at WW over Cuevas, then rematch Benitez. If he continues past Finch, he beats Stafford, repels Don Curry, McCrory, and probably continues to dominate at 147 as long as he cares to. (He always started his training camps below the weight he was going to compete at, so making weight was never going to be an issue for him.) Throwing out title unification bouts, he only produced a grand total of four successful defenses in his career. (Green, Bonds, Finch and Duran III.)

 

Marcel, Buchanan and Dejesus would trump a Hagler record comfortably if we're taking out Hearns for him(and really even if we leave Duran in they trump it comfortably.

 

He probably wouldn't have the longevity to do that.

McCallum, Kalambay, Nunn were rising as Hagler was declining by the end of the 80's.

 

Agree.

 

Well, what I'm wondering about is how much fire the brief war with Hearns took out of Hagler. How much more would he have had left, and would Mugabe have been such a battle of attrition? Without Hearns, two to three defenses a year remain viable.

I suspect Marv would have called it a day after reaching 15 defenses, and gone out a winner, which could tip the balance in his favor over Ernesto, Ken and Esteban, as only DeJesus II was strictly a title defense. Duran's early record is formidable, but he would have sputtered after turning 30, especially if continuing on as long as he did. Once Hagler quit, he would have stayed quit (as he has), like Monzon.

 

By not fighting eachother you take away their singuture wins and losses
Leonard: wins Duran X2, Hearns, Hagler. Losses Duran. Draw Hearns
Hearns: win Duran losses Leonard, Hagler draw Leonard
Hagler: wins Hearns, Duran loss Leonard.

Leonard has the best wins and the least damaging loss as he at worst held his own fighting Duran's fight.

The X-factor in deciding how'd they rank is Wilfred Benitez who fought Hearns, Leonard and Duran.
I think it comes down to who had the better win against him. Leonard or Hearns.

I'd rank them in this situation
1. Leonard
2. Hearns
3. Hagler (Hagler gets this spot as he probbly would have beaten Bentiez)
4. Duran
Which would probbly be the same if they had fought each other

 

Duran
Hagler
Hearns
Leonard

By being the kind of the fab 4 leonard really cemented his legacy.

Hearns was a lmw beast based on his destruction of duran.

Hagler benefited from the hearns win but that was it.

Duran has the signature win over a prime peak undefeated leonard which boosted him into the top ten. Without that though he still has his lw run and his victory over moore and barkley.

 

:nut

1. Duran
2. Hagler
3. Hearns
4. Leonard

 

Hearns might actually do better than some think, given that his record against the Fab 4 was 1-2-1 as it stands... Take away his meetings with those men, he loses a big win, but also does away with 3 blemishes. There are a lot of people who feel his win over Duran was overshadowed by Roberto being past it anyway. Hearns cemmented his own legacy by winning so many titles in so many divisions and over a fair number of respectable opponents. So farnkly I don't think his resume suffers from the abscence of those other names... In fact, it likely improves.

 

Duran fans are very inventive.

 

To be honest, having the opposite of ripcity is quite a positive indictment