Thomas Hearns proved himself to be one of the greatest fighters in boxing history throughout his stellar professional career.
The Memphis-native would go on to capture world titles in five weight classes during his glittering tenure, becoming the first fighter in the history of the sport to accomplish this feat.
The bulk of Hearns’ success came during the 1980s where he would become a member of ‘The Four Kings’, alongside Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran, sharing the ring with this legendary trio on at least one occasion.
His 1984 victory over Duran, which saw him stop the Panamanian great in the second round of their showdown in Las Vegas, is widely considered to be the greatest victory of his entire career as he made the second successful defence of his WBC light-middleweight title.
It wasn’t Duran, Hagler or Leonard that Hearns felt was the greatest man he faced though, as in a feature with The Ring Magazine, he made revealed Wilfred Benitez as the best fighter that he ever shared the ring with, as he claims the Puerto Rican great was ‘very good’.
“I would say Wilfred Benitez was very good. He was slick and very crafty. I like Benitez’s craft. He moved well and fights all around the ring.”
‘Hitman’ Hearns faced Benitez at the Superdome in New Orleans back in December of 1982, defeating ‘El Radar’ via majority decision to dethrone him of his WBC light-middleweight title.
Known for being one of the best defensive fighters ever, Benitez became a world champion in three weight classes during his 17-year professional career and remains the youngest world champion of all time, achieving this feat in 1976 when he defeated Antonio Cervantes to capture the WBA world light-welterweight title at 17 years and 176 days old.
