(MUSIC PLAYING)
It was the closing of an era,
but the curtain closes, then another curtain opens.
Boxing is always there as an opening act
to everything else that's happening in the world.
Boxing is a metaphor for life.
Everyone's fighting for something.
There was a time at the end of the '70s
when you knew on some level, you were seeing history.
And everybody paid attention.
MALE NEWSCASTER: With world oil markets tight
and OPEC raising prices almost daily,
gasoline and fuel oil prices have skyrocketed.
The nation's energy situation is getting worse.
This is unreal. Isn't this disgusting?
Why doesn't anybody contact the president?
Why is he letting this happen to us?
Jimmy Carter comes into office during a recession,
a gas crisis and oil crisis in the 1970s.
REPORTER: Iranian students continue to hold
more than 50 hostages of the American Embassy
in Tehran this morning.
We're using every available channel
to protect the safety of the hostages
and to secure their release.
So that was America.
Coming out of that was Muhammad Ali.
I am the greatest!
He said he wasn't going to go to Vietnam.
They took his title from him.
He started being an activist.
He's writing poetry in the ring.
And the game he fought,
what he did in the ring was beautiful.
But then suddenly, the brutality of the '70s
comes full swing,
the '80s come in,
and the beauty doesn't matter anymore.
(SHOUTING)
COMMENTATOR 1: He gets back there.
The body is rearing.
It just can't do what it used to do before.
The sad recognition
that all athletes eventually come to grips with.
COMMENTATOR 2: You know, it's pathetic to see a guy
just not being able to do it. He was the greatest, he once was
DUNDEE: Stop the fight!
COMMENTATOR: Angelo Dundee wants to stop the fight.
COMMENTATOR 2: That really is a sad and sorry end
for Muhammad Ali.
If you were a boxing fan in the late '70s,
you were kind of sad
to see Ali's career coming to and end.
He had meant so much.
And you were probably looking for somebody
to step into that void.
You have four great fighters,
Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns,
Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler,
who were fighting each other,
and it was enthralling.
They all had a different impact on America.
Leonard was the golden boy,
chosen one to bring boxing back into favor.
Hagler was the perennial underdog.
Duran was the idol of the Latin American people.
And Hearns was Mr. Detroit, at a bad time for that city.
These guys dominated the era,
but not each other.
Their fights meant so much.
The Four Kings gave us unique personalities,
unique fighters
who all fought each other to their credit,
and created a time in boxing
that was maybe the greatest period
in the history of the sport.
LEONARD: I've always wanted to be special.
To be somebody.
Not just in the ring, but in the world.
When I was a kid, I had guys who I'd idolize,
men who were just bigger than their sport.
I shook up the world!
LEONARD: Muhammad Ali, he was bigger than life,
and I wanted to be bigger than life, too.
Muhammad, this must bring back a lot of memories
seeing these young guys coming up, like Ray Leonard.
It makes you sad to know that we're all getting old,
but if they stay around long enough,
they'll be old, too.
MAN: And next we go to one of the really great
young amateur fighters in the world.
Ray Leonard, 18 years old.
He's a leading candidate to go to Montreal,
win a gold medal in the '76 Olympics.
LEONARD: I went to the recreation center
in Palmer Park
and I was 14 years old.
It's so vivid, that experience,
because I was a kid who was shy
and didn't like hitting people,
didn't want anybody to hit me.
But I put the gloves on,
and it was like I found boxing,
boxing found me.
It was magic.
INTERVIEWER: Muhammad, how does it look to you?
Well, Leonard, he's beaten the man, but he's close.
This is good training for these fellas in the future
when they turn professional.
COMMENTATOR 1: This Ray Leonard's
a terrific young man out of the ring, too.
And the shoe on the outside has got
a little picture of his infant son taped there.
COMMENTATOR 2: He's 18, got a son already?
COMMENTATOR 1: Got a little infant son.
-Mmm-hmm. -There's his picture.
You can just see it on his... on his shoe.
COMMENTATOR 2: That reminds him that
-he's got to feed that kid. -That's right. (LAUGHS)
How much it's gonna cost him raising him.
Diapers are due and baby food is due.
So he's got to whoop this man
so he can turn professional
and take care of that little boy.
That's what must be on his mind.
And that's the way he's fighting.
COMMENTATOR 1: Now, Ray Leonard knocks him down.
COMMENTATOR 2: Good side hook.
That was beautiful.
COMMENTATOR 1: And young Ray Leonard
now puts the US four points to two.
COMMENTATOR 2: And you can't beat that.
(US NATIONAL ANTHEM PLAYS)
The 200th birthday of the United States.
As the day went on, one could almost touch
the spirit that swept over this country.
There's the 200th anniversary of the Republic,
which is glorious.
But the same time people are demoralized,
trying to figure out what to do.
Under the surface,
all this pent up aggression and anger is there.
After all the growing up, after all the glory,
after all the setbacks our country's gone through,
we can still say with pride and gratitude,
we are the American people.
GREER: There was a recession.
You couldn't get a job, you had nowhere to live,
the cities were all torn up.
It wasn't a good time.
WOMAN: ABC now projects Carter is the winner.
GREER: Our leader was Jimmy Carter.
He was a peanut farmer, you know,
he looked like real people. At that point,
that's what we wanted, what's real.
1976, a barren landscape for American fighters
where Muhammad Ali was the only
American-born world champion in all of boxing,
and there were, at the time,
between 25 and 30 champions.
Ali was the only American.
