{"id":196764,"date":"2025-06-19T09:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T09:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196764\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T09:18:08","slug":"nigel-benn-names-the-one-fighter-whod-beat-roberto-duran-sugar-ray-leonard-hagler-and-hearns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196764\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigel Benn Names The One Fighter Who’d Beat Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Hagler And Hearns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nigel Benn<\/a> thinks there is one man who would have beaten middleweight legends Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard.<\/p>\n

The men were known as the iconic \u2018Four Kings\u2019 of boxing, and between them, they defined an entire era of the sport during the late 1970s and 1980s. \u2018Hands of Stone\u2019 Duran from Panama was hailed for his ferocity and incredible skill across multiple weight classes, however also showed he was human when he infamously turned and said \u2018No M\u00e1s\u2019, or \u2018no more\u2019, in his second fight with Leonard.<\/p>\n

\u2018Marvellous\u2019 Marvin Hagler was the granite-chinned middleweight champion who reigned with dominance and his epic, high-intensity battle from the first bell with Hearns in 1985 is considered one of the greatest fights in boxing history.<\/p>\n

Thomas \u2018Hitman\u2019 Hearns, the Detroit powerhouse with a devastating right hand, had clashes with Leonard and Hagler that are the stuff of legend, while Olympic champion turned professional superstar Sugar Ray Leonard was considered the golden boy with speed, charisma and tactical brilliance. He beat all three of his peers in unforgettable showdowns.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Sun,<\/a> Benn reckoned that Welshman and undefeated two-weight world champion Joe Calzaghe would have beaten them all.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cOld timers will tell you [Calzaghe] would never have lived with Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler or Tommy \u2018Hitman\u2019 Hearns. I disagree \u2014 Joe would have beaten them all. How many fighters would love to finish with a record like Joe\u2019s? Outside of Wales, I don\u2019t think he got the recognition he deserved. Forty-six fights unbeaten is a heck of an achievement. I don\u2019t think we will ever see his like again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Calzaghe \u2013 who didn\u2019t face Benn but did beat his rival Chris Eubank Sr \u2013 held world championships in two weight classes \u2013 168 and 175lbs \u2013 and reigned as the WBO super middleweight champion for over a decade. He famously retired undefeated with 46 wins.<\/p>\n

As Benn demonstrates, Calzaghe is often tipped to beat most people, such was his dominance. That includes fellow former super-middleweight champion Carl Froch, who often talks up a fight between the two that never was.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nigel Benn thinks there is one man who would have beaten middleweight legends Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Thomas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-196764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114709286281160583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}