Boxing in the 1980s

In the 1980s, boxing was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport. Boxing in the 1980s was shaped by many different situations, such as the continous, corporate battles between the different world sanctioning organizations, the void left by Muhammad Ali as the sport's ambassador and consequent search for a new boxing hero, the continous presence of Don King as the sport's most famous promoter and the surge of rival promoters as Bob Arum, Butch Lewis and Murad Muhammad. In 1986, Mike Tyson crowned himself world Heavyweight champion, and he was considered by many to be the savior of the Heavyweight division, which had seen a decline in champion quality level (particularly in the WBA side) after Ali's retirement and, later on, after longtime WBC ruler Larry Holmes' prime.

Another important aspect of boxing in the 1980s was the rivalty between five world champions: Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard. Of all the possible match-ups between these five, Benitez-Hagler was the only one that never happened. The circle of fights between these five gladiators actually began on November 30, 1979, when Leonard beat Benitez by knockout in round fifteen to win the WBC world Welterweight title, on the same night Hagler drew (tied) with Vito Antuofermo in his first bid to become the world's Middleweight champion.

1980

• February 2- Salvador Sánchez becomes WBC world Featherweight champion with a fourteenth round knockout victory over Danny Lopez in Las Vegas
• June 20- Roberto Duran conquers the WBC world Welterweight title defeating Sugar Ray Leonard by unanimous decision over fifteen rounds in Toronto, Canada.
• August 2- Thomas Hearns becomes WBA world Welterweight champion, knocking out Jose Cuevas in two rounds in Detroit. In that same undercard, Samuel Serrano loses his WBA world Jr. Lightweight crown to Yasustsune Uehara, by knockout in round six.
• September 27- Marvin Hagler becomes world Middleweight champion, knocking out Alan Minter in three rounds in London, England. The boxers then have to be protected by Scotland Yard police from rioting Minter fans.
• October 2- Larry Holmes retains his WBC world Heavyweight crown with an eleventh round technical knockout over Muhammad Ali. This fight is seen by many as one of the most despicable events in the history of the sport: Ali had been in a hospital for treatment for a good portion of the months before the fight, and it has been alleged that Don King made him fight for Ali to pay King the hospital bills King had gotten from Ali's stay at the hospital.
• November 25- The no Mas Fight, Sugar Ray Leonard regains his WBC world Welterweight title with an eighth round knockout of Roberto Duran, who quit inexplicably, leading to many rumors.

1981

• March 28- Santos Laciar becomes world Flyweight champion for the first time, defeating Peter Mathebula by knockout in round seven to win the WBA title, in Soweto, South Africa.
• May 23- Wilfred Benitez becomes the first hispanic and Puerto Rican to be a three time world champion, as well as the fifth boxer to do it and the first one to do it since Henry Armstrong four decades before, when he defeats Maurice Hope by knockout in round twelve to win the WBC's world Jr. Middleweight title in Las Vegas
• June 20- Alexis Arguello becomes the sixth three time world champion in boxing history when he defeats Jim Watt by decision in fifteen rounds to win the WBC world Lightweight title in London, England.
• June 25- Sugar Ray Leonard conquers the WBA world Jr. Middleweight title with a ninth round knockout of Ayub Kalule in Houston.
• August 21- The Battle of the Little Giants, Salvador Sánchez defeats Wilfredo Gómez to retain his WBC world Featherweight title in las Vegas.
• September 16- A much anticipated bout takes place, and Sugar Ray Leonard unifies his WBC world Welterweight title with the WBA one by knocking out the WBA's champion Thomas Hearns in round fourteen at Las Vegas.
• December 3- Joe Frazier's last fight: He draws after ten rounds with Jumbo Cummings in Chicago.
• December 11- Muhammad Ali's last fight: He loses a ten round decision to future world Heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick in Nassau, Bahamas.

