By the late 1970s boxing had lapsed into a moribund state & interest in it was on the wane. In 1980 however the sport was resuscitated by a riveting series of bouts involving an improbably dissimilar quartet: Sugar Ray Leonard Marvelous Marvin Hagler Thomas Hearns & Roberto Duran. The Four Kings of the Ring would fight one another nine times throughout the decade & win sixteen world titles between them. Like Ali & Frazier Dempsey & Tunney Robinson & La Motta these four boxers brought out the best in each other producing unprecedented multi-million-dollar gates along the way. Each of the nine bouts between the four men was memorable in its own way & at least two of them
- Leonard-Hearns I in 1981 & Hagler-Hearns in 1985
- are commonly included on any list of the greatest fights of all time. The controversial outcome of another
- the 1987 Leonard-Hagler fight
- remains the subject of heated debates amongst fans to this day. Leonard Hagler Hearns & Duran didnt set out to save boxing from itself in the post-Ali era but somehow they managed to do so. In Four Kings award-winning journalist George Kimball documents the remarkable effect they had on the sport & argues that we will never see their likes again.