You might know the story. Thomas Hearns was "well ahead" of Sugar Ray Leonard, when Leonard came back to score a TKO in the 14th round to win their welterweight unification in 1981. That was way back when only 2 santioning bodies had recognized world titles. The WBA, and the WBC. Most people had Hearns ahead in the fight by decent margins going into the 14th round. After the fight was over Don Dunphy briefly protested the stoppage, and said that Hearns was way ahead. The judges had Hearns up by margins of 4, 3, and 2 points.
There was also a strong minority that saw the fight the other way. If you watch the HBO broadcast they describe the fight as being a close fight in the 12th round, and that's the round before Leonard scored his knockdown. I read an article from Sports Illustrated written just after the fight which the author, Pat Putman thought that Leonard was ahead. He criticized the judges scoring, criticizing them for giving Leonard the same 1 point edges in the 6th, and 7th that they gave Hearns in the first two rounds, in which neither was landing much. The commentator for the British broadcast of the fight also thought the Leonard was ahead. So let's dig into the scoring controversy.
The big controversy from the fight's scoring is that none of the judges gave Leonard a two point round in either the 6th, or the 7th round. I gave Leonard a 2 point edge in the 7th because he dominated Hearns from beginnng to end in that round. The 6th is a tougher argument for a 2 point round since Hearns was doing okay before he was clocked with a little more than a minute left. The 10 point must scoring is far from perfect, and lack of decimal points leaves you with less scoring options. No way that Hearns should've had the same 2 point edge in the first couple rounds that Ray got for the 6th, and 7th combined. Imagine if the fight wasn't stopped, and Leonard dominated the 14th, and 15th without getting a two point round in either. Hearns would've won a majority decision, and people would've lost their minds. The scoring controversy would've been even greater, but considering what little Hearns had left in the 14th, he was going to the canvas if the ref didn't stop it
If you look at the fight as a whole it's obvious to me that Ray got the better of Tommy. He won the big rounds. He had him hurt bad in the 6th, and 7th, knocked Hearns down in the 13th, finished him off in the 14th. Hearns didn't have any rounds in which he was that dominant. Despite his punching power, the most that Hearns appeared to have Leonard hurt was when he caused him to slightly buckle in the 12th. Still you don't score boxing by looking at the whole fight. It is scored on a round by round basis, and despite the fact that Ray clearly hurt Hearns more over the course of the fight, Hearns won more rounds. Some give him all of the first five rounds, and out of those 5 Leonard's best case for winning a round was the 3rd. Outside of the 4th where Hearns punished Leonard at the end of the round, he wasn't winning the rounds by much, but he was winning them. Leonard came on big in the 6th, and 7th, and though his momentum slowed he the 8th, he did enough to clearly win the round in my book. Rounds 9-12 saw Hearns regain his footing. Outside of Leonard hurting Hearns late in the 10th. Hearns was getting the better of Ray. If you give Hearns the first five rounds, and then round 9-12, it's tough to argue that he wasn't ahead by a good distance.
I had once scored the fight and had Hearns up 124-121 going into the 14th. I gave Hearns the first five rounds, then gave Leonard rounds 6-8, with 7 being a two point round, gave Hearns 9-12, and Leonard 13, and 14, with a two point round for knockdown round in the 13th. After thinking about it I switched around my scoring of the 3rd round, and gave it to Leonard, because Leonard landed the cleaner, harder punches. That would change the score to 123-122 Hearns, and with Leonard dominating the 14th then the idea of Hearns being way ahead is out of the question based on how I scored it. You could also make the argument for the 6th being a two point round, and possibly the 13th being a 3 point round. Even with the original 3 point margin Hearns wouldn't have had it wrapped up if he stayed up. Leonard could've easily been on his way to, at least, a two point in the 14th, and who knows how bad the 15th could've been had Hearns got there.
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