1982

• January 24- Eusebio Pedroza retains his WBA world Featherweight title with a fifteen round unanimous decision over Juan Laporte in Atlantic City. The fight proves controversial: many observers thought they had seen Pedroza commit a large amount of infractions which, in their opinion, could have led to points deductions or disqualification.
• January 30- Wilfred Benitez retains his WBC world Jr. Middleweight title with a fifteen round decision over Roberto Duran in Las Vegas.
• June 11- After one of the most racially charged fight promotions in history, Larry Holmes retains his WBC world Heavyweight title with a thirteen round knockout over the fighter dubbed as the White Hope, Gerry Cooney, in Las Vegas.
• July 21- Salvador Sánchez retains his WBC world Featherweight title owith a fifteen round knockout over Azumah Nelson in New York. It would be Sánchez's last fight.
• August 12- Salvador Sánchez killed in a car accident in Mexico City, Mexico.
• November 9- Sugar Ray Leonard announces the second of multiple retirements in Baltimore. (Leonard's first retirement came after the 1976 Olympic Games).
• November 12- The Battle of The Champions, Aaron Pryor retains his WBA world Jr. Welterweight title with a fourteen round knockout of Alexis Arguello, who was attempting to become boxing's first four division world champion, in Miami.
• November 13- Tragedy in the ring: Ray Mancini retains his WBA world Lightweight title by knockout in round fourteen in Las Vegas over Duk Koo Kim, who passes away five days later, leading to the instituting of twelve rounds at the most as the mandatory fight distance soon after.
• November 26- Larry Holmes retains his WBC world Heavyweight title with a fifteen round unanimous decision over Randall Tex Cobb, fight after which Howard Cosell quits as a boxing commentator, disgusted by what he described as mismatches.
• December 3- the Carnival of Champions: Wilfredo Gómez retains his WBC world Super Bantamweight championship with a fourteen round knockout over Lupe Pintor and Thomas Hearns becomes the WBC's world Jr. Middleweight champion with a fifteen round majority decision over Wilfred Benitez.

1983

• January 31- In the first world title fight scheduled for twelve rounds instead of fifteen in various decades, Rafael Orono retains his WBC world Jr. Bantamweight championship with a four round knockout over Pedro Romero in Caracas, Venezuela.
• March- the IBF surges, becoming boxing's third world sanctioning body.
• March 18- Michael Spinks unifies his WBA world Light Heavyweight title with the WBC one, defeating the WBC's world champion, Dwight Muhammad Qaqi, by a unanimous decision in fifteen rounds at Atlantic City.
• May 1- Edwin Rosario becomes world champion for the first time, winning the WBC world Lightweight title that had been vacated by Alexis Arguello, with a twelve round unanimous decision over Jose Luis Ramirez in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• June 16- On his 32nd. birthday, Roberto Duran becomes the seventh fighter in history to be a three division world champion, knocking out WBA Jr. Middleweight champion Davey Moore in eight rounds at New York.
• August 7- Héctor Camacho wins his first of several world titles, knocking out Rafael Limon in five rounds to win the vacant WBC Jr. Lightweight title in San Juan.
• September 1- Tragedy strikes again: Alberto Davila wins the vacant WBC world Bantamweight championship with a twelve round knockout over Kiko Bejines, who dies three days later.
• September 9- Aaron Pryor retains his WBA world Jr. Welterweight title with a tenth round knckout over Alexis Arguello, who once again was attempting to become the first man to win world titles in four different divisions, in Las Vegas. Both men announce their retirements after their rematch.
• September 23- Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa becomes the first African world Heavyweight champion in history, and the first White man to win the world Heavyweight title in twenty years, when he defeats Michael Dokes for the WBA championship with a ten round knockout in Akron.
• November 10- Marvin Hagler retains his world Middleweight title with a fifteen round unanimous decision over Roberto Duran in Las Vegas. Duran was also attempting to become the first four division world champion in history.
• December- Larry Holmes vacates the WBC world Heavyweight championship and becomes one of the first champions recognized by the newly created IBF.