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Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas “Hitman” Hearns and Roberto Durán collide within the four-part documentary “The Kings” on Showtime.
WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews ‘The Kings’ with Teddy Atlas (Half 1)
After the decline of heavyweights like Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman, 4 middleweights strapped the game of boxing onto their backs for a golden age within the Eighties.
Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas “Hitman” Hearns and Roberto Durán collide within the four-part documentary “The Kings” this Sunday on Showtime.
“It’s a tremendous period,” Director Matt Whitecross instructed WTOP. “Any one among them you possibly can make a 10-part miniseries about, however I like the way in which they complemented one another. They fought one another 9 instances and every of them got here out on prime, every of them drew, every of them had their ups and downs. That’s what makes it so compelling.”
“It was bragging rights,” Corridor of Fame Coach Teddy Atlas instructed WTOP. “It was extra than simply the cash. It was bragging rights. It was satisfaction. It was about being the most effective.”
The collection reveals Leonard’s function because the poster little one and golden boy.
“He was thought-about by lots of people unjustly as being white collar, center class or faux,” Whitecross mentioned. “This concept that as a result of he was stunning and charismatic that he was someway tacky or wasn’t an actual boxer with actual grit. You solely have to take a look at the endings of these fights … he has this interior metal that’s unbelievable.”
“He would wrap himself round you and say, ‘I’m going into the hearth,’ and he at all times believed he’d get out, and he often did,” Atlas mentioned. “He had each little bit of that bulldog, each little bit of that ferociousness, and just a little further. Yeah, he was the golden boy, however he got here from nothing. … With all that expertise, all that means, the man was a rattling fighter.”
Hagler was the alternative, carrying his lunch pail and never getting his due.
“Hagler felt shortchanged by life,” Whitecross mentioned. “He didn’t have the glamour or glitz of Leonard. … He had his first combat for $40 contrasted with Leonard’s $40,000. … Hagler at all times had that chip on his shoulder and it carried him to that remaining combat, which is so devastating. It got here all the way down to a choose’s choice, one of the controversial in historical past.”
“When he fought Sugar Ray Leonard, he tried too onerous,” Atlas mentioned. “One of many biggest southpaws of all time — and he comes out orthodox. Why? As a result of he felt for all these years, he didn’t get his due. … He was tying his fingers behind his again saying to the world, ‘You didn’t respect me sufficient, I’m gonna beat your golden boy orthodox.’”
Hagler’s most iconic opponent was Hearns because of their wild three-round fight in 1981.
“He was Mr. Detroit, who appeared to represent some hope, renaissance and rebirth,” Whitecross mentioned. “His ferocious look, his dimension … you shouldn’t be that tall, that agile with that attain and be a lighter weight. It appears not possible. … He developed this devastating proper punch taught to him by Emanuel Steward, his coach.”
“Punchers aren’t taught; punchers are born,” Atlas mentioned. “It’s not at all times the large muscle guys which might be the large punchers, it’s the wiry, skinny guys, they get leverage. … The primary proper hand [against Hagler] — bang! The world stood nonetheless. The granite-chinned Hagler, there was a break up second of a shudder, nevertheless it was gone, he walked proper by.”
Final however not least, we see Durán rise to glory, fall with “no más,” then rise once more.
“He was the Panamanian image, actually, the entire of Latin America,” Whitecross mentioned. “Duran is a power of nature. He appeared to have a drive and vitality, which got here from the streets. … I bear in mind him saying, ‘You’ll be able to’t grow to be a boxing legend except you grew up poor.’ … He was ferocious … however once you meet him now, he’s hilarious.”
“He comes from the streets of Panama, pure poverty, combating for cash,” Atlas mentioned. “He obtained every part that he had craved for, possibly an excessive amount of, as a result of it’s rattling onerous to rise up at 5 within the morning once you’re sleeping in silk sheets. … He does, ‘No más,’ … loses that starvation, goes by years of exile, comes again [and] redeems himself.”
These private tales are successfully intercut with world occasions on the time.
“I grew up within the ’80s and I bear in mind politically a variety of issues which have resonance now,” Whitecross mentioned. “You had Reagan coming in and there are specific connections between his type of campaigning, his populism and the way in which that Trump linked with individuals.”
Extra than simply political parallels, the collection will get to the center of the combating spirit.
“We additionally wish to take a look at the larger image,” Whitecross mentioned. “Why do individuals field? What’s the importance of all this in what was occurring culturally, socially, politically within the background? These guys have been symbols for that period.”
WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews ‘The Kings’ with Mat Whitecross (Half 2)
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