It all began to change with the 1976 Olympics
starring the incredibly telegenic Ray Leonard.
Ray, everyone points to you as America's best hope
to win a gold medal in the next Olympics.
Do you like that kind of pressure?
Yes, for the simple reason
it only builds my ego up more and more.
I feel confident now.
I'm a lot more secure
because I know I'm in physical condition,
so it's no sweat.
(MUSIC PLAYS)
In those days for the United States,
Olympic boxing was still such a huge stage.
You look at the champions:
Ali, Frasier, Patterson.
They all came out of the Olympics.
WOMAN: The United States of America.
O'BRIEN: Leonard rode that all the way to the very top.
You can see how it launched his career.
The '76 Olympics elevated boxing.
It was televised by ABC, announced by Howard Cosell.
All of a sudden, boxing was cool again.
And, of course, in sports,
if you're not on television, you don't exist.
Well, I think we have the best-prepared,
best trained team
in United States' boxing history.
And this is Sugar Ray Leonard.
(CHEERING)
Tomorrow night live in prime time,
you'll be seeing this slick young amateur fighter
against a Swedish fighter by the name of Ulf Carlsson.
What are you gonna do to him with the right?
Well, I'm planning on moving on him,
I know I can catch him.
-Ah! -(LAUGHS)
Howard saw Leonard as a natural extension of Ali,
and to be perfectly candid,
Howard was also always interested in somebody
that could vault him
as a natural storyteller for that person.
Leonard filled a niche that had been left by Ali.
All right, quick question.
I want these people to know you as a human being.
You have no plans to turn professional, do you?
No plans whatsoever, Howard.
I was given a scholarship by the people of Glenarden.
You want that medal. It's your dream, isn't it?
I'm going to get it, Howard.
I know you are. Good to see you.
Thank you for being with us.
-(CHEERING) -Let's hear it
for Sugar Ray from...
I sacrificed so much.
I wanted to be the best,
I wanted the ultimate,
which was the Olympics.
That Cuban, Andres Aldama,
had far more experience, bigger, stronger.
But I wanted to win.
No, I had to win.
This was predestined.
It was meant to be.
COMMENTATOR: In boxing,
American fighters won five gold medals tonight.
Light-middleweight Sugar Ray Leonard
of Palmer Park, Maryland,
won a unanimous decision over Andres Aldama of Cuba.
LEONARD: That wasn't about money.
It wasn't about fame.
It was about the Olympics,
your country.
I mean, words can't describe...
I can't elaborate enough on what it felt like
standing on that podium
with that gold medal draped around my neck.
Oh, my God. This was it, man, this was it.
MAN: After he beat a tough Cuban
for the Olympic gold medal,
Sugar Ray Leonard announced he would never fight again.
He would enroll at the University of Maryland.
His only battles would be with the books.
LEONARD: I love boxing, but not that much.
I was gonna go to the University of Maryland
further my education and get a great job.
MAN: And then he came home
to this house just outside of Washington, DC.
A house filled with the glittering trophies
of a golden amateur career.
His mother, Getha,
would suffer a mild heart attack.
His father, Cicero,
was hospitalized with meningitis.
LEONARD: Everyone's crying.
My mom's crying, I'm crying.
And I asked my mentor, Janks Morton,
I said, "Janks, how can I make fast money?"
He said, "Turn pro."
Boxing allowed me to get the best help, medically.
I only did it to help my father to pay the bills.
MAN: Ray's mother did not like his decision
to turn pro.
I don't like fighting. I don't like sports.
I wanted him to go to school and get an education
because people can take a fight from you,
but once you get an education,
that's something that no one can take from you.
For 15 years,
Muhammad Ali has dominated the sport of boxing.
Now a new boxing superstar may be in the making.
Sugar Ray Leonard, who won a boxing gold medal...
...turns pro in a six-round junior welterweight bout.
...turned pro the way no young fighter
had ever turned pro before.
So high, you can't get over me
As with most superstar boxers,
Ray Leonard was a product of his time.
He had a natural ability to be a star.
MAN: With his smile, Sugar Ray Leonard
can light up a gym.
MAN 2: Tomorrow, Leonard will fight professionally
for the first time.
COMMENTATOR: And on this round,
behold the boxing lord...
COMMENTATOR 2: That would be Leonard's right shots.
(BELL DINGING)
COMMENTATOR: And that's the end of it.
Man, everybody look at that.
Ray Junior and Ray Senior.
LEONARD: I just felt a desire to be somebody.
My career was nothing short of disastrous.
MAN: Sugar Ray Leonard spent nine minutes
in the ring last night
and rocked his welterweight opponent from Ohio
in the second round,
putting him down to the canvas.
REPORTER: As his manager, Leonard chose Angelo Dundee,
who is connected and respected.
Manager or trainer to eight world champions,
most notably Muhammad Ali.
Angelo was chosen because
he was an old time boxing guy who was smart.
There was never anyone better
during a fight in a corner.
Having Angelo be the face of the training team
was a smart move.
Angelo had been through it with the greatest.
DUNDEE: Sugar Ray is probably the finest talent
that I've had the pleasure of dealing with.
And I know the people here.
will want to take this kid,
'cause he's like home cooking.
FARHOOD: One thing that made his early days
a little different from most fighters is,
almost all of his fights were televised
on national television,
because Ray got ratings,
because he was already a star
before he ever turned pro,
and it was natural to put him on television.
Ah, yeah!
LEONARD: You know, I give thanks to the Olympics
that boxing has become revitalized.
It is hot now,
and I'mma take advantage of it.
