This was the decade of Sugar Ray, as this is the last of his fights on the biggest money maker list and the first of his fights against the legendary Hearns, the man who later took the glory from Sugar Ray by becoming the first five division champion. The undefeated Hearns went down in defeat after seemingly having won the fight with only one round left. Hearns was winning unanimously between rounds 9 and 12, with Sugar Ray’s legendary trainer proclaiming: “You’re blowing it now, son! You’re blowing it!”. In the 13th round, Sugar Ray received a bit off a wakeup call as he dropped Hearns to the ropes twice with a flurry of shots. By the 14th round, the last minute flurry did not change the fact that all Hearns had to do was stay alive and the match was his. The champ, with his face swollen, sent Hearns to the ropes again with over a minute left in the 14th round, prompting the referee to raise Leonard’s hands as the winner.

In the rematch 8 years later, both men who at that time held multiple belts, fought to a draw in which most pundits felt Hearns was the winner.