Its already been 40 years since this classic fight took place between 2 ATGs. Boxer vs Puncher, elite boxing skills, high drama, boxer becoming the brawler and the puncher becoming the boxer, a hellacious finish, and of course the famous line “You’re blowing it, son!” Epic and unforgettable.
Personally, I think this is the best high profile fight ever. It had everything, must have been incredible to watch live.
There's only one way that Triller could sink even lower on digging up all-time greats from the past and getting them to fight.... The Triller in Manila.
On a serious note, yeah, Leonard-Hearns 1 is probably the GOAT fight in terms of overall skill, drama, and action combined. Not as action packed as Corrales-Castillo or Pryor-Arguello, but easily the best high-speed, brutal chessmatch ever.
It's what the boxing world had hoped De La Hoya vs Trinidad would have been for its time. Two great welterweights in their prime with undefeated records going head to head. Unfortunately it made ODLH-Quartey look like Leonard-Hearns in comparison. Today we have Spence-Crawford which might not happen at all.
I remember the massive disappointment of that fight. An inconclusive result (in as much as it didn't clear up who was really the best out of the two) and as a spectacle it was pants. We had already had the Lewis-Holyfield 1 shambles earlier in the year and this was the other fight that was supposed to 'save' boxing.
DLH vs Quartey was actually compared to Leonard-Hearns before DLH-Tito. The entire build-up of DLH-Quartey was based around Leonard-Hearns comparisons.
What a finisher Leonard was, probablythe GOAT. The combos he threw at Hearns after hurting him in the 13th was amazing. Still, I feel his performance was quite underwhelming, he was doing nothing untill the big punch from round 9 onward. I'm probably in the minority but I feel the rematch war a far better fight
