Sugar Ray Leonard once revealed the one fighter that punched him the hardest during his outstanding professional career.
In a career that culminated in him capturing world honours in five weight classes, Leonard is widely regarded as being one of the greatest fighter to have ever laced up a pair of boxing gloves.
Perhaps the highlight of his career came in September of 1981 when he stopped countryman Thomas Hearns in the penultimate round of their Las Vegas showdown to become the undisputed welterweight champion.
The bulk of Leonard’s success actually came during the 1980s where he would become a member of the sports iconic ‘Four Kings’ alongside former rivals Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran and the late-great Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
Speaking in a resurfaced interview, Leonard didn’t hesitate to name Panamanian legend Duran as the hardest hitting opponent that he ever crossed paths with.
“I stood toe-to-toe with this guy but I knew by the end of 12-rounds this is not smart, because Duran, they call him Manos de Piedra or Hands of Stone. He hit me so hard I said ‘Who else is in here with me?, but I knew because fighters know when they lost, so when they was calling the decision I knew I lost.”
Duran produced a memorable performance over Leonard when they locked horns for the first time back in June 1980, handing his American rival the first defeat of his professional career in the process.
They clashed for the second time just a few months later and it was Leonard who got his revenge on this occasion when he sensationally forced Duran to quit in the eighth round of the infamous ‘No Mas fight’ in New Orleans.
Their third and final clash, which was held at The Mirage in Las Vegas back in December 1989, saw Leonard comfortably defeat Duran via unanimous decision to make the second successful defence of his WBC super-middleweight title.