I'm in no rush as far as the title's concerned.
They're talking 800,000, 900,000.
I want a million dollars.
Because I wanna be the first little guy
that fights for one-million dollar purse.
Please don't fail me now
FARHOOD: Angelo matched him very tough
against all different kinds of opponents.
And the reason Angelo matched him tough
was 'cause he knew what he had.
O'BRIEN: He had the showmanship of Ali,
but he didn't have the controversial side
that Ali had.
It was all safer, clean cut.
He was a nice young man.
I heard that from, you know, from my grandmother.
"Oh, he's a nice young man."
LEONARD: For little Ray, he's three years old,
I'm gonna make sure that he has all the things
that I didn't have when I was coming up.
Who's your favorite boxer?
-There you go. (LAUGHS) -(WOMAN LAUGHS)
As a contender,
the ultimate is the championship fight.
And it was a scary feeling though
because all of a sudden,
now I'm up against this great champion.
Wilfred Benitez, that fight was so tough.
One of my most difficult fights.
COMMENTATOR 1: Benitez is a great fight.
(BELL DINGS)
Benitez beginning to throw his own left in this round.
If he gets Leonard against the ropes...
Right there, a quick left.
Astonishing, Leonard.
And Benitez unhappy with himself.
You are watching
two exceptionally definite fights.
LEONARD: He was so elusive.
I never missed so many punches in my life.
But I never gave up.
I never stopped throwing punches.
You have to really dig deep, and it hurts.
But to win, it's what it's all about.
COMMENTATOR: And they're toe-to-toe!
LEONARD: He had more experience than me,
more talent than I did.
I just had more heart.
COMMENTATOR: It's inevitable.
It doesn't die.
Look at the courage he's shown,
or the skills he's shown.
Maybe now they won't call
Sugar Ray Leonard a hype.
There it is!
He's stopped the fight!
And there is a new World Welterweight Champion!
He comes upon the block now.
His name is Ray Leonard.
The quality of that card was absolutely incredible.
Ray Leonard against Benitez, who was, I don't know,
38 or something like that.
And then the same night you have Marvin Hagler
fighting for the middleweight title.
It's totally amazing
that that was on primetime national television.
Hagler embodies
the traditional American fighter.
A working man.
Nothing was ever handed to him.
He was not being interviewed by Howard Cosell
before he turned pro.
He was a fighter from Brockton, Massachusetts.
And good luck developing a home fan base
in Brockton, Massachusetts,
when you're a black middleweight
without much of a name.
Marvin Hagler didn't turn pro on national television.
What Marvin had to do was take the hard route.
Mad dog Johnny Baldwin thinks he's tough,
but Marvelous Marv is twice as rough.
My lightning right hand will score as well.
My dynamite left will make the kill.
Another step towards the middleweight crown.
Get ready, Monzon, 'cause you're going down.
INTERVIEWER: All right.
Who were you at age 16
when you began to box?
HAGLER: I think at that time, I was searching.
My ambition, I think, was to be somebody.
My mother has six kids. I'm the oldest.
She just say, "I like to see you grow up
to be a strong boy.
You gotta be different."
I think, you know, I had to be noticed
so I could be recognized, you know?
Ah, he was only a kid about 14 or 15 years old.
Just that good, tough, strong kid.
You'd have to hit him with a 2x4 to knock him down.
And he'd come in the gym, and uh, he always joked,
"Someday, I'm gonna be a champion."
He was a short kid.
You know, we heard all the time.
But he never gave up.
That's his nature.
Marvin was a little bit behind me.
We used to box.
'Cause I was more experienced,
I used to go a little easy.
And as time went by,
Marvin had to go a little easy with me. (CHUCKLES)
He was awarded the outstanding fighter
on the National Amateur tournament.
That's where Ray Leonard get beat.
Michael Spinks was there, (INDISTINCT) was on it.
So Marvin was the greatest, the toughest.
Then we went for the money.
Marvin didn't have the luxury
of trying to get an Olympic pedigree.
He had to turn pro
and earn a living for his family.
And Leonard was able to stay amateur
and get to the Olympics and build his name up.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler is a boxer from Brockton,
and a good one.
The only mar on his record so far, a draw.
I'm working on the speed now, man.
The power's there. I have the power.
My hands are getting much faster,
getting much smarter.
And I'm learning every day.
I'm learning different things.
The famous saying about Marvin, of course,
was that he had three things go against him:
He was black, he was a southpaw,
and he was good.
So nobody wanted to fight him
till the money was right.
A lot of guys don't want to fight
left-handed fighters.
They say, "Oh, you can't look good with a southpaw."
INTERVIEWER: What's the story?
You've been going three years,
you know, when are you ready to hit the big guy?
HAGLER: I'm looking. I've been looking for him.
I've been on radio, I've been on TV.
I've been calling everybody out
that I can think of.
'Cause I ain't heard nothing,
and the longer they stay away from me,
the better I'm gonna get,
so they better come and get me now.
You know, how many fights do I have to fight
before I have to prove to these people
that I'm eligible for a middleweight title?
I'm trying to see how these other guys get a shot
with only 16, 17 fights.
Trying to learn the politics about the game.
What I believe they want me to do is get disgusted.
Get all torn down, ready to give up,
ready to quit.
But I'm not. I take it out on my opponents.
There's a school of thought that
Marvin developed a chip on his shoulder
because people didn't recognize how good he was.
My sense is that Marvin had a chip on his shoulder
long before he entered boxing,
and he kept it there his whole life.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
(GRUNTS)
Hagler, nobody wanted to fight him.
