Ranking the Top 10 Boxers of the 1980s | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Isabella Floyd
Published Mar 25, 2026
On his best nights, Thomas Hearns was as great as nearly any fighter who ever lived. If he'd had a slightly better chin and conditioning, we might very well be talking about him as the greatest of all time, let alone of the 1980s.
Hearns was in the first generation of great champions from Emanuel Steward's legendary Kronk Gym in Detroit. He was an outstanding technical boxer with a brutal overhand right.
In 1981, he faced Sugar Ray Leonard in a welterweight champion vs. welterweight champion showdown. In one of the sport's great fights, Hearns led all the way to Round 14, before he went down by TKO to a furious Leonard rally.
Hearns captured the WBC light middleweight title from Wilfred Benitez in 1982. Among his defenses was a stunning Round 2 TKO of Roberto Duran in 1984.
In 1985, Hearns lost by TKO to Marvelous Marvin Hagler in the most exciting fight of the past 30 years.
In the second half of the decade, Hearns would add titles at middleweight and super middleweight. His only true blemish came when he was stopped by Iran Barkley in three rounds in 1988.
In 1989, Hearns fought a long-awaited rematch with Leonard. In another classic, the fight was ruled a draw, though Hearns knocked Leonard down twice and truly should have won.
