Benitez, Duran, and Hearns went on to win ad-
ditional titles and to fight in other top bouts of the
decade. Benitez won the WBC junior middleweight
title in 1981 and defended it successfully against
Duran the following year, before losing it later in the
same year to Hearns. Duran won the WBA version of
the same title two years later, as well as the WBC mid-
dleweight title in 1989, and fought memorable los-
ing efforts against both Hagler (1983) and Hearns
(1984). Hearns also held titles in several weight
classes during the decade, in addition to engaging in
a historic losing effort against Hagler for the middle-
weight title in 1985, the first round of which is con-
sidered to be one of the most exciting rounds in the
history of the sport. Only Hagler among the fighters
mentioned here fought solely in his primary weight
class during the decade.
The great former featherweight and super feath-
erweight champion of the 1970’s, Alexis Arguello,
also moved up in class during the 1980’s, capturing
the WBC lightweight title in 1981. He then moved
up yet another weight class to challenge WBA junior
welterweight title-holder Aaron Pryor, losing twice
by knockout in epic struggles in 1982 and 1983. One
of the most promising young fighters of the era,
featherweight Salvador Sánchez, exploded onto the
boxing scene in 1980, winning the WBC feather-
weight title from Danny Lopez by a fourteenth-
round knockout. He then defended the title twice,
knocking out two of the top fighters in the division,
Wilfredo Gomez and Azumah Nelson, before dying
in a car crash in August of 1982. Other popular fight-
ers of the period included flashy boxer and ring per-
sonality Hector Camacho, who held titles in three
weight classes—junior lightweight, lightweight, and
junior welterweight—during the decade; light-
weight champions Ray Mancini and Edwin Rosario;
and Irish boxer Barry McGuigan, who held the WBA
featherweight title from 1985 to 1986.
Organizational Dimensions On the organizational
side of the sport, the 1980’s saw the arrival of two new
governing bodies, the International Boxing Federa-
tion (IBF) in 1983 and the World Boxing Organiza-
tion (WBO) in 1989. These served, along with the al-
ready existing World Boxing Council (WBC) and
the World Boxing Association (WBA), to bring the
total number of such organizations to four and to
further increase (and fragment) the titles of the vari-
ous weight divisions. On a more positive note, new
fight promoters—among them Bob Arum, Butch
Lewis, and Murad Muhammad—arose to challenge
to some degree the supremacy of Don King. Finally,
the deaths early in the decade of bantamweight
Johnny Owens (1980) and lightweight Duk Koo Kim
(1982) from injuries suffered in the ring led to new
rules protecting the safety of fighters, most notably
the shift from fifteen to twelve rounds as the length
for championship fights.Impact The continuing proliferation of governing
bodies in professional boxing served to create nu-
merous titles at each weight class, diluting in the pro-
cess the significance of each title. However, the fight-
ers who held these titles were generally of high
quality, and they fought each other quite often dur-
ing the decade, resulting in many exciting matches
to entertain existing fans and win new ones. Thus,
the 1980’s was a rich era in boxing history, particu-
larly in the lower weight divisions.Further Reading
Giudice, Christian.Hands of Stone: The Life and Leg-
end of Roberto Duran. Wrea Green, Lancashire, En-
gland: Milo Books, 2006. Biography of one of the
great fighters of the era, who fought the best in
five weight classes, including Leonard, Benitez,
Hearns, and Hagler.
Heller, Peter.Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Stor y.
New York: New American Library, 1989. Early bi-
ography of Tyson, chronicling his early life and
rise to dominance in the heavyweight division in
the 1980’s.
McIlvanney, Hugh.The Hardest Game: McIlvanney on
Boxing.Updated ed. New York: Contemporary
Books, 2001. Contains articles by boxing writer
McIlvanney on many of the great fights and fight-
ers of the decade.
Myler, Patrick.A Centur y of Boxing Greats: Inside the
Ring with the Hundred Best Boxers.London: Robson
Books, 1999. Contains short biographies and ring
records of most of the boxers mentioned.
Scott WrightSee also Holmes, Larry; Leonard, Sugar Ray;Rag-
ing Bull; Sports; Tyson, Mike.134 Boxing The Eighties in America