I was doing all the middleweight
championship fights
and I got two letters that came the same day.
One was from Tip O'Neill
and the other from Teddy Kennedy
that unless I gave their constituent Marvin Hagler
a shot at the title,
I would have my ass hauled before Congress.
So I said, "Hey, I don't need this trouble,"
and I agreed to match him for the world title.
(GRUNTS)
I'm gonna be mean and lean,
destructive and destroy.
It's all that's on my mind.
Vito the Mosquito, I'm gonna swat him like a fly.
MAN: Hagler chants his mantra
about Vito Antuofermo,
the middleweight champion of the world,
whom he meets in Las Vegas next month
with the undisputed title at stake.
Vito the Mosquito. The man must fall.
ARUM: Marvin really bitched at me.
"Why am I on an undercard with Leonard?
This guy who has everything done for him?"
And I said, "Well, hey,
that's how we got on prime time,
so just be thankful."
COMMENTATOR: Hagler totally poised and calm.
I've been mainly Southhall style as Hagler.
Look for him to mix that up as the fight progresses.
To me, that fight is emblematic
of what Marvin Hagler faced in life.
And I don't know if it's a grand conspiracy.
It was just he was constantly
looked past a little bit.
Even with the way judges scored his fights,
the way people perceived him sometimes,
he just never quite got the respect he deserved.
(INDISTINCT COMMENTARY)
A lot of people, including Hagler,
sure felt that he won that fight against Vito,
a guy that everyone thought he'd run right through.
COMMENTATOR: Right then left then combination.
ATLAS: Sometimes when you fight a great fighter,
it raises you up.
On that night,
Antuofermo was a better fighter
than he'd ever been in his life.
(BELL DINGING)
MAN: The decision is a draw.
COMMENTATOR: It's a draw.
Vito retains the title!
ATLAS: Call it fate.
Call it whatever you want to call it.
We're going to give you a draw.
Let's see if you're truly worthy of this destiny.
MAN 1: One of the most egregious decisions
in boxing.
MAN 2: The worst screwing Marvin ever got.
MAN 3: He won that fight from here to Newark.
MAN 4: Clearly wins the fight.
ATLAS: Somebody had a plan for him.
That voice up above, that bellowing voice,
"Marvin, not yet.
You'll get all the recognition
that you strive for.
But yours has to be a special journey.
A harder journey."
Good evening.
I want to talk to you right now
about a fundamental threat to American democracy.
It is a crisis of confidence.
This period, this transition if you like,
from the 1970s to the 1980s,
is an extraordinary turning point for the United States.
Carter was extremely decent man,
but he was not a good president
in terms of being a bureaucrat
or getting things through Congress.
He's a peanut farmer
and he don't know how to run this country. Believe it.
I think you can't give a boy a man's job.
He's trying to convince the American people
to trust him
and these people just don't want to hear
what he's having to say.
Americans are hurting.
So what does Jimmy Carter do?
He scolds Americans.
He says, "We're going to have to tighten our belts."
Too many of us now tend to worship
self-indulgence and consumption.
Human identity is no longer defined
by what one does, but by what one owns.
Will you come in, Mystery Challenger,
and sign in, please?
Well, judging from the applause,
I take it that you are a performer?
I don't know. Yeah, yeah.
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Are you good looking and uh,
considered a dreamboat type by the girls?
You have your answer there, Miss Dorothy.
DOROTHY: Are you Ronald Reagan?
Ronald Reagan. That's right.
Ronald Reagan would come on screen on a horse
with his cowboy hat.
First of all he's Governor of California,
But he was also an actor, he was a movie star.
People are like "He's going to help us."
When I was a kid, a friend of mine,
his mother would give him castor oil.
I tried it once. It's just nasty as hell.
But that's Carter, like "Look, this is the truth.
Here's your castor oil."
Reagan's giving you a spoonful of sugar.
Now that's not good for you, but it is like,
"Give me some more that. I want some more."
GREER: You don't know a seismic shift,
except in retrospect.
When I look back now, of course, it was massive.
Muhammad Ali made boxing a metaphor for the struggle.
ALI: I want to use my name for righteousness,
for Allah's sake, for God's sake,
for helping my people unite.
This is the main thing that keeps me fighting.
GREER: But by the '80s, it becomes a metaphor
for this whole idea of individualism
you know, every man, woman for him or herself.
You know, people ask me to say,
"Hey, did you try to surpass Ali
in as far as doing his thing?"
I said "Physically, I don't try to surpass Ali,
financially I do."
(LAUGHTER)
Leonard was the golden boy.
He got the gold medal
and because he had the gold medal,
you know, he's fighting for $40,000
in his first pro fight
and, of course,
Hagler was taking the tougher route.
MAN: So I take the pictures so that we can simulate
that it's near the end of the fight.
You know, I want you to be kind of tired
but victorious.
A guy like Hagler,
he wasn't image conscious at all.
He just wanted to be a fighter,
Given what he had to do
and the price he had to pay to reach the top,
he's going to look at a guy like Leonard
and say "Everything was handed to him."
Even though that wasn't true,
it's very easy to see how Marvin would think that.
(ANNOUNCER SPEAKING)
MAN: That bald-headed fellow there
is Marvin Hagler, Don.
DON: I'm glad to know that, Larry.
LARRY: He is the most outstanding fighter
to come out of this region in recent years.
With Hagler, he's just good.
But that doesn't work for a promoter sometimes.
