Editing Sugar Ray Leonard (section)

===The Showdown===
{{main|Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns}}
Promoted as "[[Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns|The Showdown]]", Leonard fought [[Thomas Hearns]] on September 16, 1981, at [[Caesars Palace]] in Las Vegas to unify the World Welterweight Championship in a scheduled fifteen-rounder. They fought before a live crowd of 23,618. Hearns was paid $5.1 million, and Leonard made over $11 million. The fight grossed over $35 million. The live gate was $5.9 million, and the revenue from pay-per-view was $7.5 million.

Hearns, 32–0 with 30 knockouts, won the [[World Boxing Association|WBA]] Welterweight Championship in 1980, scoring a second-round knockout of [[José Cuevas (boxer)|José "Pipino" Cuevas]] in Detroit, Michigan. He made three successful title defenses, stopping Luis Primera, Randy Shields, and Pablo Baez.

The fight began as expected Leonard boxing from a distance and Hearns's stalking. Leonard had difficulty with Hearns' long reach and sharp jab. By the end of round five, Leonard had a growing swelling under his left eye, and Hearns had built a considerable lead on the scorecards. Leonard, becoming more aggressive, hurt Hearns in the sixth with a left hook to the chin. Leonard battered Hearns in rounds six and seven, but Hearns regrouped. Hearns started to stick and move, and he started to pile up points again. The roles reversed: Leonard became the stalker and Hearns became the boxer. The fight billed as a classic showdown between a powerful knockout artist and the best boxer/puncher the welterweight division had seen in decades devolved into a slow, tactical fight.

Hearns won rounds nine through twelve on all three scorecards. Between rounds twelve and thirteen, Angelo Dundee told Leonard, "You're blowing it, son! You're blowing it!".

Leonard, with a badly swollen left eye, came out roaring for the thirteenth round. After hurting Hearns with a right, Leonard exploded with a combination of punches. Hearns' legs were clearly gone and after more pressure from Leonard he was bundled through the ropes, no knockdown was given as it wasn't a punch that sent him there. Hearns managed to rise but was dropped by a flurry of hard punches near the end of the round.

In round fourteen, after staggering Hearns with an overhand right, Leonard pinned Hearns against the ropes, where he unleashed another furious combination, prompting referee Davey Pearl to stop the contest and award Sugar Ray Leonard the Unified World Welterweight Championship. Hearns was leading by scores of 124–122, 125–122, and 125–121.

After the fight, there was controversy due to the scoring of rounds six and seven. Even though Leonard dominated, hurting Hearns and battering him, all three judges gave both rounds to Leonard by a 10–9 margin. Many felt that the [[10-point must system|ten-point must scoring system]] was not properly used and those rounds should have been scored 10–8.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Pat |last=Putnam |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1981/09/28/on-top-of-the-world-on-a-hot-summer-desert-night-sugar-ray-leonard-punched-thomas-hearnss-lights-out-and-became-the-undisputed-welterweight-champion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903224550/https://vault.si.com/vault/1981/09/28/on-top-of-the-world-on-a-hot-summer-desert-night-sugar-ray-leonard-punched-thomas-hearnss-lights-out-and-became-the-undisputed-welterweight-champion |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 3, 2021 |title=On Top of the World |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=September 28, 1981 |access-date=December 7, 2021}}</ref> Some also considered the stoppage premature. Veteran ringside commentator [[Don Dunphy]] said "They're stopping the fight. I don't believe it. Hearns was ahead on points." However, [[Emanuel Steward]], Hearns' manager and trainer, said, "I felt that the referee was justified in stopping the fight ... Tommy did not have enough energy to make it through the fight."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4_LR7s-Ui4 |publisher=Showtime |title=The 12 Greatest Rounds of Boxing: The Untold Stories |date=August 14, 2010 |via=youtube.com}}</ref>

The fight was named "[[Ring Magazine fights of the year|Fight of the Year]]" by ''[[The Ring (magazine)|The Ring]]''. Leonard was named "[[Ring Magazine fighters of the year|Fighter of the Year]]" by ''The Ring'' and [[Edward J. Neil Trophy|The Boxing Writers Association of America]]. He was also named "Athlete of the Year" by [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s ''[[Wide World of Sports (American TV series)|Wide World of Sports]]'' and "[[Sportsman of the Year]]" by ''[[Sports Illustrated]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=I4QgAAAAIBAJ&pg=3984,2826385|title=ABC honors Leonard |work=Herald-Journal |date=January 16, 1982 |via=news.google.com |access-date=November 4, 2011}}</ref>