By Matthew Hurley

All things being subjective in the world of sports the knockout, quick and clean, ranks high up among the most thrilling moments in athletic competition.  And when a spine tingling one-punch knockout happens between two fighters at the highest level of the profession nothing, not even a major league pitcher closing in on a perfect game is so shockingly dramatic.  Such a thing happened on the night of June 15, 1984 at Caesars Palace on a hot evening in Las Vegas, Nevada.

There have been many memorable knockouts over the last twenty-five years, ranging from fighters who weigh less than the equipment of a football linebacker to the lumbering girth of the modern day heavyweights.  Some, like Donald Curry’s quick left hook knockout of Milton McCrory in the second round of their 1985 welterweight unification fight are almost a thing of beauty.  Others, like Ray Mercer’s savaging of Tommy Morrison in the fifth round of their 1991 heavyweight bout are cringe inducing.  All fight fans have that one particular night, either at ringside or lounging on the couch at home in front of the television, where a bout ended and the moment when fist met target became ingrained in their memory.  “The greatest knockout I’ve ever seen,” becomes the refrain. 

There are so many to choose from, but one stands out because of the participants involved and because it was so unexpected.  It also helped fuel the fire and ratchet up the anticipation for a middleweight showdown the following year that would become, arguably the best fight of the decade.

When WBC junior middleweight champion Thomas Hearns squared off against former WBA champion Roberto Duran in 1984 it was supposed to be a unification bout.  Duran, who had moved up to the middleweight division to challenge Marvin Hagler for the championship was ordered to defend his title against Mike McCallum in his next bout.  After losing a close decision to Hagler, Duran instead opted to take on Hearns and his belt was stripped.  But Hearns and Duran, two parts of what would be dubbed “The Fabulous Four” along with Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard, were bigger than the belts and the bout was signed.

Going in the general consensus was that the fight would probably turn into a boxing match with Hearns using his height and reach to keep Duran at bay while Roberto would try to bully Tommy into the ropes and pound his mid-section.  Since his loss to Sugar Ray Leonard in 1981 Hearns no longer assumed the moniker of the “Hitman”, instead being introduced in bouts as the “Motor City Cobra” and his ring performances justified that.  With the exception of a quick knockout of Marcos Geraldo, Tommy had become the jab and dance man. 

He annexed the WBC junior middleweight title from Wilfred Benitez over fifteen tactical rounds and didn’t seem to be the willing assassin he was at welterweight.  However, going into the Duran bout he predicted a second round knockout.  Whether it was bravado or not, the betting public and the media weren’t buying into it.  Roberto Duran had never been knocked out and had only been down twice in his long professional career – both quick trips to the canvas coming against lightweight rival Esteban De Jesus.

Right from the opening bell the disparity in size became alarmingly apparent.  Hearns towered over Duran and his left jab, snapping out from his hip, kept the Panamanian off balance.  Hearns began pushing the smaller Duran around the ring, targeting his belly with the jab and coming over the top with booming right hands.  Duran, rarely cut, began to bleed over his left eye and started to paw at the wound with his glove.  Then, coming off the ropes, Hearns again jabbed to the chest and fired a right hand over the top dropping Duran on the seat of his trunks. 

Duran, seemingly more surprised than hurt, jumped up and took the mandatory eight count.  Hearns charged across the ring and pummeled Roberto, nearly knocking him out of the ring before depositing him on the canvas again with a left hook to the body.  Duran beat the count at the bell and Hearns, in a measure of respect, extended his left glove to the woozy fighter.  Duran touched gloves and then wandered off to the wrong corner.

The inevitability of what was to come hung in the air but the crowd at the outdoor arena at Caesars Palace seemed as dazed as to what was happening as Duran.  Hearns, now oozing confidence, approached center ring and again touched gloves with Duran.  It would be the last civil thing he did.  Gliding around the ring and looking like a demented, black vampire with his goatee and Jeri curls, the “Hitman”, he had reassumed the moniker for the fight, went in for the kill. 

Pushing Duran backwards he leapt in and clobbered the cowering fighter with a vicious right hand that staggered Duran back into the ropes again.  Hearns bounced backwards and then jumped in again with another vicious right hand and began pummeling his prey with a series of punches that kept Duran standing straight up.  Roberto tried to move off the ropes, so Hearns lured him out and then pushed him back with two probing left jabs to the chest before dropping the coup de grace. 

The final right hand that crashed over Duran’s guard was so brutal, the impact twisted his head to the side and sucked all the air out of the arena.  A collective gasp went up as Roberto Duran fell face forward to the canvas.  There would be no count.  Duran’s corner men jumped into the ring as Hearns leapt onto the shoulders of his handlers.  It was the most dramatic knockout of Thomas Hearns’ career and upped the ante for his potential challenge of Marvin Hagler for the middleweight championship.  Hearns would fight one more bout before that showdown, a three round blast out of contender Fred Hutchings, but he would never again be so brilliantly devastating.

So compelling is the sport of boxing, so filled with complex, intriguing characters that embody myriad styles and personalities that fans debate endlessly about every facet of the game.  Everything is open for discussion but there are certain fighters, certain fights and certain outcomes that must be held in a certain amount of reverence.  Thomas Hearns’ knockout of Roberto Duran is one of those.  Its significance cannot be questioned.  Where it ranks among the greatest knockouts of all time can be argued, but it must be included.  From this corner, however, it ranks as the greatest knockout of the last twenty-five years.