What else are you?
Tell me, what else you got?
I remember Ray was doing commentary
on national television.
Ray spoke beautifully.
Marvin was a little more shy.
Sugar Ray Leonard, Ladies and gentlemen.
You look right into there, let them have a look at you.
ATLAS: So you combine all these factors
and it took a while longer for Marvin
to get recognized by American television.
ANNOUNCER: Spanning the globe to bring you
the constant variety of sport.
Today, live on ABC's Wide World of Sports,
you're going to see boxing
of the most exciting type in the world.
Well, we're on camera now, Sugar Ray.
And that's the Clint Jackson
that we really expected to be fighting at Montreal.
Well, he's well groomed.
I wish you'd put on your headset, Sugar Ray,
so we can hear you.
That was an exciting fight,
one of the best we have seen,
and we've seen nothing but good fights today.
Right now coming up,
you're going to see a youngster from Detroit.
Just 17 years of age, named Hearns,
one of the slickest boxers you'd want to see.
Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns
was a brilliantly gifted fighter
from the Kronk Gym in Detroit,
described by Emanuel Steward,
his Hall of Fame trainer,
as the Elvis Presley of boxing.
BERNSTEIN: Hearns, live, angular, splendid.
Has a lot of movement.
Sugar Ray, that's what it takes
to beat these fighters, doesn't it?
LEONARD: Hearns is a good, clean boxer
and he has a good height and quickness.
This is a great asset in amateur boxing.
BERNSTEIN: Hearns 17, you 21,
you're getting old, Sugar Ray.
(LEONARD CHUCKLES) Not yet, Al.
COMMENTATOR: We thought there could be
no question about it.
So, the United States takes a five to three...
Tommy was a great amateur,
really accomplished amateur.
Emanuel Steward strengthened Tommy,
and it was a bond that lasted
all through their life.
COMMENTATOR: Oh, that's a left to the body
and right to the chin.
One of the best combinations in boxing.
Thomas lost close decisions,
the Olympic trials back to Aaron Pryor,
who was 20 years old at the time,
a big political favorite.
ANNOUNCER: That's it. Pryor is your champion.
O'BRIEN: For Hearns,
the disappointment of missing the Olympics
fueled him to changing that style.
So he became a very different
and very effective pro.
STEWARD: When he turned professional
we focused a lot on
teaching him to tighten up at the end of the punches,
add a little bit more body weight,
but still maintain his boxing skills.
Tommy as an amateur
was more of the peck and poke style.
Tall guy, 6'2", jabbed a lot,
hadn't discovered the power in his right hand,
probably because he hadn't been taught
how to properly throw the right hand.
Enter Emanuel Steward, all of a sudden,
you have a tremendous puncher.
MAN: Young and handsome, and somewhat shy
Tommy turned pro only last year.
He's demolished all of his opponents
by knockout.
INTERVIEWER: When you came in here at Kronk,
when you were just a kid,
did you ever think you'd do this much?
Yes, I felt that, you know, as I was coming up,
I used to have dreams that
I would at some time be the champion of the world.
(CROWD CHEERING)
I realized near the very beginning,
"This kid's a freak."
Most of the welterweights
were, you know, 5'7", 5'8".
He's like 6'1.5"
and he's got a 78 inch reach.
He was just different. He stood out.
(CROWD CHEERING)
INTERVIEWER: Okay. What's next?
-Can you get Sugar Ray? -I don't think so.
-No? -No.
Leonard won't fight us on any conditions
we have been told, he'll wait
until Tommy grows into middleweight
which means he'll have to wait for two years
before making his move.
(INDISTINCT COMMENTARY)
Thomas combined that huge reach and height
with frightening right-hand power.
And in boxing, for boxing fans,
there is nothing as appealing as a big puncher.
INTERVIEWER: What's your strategy?
Well, first two rounds
I was planning on just coming out,
just trying to give my boxing best
then I would try bigger shots from there.
Knockout or are you gonna predict anything?
Not predicting, I'm not predicting anything.
MAN: Tommy Hearns is unbeaten,
winning all his fights by knockouts,
all by the third round.
But he'll be put to the test by Pedro Rojas,
ranked third in the world by the World Boxing Council.
Rojas will be Hearns' stiffest test to date.
When Tommy turned pro, he was popping 'em out.
One fight after another
at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
Pop, another one round there.
Pop, another one round knockout.
You did not get popcorn or beer
before the fight started.
You sat down there,
'cause if you blinked
or you started talking to someone else,
you would miss that fight.
(BELL DINGING)
MAN: I thought you said
you're gonna give us a chance.
You were gonna coast the first round.
Why did you beat him so quick?
I never said that.
What do you think, Emanuel, now? What's next for Tommy?
Whoever's between us and the championship,
that's who we want next, that is willing to fight us.
Although most of the guys are afraid.
Leonard was the one that we wanted.
Emanuel and Tommy, everybody talked.
Ray Leonard, Ray Leonard, Ray Leonard.
There's been a lot of criticism that
I'm afraid to fight Tommy Hearns.
I will say that when the money is right,
then I will fight.
But you're not dodging him or anything?
No, that's baloney.
I mean, just put him in the ring
and I got a very talented youngster.
He's very talented.
What the heck? Let's go.
Sugar Ray Leonard had higher ambitions
than Tommy Hearns.
Didn't want to just be a great champion.
He wanted to be something beyond that.
LEONARD: I had a certain persona that was different.
In other words, people considered me
more of a personality than just a boxer.
And I value that.
