10 Boxing Matches That Will Make You An Instant Fan

Thomas Hearns was the undefeated WBA Welterweight Champion and had knocked out the vast majority of souls who were placed in front of him in the late 70's to early 80's.

Suga Ray Leonard wasn't like most souls, however, and he himself had blazed quite the trail coming into his clash with Hearns in September 1981. Leonard held the WBC, The Ring, and lineal welterweight titles and had only been beaten once by Robert Duran - a loss which he avenged immediately.

A battle for the ages was set to commence inside of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and boy, did it deliver.

With all the belts on the line, the pair were hell bent on leaving it all in the ring and Hearn even gave Suga a nice receipt after the end of one of the early rounds. As the tension grew, Hearn continued to push forward and dictated the pace of the fight. However, in the sixth round the rivals contested one of the most even and destructive rounds you'll ever see in boxing.

By the time round 11 came about, the two superstars had beaten sickening lumps out of each other for what felt like an eternity. Yet, they were still full of energy and bouncing into the later stages of the fight.

The crowd was erupting by the time they made it into the 14th and Leonard gave them even more of a reason to explode by definitively cutting down the bigger Hearns. A TKO stoppage victory for Leonard was the result on the night, but these two warriors both deserved credit for one of the fiercest contests you will ever be treated to inside of a boxing ring.

They just don't make 'em like they used to.