By Weapon X
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This is a fantasy boxing match up and analysis between the 1980’s Fantastic Four and the 2000’s Cuadro Alas.
80’s Fantastic 4 members:
Sugary Ray Leonard : ( record against 3 competitors 4 wins 1 loss 1 Draw 1KO )
Marvin Hagler : ( record against 3 competitors 2 wins 1 loss 0 Draw 1KO )
Thomas Hearns : ( record against 3 competitors 1 win 2 loss 1 Draw 0 KO )
Roberto Duran : ( record against 3 competitors 1 wins 3 loss 0 Draw 0 KO )
The weight divisions that all four were fighting at that time were Welterweight, Jr. Middleweight, Middleweight and Super-Middleweight.
3 of the 4 are Multi-weight Champion (only Marvin Hagler fought at Middleweight all his fighting life)
The round robin of the four starts with the first Leonard-Hearns Fight and End with the Super-middleweight Fight of Leonard-Hearns 2
Of the Four, Leonard emerged as the one with more wins and Duran as the one with more losses.
“Marvelous” Marvin Hagler fought only in the middleweight division with his last fight against Sugar Ray Leonard
Of the four, Thomas Hearn’s emerged to be the most exciting fighter. His fight Marvin Hagler was a short back and forth war and against Ray Leonard he was both leading the fight when he got knocked out in the first fight with a come from behind knock out by Sugar Ray. The second fight was a controversial draw. While the fight with Duran shows the most devastating form of the Hitman.
If this was a tournament the winner is as follows:
Leonard (Winner)
Hagler (2nd place)
Tommy Hearns (3rd Place)
Roberto Duran (4th) since he is the only one who lost to all 3, you can argue that he should be tied with Hearns since he is the only one who defeated Leonard, but in their head to head he was knocked out in a very devastating fashion.
Cuadro Alas members:
Manny Pacquiao : ( record against 3 competitors 5 wins 1 loss 1 Draw 3KO )
Juan Manuel Marquez : ( record against 3 competitors 1 wins 1 loss 1 Draw 0KO )
Erik Morales : ( record against 3 competitors 2 wins 2 loss 0 Draw 0KO )
Marco Antonio Barrera : ( record against 3 competitors 2 wins 3 loss 0 Draw 0KO )
The weight division that all four were fighting at that time were Super-bantamweight, Featherweight and Super-featherweight.
All four were multi-weight Champions, the 3 Mexicans were 3 Division Champions, with Manny Pacquiao as the first 7 division Champion.
The Round Robin of the four started with the fantastic first fight between Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales and ends with another Seesaw battle of Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Of the four Manny Pacquiao emerged as the one with more wins and Barrera with the more losses.
Morales emerged to be the one who is most exciting with 2 Fights of the Year with Barrera (that could have been 3 if Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo did not fight on the same year with his war with Pacquiao)
You might be wondering why I pick him over Pacquiao, though Pacquiao overall is the most devastating and most exciting in his over all career compared to Morales, in this round robin Morales is the one who provides back and forth action with Pacquiao and Barrera. It’s a pity that he did not face Marquez or else it could have been another exciting fight between 2 counter punchers. Pacquiao fights are mostly one sided except with the Marquez fights.
The Fantastic 4 compose of 3 Americans with 1 Latino
Clearly, the 1980’s was indeed the golden age of American boxing with 3 American superstar and 1 Latino superpower opening way for the Latino Market to be considered as a major force in boxing.
The Cuadro Alas has 3 Latinos with 1 Asian.
This shows that boxing has more global appeal than the previous era with one fighter opening a way for Asians to be recognized worldwide.
Fighters of the Decade:
Fantastic 4: Sugar Ray Leonard ( record against 3 competitors 4 wins 1 loss 1 Draw 1KO )
With his resume of fighters in your record and defeating all of them in one Decade no doubt you should be recognize as the fighter of the decade for the 80’s.
Other than that he ducks no one!!
Cuadro Alas : Manny Pacquiao ( record against 3 competitors 5 wins 1 loss 1 Draw 3 KO )
Unlike Sugar Ray, Pacquiao did not become the fighter of the decade by just defeating the 3 Mexicans, but his escapade in the higher weight division combined with the weight hopping adventures in this decade made him the fighter of the decade.
Like Leonard he becomes a superstar who commands a bigger purse and the power to make other boxers give into his demands (with the exception of a boxer who declares himself best by talking instead of fighting the best)
Best fights of the Fantastic 4 ( The War: Marvin Hagler Vs. Thomas Hearns, The Showdown: Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns 1 and 2 and Sugar Ray Leonard Vs. Duran 1) Total: 4
Best Fights of the Cuadro Alas ( Marco Antonio Barrera Vs. Erik Morales 1 and 2, Manny Pacquiao vs. Eriks Morales 1,2 & 3, Manny Pacquiao Vs. Juan Manuel Marquez 1 & 2, Marco Antonio Barrera Vs. Juan Manuel Marquez) Total: 6
Controversial fights of the Fantastic 4: (Sugar Ray Leonard Vs. Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns Vs. Sugar Ray Leonard 2 ) Total: 2
Controversial fights of the Cuadro Alas : ( Marco Antonio Barrera Vs. Erik Morales 1 & 2, Manny Pacquiao Vs. Juan Manuel Marquez 1&2 ) Total: 4
Significance of the Fantastic 4:
The Fantastic 4 were fighting at the so called Golden Age of boxing with the emergence of Mike Tyson. The Fearsome Foursome are the only boxers that can Match Ali and Tyson’s popularity at that time.
All four fighters are definitely Top 30 all time Greats not just Hall Of Famers!
Significance of the Cuadro Alas:
Cuadro Alas are fighting in an Era were many boxing writers consider boxing Dead, with the emergence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and the retirement of Lennox Lewis which left us with no clear champion of the Heavyweight division (boxing’s glamour divison).
All four fighters are surefire first ballot Hall of Famers, though only Pacquiao can be considered an all time great.
Nevertheless, the impact of the eight fighters can never be discounted. While the Fantastic Four fought in the golden Era of boxing the Cuadro Alas fought in the golden era of featherweights. And Contrary to belief boxing is not dead in the Cuadro Alas Era as a matter of fact the four have provided us with nine memorable fights (Barrera – Morales 1,2,& 3) (Pacquiao – Morales 1,2 &3) (Marquez-Barrera) and (Pacquaio – Barrera 1 & 2)
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