The Four Kings model is so interesting to me
because you really have Ray Leonard
as the only marketable figure,
the only person who can speak
to the educated masses.
We talk about fighters who understand the media
and can talk better and get their point across.
The same thing with politicians.
Reagan was an actor, but people bought into it.
He could talk to you.
Most voters in the United States
are what we would call low information voters.
It's much more based on marketing.
If a candidate can come up with the right slogan,
that candidate has a huge advantage over other people.
And Reagan did that.
...and that you, along with us,
can make America great again.
That's what we're going to do.
Thank you very much.
Remember the American electorate
think that all politicians are crooks, are liars.
The candidate they'll support
is the one they think will give them something
because they expect
from the average politician, nothing.
You can make your family's life much better.
WOLFF: He had the corporate seal of approval
from one of the five most important corporations
in America,
namely General Electric.
...for General Electric, here is Ronald Reagan.
People thought that he was
at the edges of the Republican Party.
So by the time you get to the '80s,
this is a man who's been governor,
this is a man who's tried to get
the Republican nomination a couple of times.
So he had his hands on the pulse of
American conservativism.
He was a sure mannequin speaking
whatever lines the people around him wrote.
REAGAN: A troubled and afflicted mankind
looks to us
that we will become that shining city on a hill.
I believe that together,
we can keep this rendezvous with destiny.
And that's the same kind of thing with Ray Leonard.
Leonard was a darling.
He wasn't a threat to America.
Everybody embraced him because he had that smile
and all he was doing was fighting
and he wasn't saying anything else.
You know, I feel like an idiot doing this.
(OLD SCHOOL RAP MUSIC PLAYING)
(SINGING JINGLE)
To call Sugar Ray Leonard apolitical
is to ignore the politics of the '80s.
Sugar Ray Leonard's narrative
was that he was a bootstraps capitalist
who pulled himself up from nothing,
who supported the country, who was patriotic.
It plays into Reagan's narrative well.
I'm so glad you could join us.
I love your commercials.
That's the problem of so many fighters.
You want to be accepted.
You think of Mohammed Ali,
how great he was.
The only things I remember him endorsing
was roach spray and shoe polish.
I mean roaches.
I'm going to show you how you remove roaches.
PAIGE: I think it's safe to say that Ray Leonard
was the first of a group
of television babies and athletes
where he wasn't doing an ethnic commercial.
He was doing 7up.
He was doing commercials
that would run on all network.
I can feel it's coming now
A fresh look on the sea
With a whole new style of living
Light and crisp and clean
Ray Leonard recognized
there was an inevitable
new age of entertainment and sports
getting closer and closer to each other.
He planted the seed
where so many athletes, not just boxing,
but in other sports, saying,
"Wait a minute, there's money to be made."
Yes, it's safe to say that Leonard paved the way
for somebody like Michael Jordan
who was making more money off the court
than on the court.
REPORTER: The 7up people threw a luncheon
in New York City recently
to show off their bright new salesman.
Well, here is a man who is a champion
in the ring and out of it. Sugar Ray Leonard.
REPORTER: The champion earned
an extra measure of respect
from these businessmen.
After all, he's Sugar Ray Leonard Incorporated.
The real brains behind Ray Leonard
was Mike Trainer, who was a divorce lawyer
from Silver Spring, Maryland.
Because of Trainer, Ray was able to remain
a promotional free agent for most of his career.
That was unheard of at the time.
In boxing, everything starts with a promoter.
In those days, if you didn't have
a major league power promoter
backing you, you never get a chance.
We decided that we try to do it ourselves
in the beginning
and establish Ray's market value,
go directly to arenas,
go directly to TV,
put on our own show, so to speak.
I'm independent and I always will remain independent.
If I was owned by anyone,
I would not be a professional fighter today.
You know, a lot of promoters fear me.
They fear what Sugar Ray Leonard
and his people have established.
I think Trainer's an ingrate.
He's unappreciative.
I think that, uh,
he's the type of guy that is very selfish.
In every year of boxing,
there's one or two promotional groups
at the top of the pyramid.
Bob Arum and Don King
did really control the sport during that era.
I made more millionaires out of prize fighters
than anyone in history.
This was done by enterprise,
what America truly is founded upon.
King came off of the streets.
He was the largest Number Czar in Cleveland.
He killed two people,
went to jail for manslaughter.
Very tough street guy.
And then you have Bob Arum,
who grew up in a Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn,
went to NYU and Harvard Law School,
worked in the U.S. Attorney's office.
Bob Arum got his start in boxing
with Muhammad Ali.
King and Arum, their tentacles just reached
further and further and further.
I think King cared more about being famous,
than Arum did, maybe.
It was more in the DNA of King to be flamboyant.
It's showmanship. Entertainment business.
My responsibility as a promoter
is to present great events and to sell tickets.
And to try to hype that event
until you get a groundswell of public opinion
that will support that event.
(LAUGHS)
My job is to promote.
MAN: Arum and King,
they became their own antagonist.
You had those two guys to warm you up,
to let you know that there was static in the air,
and static in the hair.
Mike Trainer had an idea
to keep Ray independent,
but he didn't know anything about closed circuit,
he didn't know how to make deals with exhibitors.
We had been doing that for years.
So in order to do an event,
he had a go to us, make us the promoter,
which he did with the Duran fight.
When you are the number one guy.
you fight who you want, when you want,
where you want, for how much money you want.
That was Ray Leonard. He was number one.
He was a star fighter
who could have fought anyone.
And he picked Roberto Duran.
