Thomas Hearns vs. Roberto Durán

Background

Roberto Durán claimed the WBA super welterweight title by beating Davey Moore in June 1983. Just two weeks later, he put his first defense on hold to move up and challenge Marvin Hagler for the undisputed middleweight championship. After dropping a close unanimous decision to Hagler that November, Durán dropped back down to super welterweight. He was set for a mandatory defense against top contender Mike McCallum, with promoter Dan Duva handling negotiations in February 1984.

But the next month, Durán announced at a press conference that he would instead fight WBC super welterweight champ Thomas Hearns, and would give up his belt if the WBA wouldn’t let him postpone the mandatory until after the Hearns bout. The WBA said no, so Durán vacated the title in early May and moved ahead with the Hearns fight. Originally slated for the Bahamas, the event was relocated to Caesars Palace after logistical and financial problems. Caesars had an opening because a Larry Holmes–Gerrie Coetzee heavyweight title match scheduled for June 8 was canceled due to a contract breach.

The fight

From the opening bell, Hearns used his height and reach to keep Durán from fighting on the inside. He repeatedly landed his left jab and cut Durán’s eye with a left hook counter at the two-minute mark of the first round. With thirty seconds left in the round, Hearns dropped Durán with a hard right hand.

Referee Carlos Padilla administered a standing eight count. Durán continued but went down again after a barrage of punches ending with a hard body shot. Dazed, Durán was guided to his corner as the round closed.

In round two, Hearns immediately attacked with vicious combinations. Durán went down for a third time at 1:07, and Padilla stopped the fight. Hearns retained his championship, becoming the first fighter to knock Durán out.

Aftermath

Durán retired from boxing for the second time after the fight, but resumed fighting in early 1986 as a middleweight, knocking out two journeymen. He suffered only two more knockout defeats before retiring for good in 2000: against Pat Lawlor in 1991 and against WBA middleweight champion William Joppy in 1998.

Hearns next defended his WBC title by knocking out Fred Hutchings, then moved up to challenge Marvin Hagler for the middleweight championship, losing by TKO in the third round. He made one more super welterweight defense in 1986, defeating Mark Medal by TKO. In 1987, Hearns moved up to light heavyweight and won the WBC title by knocking Dennis Andries down six times, then later that year won the WBC middleweight championship by defeating Juan Roldán.