And that was his way
of showing the boxing world, "I'm legitimate."
MAN: Sugar Ray was named
1979's "Fighter of the Year."
Roberta Duran was named "Fighter of the Decade."
This particular fight is more significant
than all my professional amateur fights
for a simple reason.
Roberto Duran is known worldwide.
He's the most recognized fighter
that I have faced.
He's so profitable
and I think that the anticipation
is far better than Wilfredo Benitez fight.
MAN: Scared?
Just a little.
REPORTER: At the news conference
announcing the Leonard-Duran fight,
boxing's leading entrepreneurs
who loathe each other,
embraced each other.
This is something new. (LAUGHS)
We believe that this event
will be the highest grossing boxing match
in the history of the sport.
MAN: I don't think it could be overstated
how unusual it was for a non-heavyweight
to get paid this kind of money.
It was front page news in the American press.
I often use Leonard-Duran as the perfect example
of a fight that stopped the world
For that moment, everybody froze.
The world was focused on boxing.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
(IN ENGLISH) I'm not here to be a clown
like this guy over here.
(PEOPLE LAUGHING)
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
The word enigma was invented for Roberto Duran.
From the moment he hit center stage,
he was an anti-hero
who was thought of as a bad boy of boxing.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
I think that Duran had more natural talent
than maybe anyone.
You have to go back, maybe to Ray Robinson
to find somebody with that kind of natural talents.
People talk about him as a savage
and an attacking force,
but if you watch those fights
when he's a lightweight,
it's almost like a joy that he brought to the ring.
His movement is almost
as if he heard this internal music.
Within the boxing business
Duran was perceived as
maybe the best fighter in the world
at that point.
He had been a dominant lightweight,
thought to this day by many
to be the greatest lightweight ever.
And then he went up in weight.
Every big fight can use a guy wearing the black hat
and it was just so natural
for Duran to wear the black hat.
He had a resentment of Leonard to begin with.
He had a little bit of a resentment of America
to begin with.
And he resented Leonard for being the golden boy.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
MAN: In Washington on September 7,
President Carter and the Panamanian president,
General Omar Torrijos,
signed to treaties aimed at solving the problem
on who will control their most valuable asset
of the famous canal.
CARTER: This agreement is a symbol
for the world
of the mutual respect and cooperation
among all our nations.
Good evening to all of you from California.
General Omar Torrijos, the dictator of Panama,
seized power eight years ago
by ousting the duly elected government
(OMAR TORRIJOS SPEAKING SPANISH)
REAGAN: As I talk to you tonight,
negotiations with Torrijos go forward.
Negotiations aimed at giving up our ownership
of the Panama Canal Zone.
REPORTER: The canal and the American Canal Zone
cut right through the heart
of the tiny country of Panama.
For whole generations of Americans,
the canal has been an article of faith,
a symbol of American might and mission.
But now President Carter says
the times have changed.
We must turn the canal over to Panama.
MAN: There is one word for this new treaty
and that word is no.
No!
(MEN CHANTING)
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
REAGAN: But the Canal Zone
is not a colonial possession.
It is not a long term lease.
It is sovereign United States territory.
(ROBERTO DURAN SPEAKING SPANISH)
CARTER: As long as I am president,
the government of the United States
will continue throughout the world
to enhance human rights.
REAGAN: Tell the General we bought it,
we paid for it,
we built it,
and we intend to keep it.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
In Montreal, where the fight is taking place,
Ray is in one hotel,
Duran is in the other hotel.
Duran had a spy,
and that spy's job was to call Duran
when Leonard's wife Juanita
would leave the hotel,
and Duran's car would pull up
and he'd say things like,
"When I beat your husband,
I go to sleep with you."
Crazy stuff.
And of course, Juanita went back and told Ray.
Ray got so furious
that his idea was,
"I'm gonna show this guy,
and I'm going to beat the hell out of him."
LEONARD: All of a sudden now
this man is insulting my wife,
and I can't do anything about it.
But I mean, I was gonna defend my wife.
MAN: While Sugar Ray Leonard,
who fights with a flair,
and Roberto Duran, who fights with a fury,
square off tomorrow night at Montreal
for the WBC welterweight title.
Leonard, with the fastest hands
in the boxing game,
is listed as the nine-to-five favorite
among the oddsmakers.
But 17 of the 30 sports writers
covering the fight
go with the more experienced Duran.
You know, the first Duran-Leonard fight,
it started the era of the Four Kings.
Still to me was that golden era of boxing.
These guys like Leonard, Hearns, Hagler and Duran,
each one was at the top of his game,
and each one felt that to be the best
they had to beat the other three.
It was boxing at its best.
MAN: I don't know if I can stand
this much excitement
because here comes Roberto Duran.
When you get two fighters who were both
clearly established as great fighters,
there's a tremendous anticipation
because you really don't know
what's going to happen in the ring.
What you do know,
and this is the appeal of boxing,
Duran is 100% sure he's going to win.
Leonard is 100% sure he's going to win.
One of them is wrong.
I could see Duran beating the crap out of this guy.
I could see Leonard boxing Duran silly,
anything in between.
MAN: Boxing in Panama
is a source of national pride.
Roberto Duran is as revered here
as another strongman,
General Omar Torrijos.
Here in the narrow alleys of Chorrillo,
a slum in Panama City where Duran was born,
the dirty street turned into a theater.
COMMENTATOR: The last 30 seconds
from Ray ourselves.
-(BELL RINGS) -They're ready.
And round one of the long awaited...
Sugar Ray Leonard.
Roberto Duran, welterweight championship fighter.
Leonard in flat-footed.
He did not come out to dance.
He wants to go toe-to-toe with him.
He's slowly cutting that distance between them.
Oh, he took the hard left...
(CROWD CHEERING)
There's a lot of bad blood between the two,
on the way in Leonard blew a kiss at Duran
and Duran answered with a word,
which I cannot repeat.
Duran does not like this man.
(CROWD CHEERING)
He's holding on.
Leonard is in trouble.
Roberto Duran,
he got inside my head.
He would talk trash,
he cursed me, he cursed my wife.
And I said you know what,
I'm gonna beat him at his own game,
and that's where I went wrong.
He got under my skin.
He throws so many punches.
He hit me so hard so many times
in so many places.
He's like a Tasmanian devil.
I'm in trouble because I didn't know what to do.
(BELL RINGS)
COMMENTATOR: He's punching with the intensity
that only Roberto Duran can punch with.
Why would they want Leonard to take...
Leonard is hurt!
Leonard is hurt again!
Ray wasn't ready for that fight
psychologically.
He was ready for Duran physically,
but he hadn't quite gotten to that next level
to fight a very talented,
very savage, spectacular fighter,
which Duran was at that point in time.
COMMENTATOR: Oh, right hand!
(CROWD CHEERING)
A tremendous right hand by Duran,
throws Leonard back into the rope.
I'm not sure how Leonard survived
those first four rounds.
I think Leonard wanted to show people
that he was tougher than just a pretty boy.
And then Leonard's corner spoke to him.
Try to talk some sense into him.
COMMENTATOR: Round number six.
(CROWD CHEERING)
Leonard fighting very well off the ropes now.
I followed everything with body shots,
left hooks,
from here on out,
Duran respected my punching ability.
(COMMENTATOR SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
Oh, he's been hurt!
A left hook... (CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)
Duran is hurt!
(BELL RINGS)
(CROWD CHEERING)
Oh, what a fight!
Duran was hurt.
For the first time, he clutched his left.
It's very possible
both corners think they're ahead.
It's that close.
This is in the hands of the judges unless...
(CROWD CHEERING)
This one will go all the way.
And we're going to have to have a decision.
And then Leonard may have...
Leonard bombing away!
Duran thinks he has won the fight.
I can't believe it.
(BELL RINGS)
(CROWD CHEERING)
(COMMENTATOR SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
Here's the official decision.
Duran, 146.
Leonard, 144.
(CROWD CHEERING)
Duran, 147.
Leonard, 147.
COMMENTATOR: He pulled in a draw.
(ANNOUNCER SPEAKING FRENCH)
(CROWD CHEERING)
(CHEERING)
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
He was fantastic.
I can't even express myself. I can't even talk.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
I'll be real truthful.
I've never been so depressed over a fight in my life.
Do you agree with the decision?
Yes, he fought his heart out.
There's no question in my mind
that Roberto Duran lost.
Duran won the fight fair and square,
but Sugar Ray Leonard is the winner
because he made ten million dollars.
Indications right now are
that this was the biggest box office match
of all time.
After the fight, both boxers met with the press.
Do you respect Leonard?
Sure, sure.
Leonard, you're my friend now.
(ALL LAUGHING)
(CAR HORNS HONKING)
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
MAN: Within minutes,
thousands took to the streets
for celebrations that surpassed those on the day
the US gave up control of the Panama Canal.
Monday has already been declared a national holiday
as Panamanians await the return
of the man with the fists of stone.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
(LAUGHS)
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
Why do people box?
It's like as base as we get.
And I'm sorry to say that
because there is a nobility in it,
there is something beautiful about it.
(BELL RINGS)
In a perfect world,
boxing would not exist.
You're talking about two men
trying to inflict brain damage on each other.
But it's not a perfect world.
GREER: And I'm not excusing the violence,
but when it's done beautifully,
fighting becomes a metaphor.
The ring becomes a sort of symbol
of the lottery of life.
HAUSER: There was a time
when the heavyweight championship of the world
was the most coveted title in sports.
More people listen to the second
Louis-Schmeling fight on radio
than had ever listened to any event
in the history of the world.
Man is by nature violent.
There's not a doubt in my mind about that.
And when you see a fight,
and you see the crowd reacting the way they do,
living vicariously through the fighters,
screaming for blood,
you realize how violent we are as people,
And I think that boxing, in its own way,
fills a need to the audience.
I think that's part of what makes boxing so special.
It's the violence of Westerns
or the drama of them
with this poetry of musicals
and the way people move.
It's this ballet of violence.
To me, boxing is the most cruel,
brutal and beautiful ballet
in all of sports.
To be an artist,
you don't have to have a paintbrush necessarily.
Anybody who can do something
no one else can is an artist.
(INAUDIBLE)
We have a craving to know what we are.
What will we do
if we were in a difficult situation?
Can you depend on yourself?
The truth can come to you in a lot of places in life,
but it comes to you a lot faster in the ring.
It's the express train.
You find out who the freak you are.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(INAUDIBLE)
It's a funny thing,
the fight that really made Duran
was this fight.
But he won and lost that night.
Who would have thought that on a night
that was going to lead him to his greatest moment,
to open the gates to great wealth
and all the things that this poor kid from Panama
starved for, dreamed of,
was the same night that was gonna condemn him
in the future.
All the things that made Duran great
and that made the world watch,
and made his legend
were gone after that night.
(WOMAN SINGING IN SPANISH)