Boxing
First Boxer In History To Ever Win World Titles In Five Weight Divisions
There’s only three quintuple world champions in the history of boxing, but which legendary boxer became the first to do it?
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Joining this illustrious list emblazons a boxer’s name into the history books forever after. So, it’s even more extraordinary when a boxer becomes a four or five weight world champion. Known as a quintuple champion, there’s only been three boxers in history to achieve such an outstanding feat.
Read on to discover who the trio are and who realised it first.
Thomas Hearns
It was five decades ago in 1988, when Thomas “Hitman” Hearns made history as boxing’s first-ever five-weight world champion.
His career spanned almost 30 years from 1977 to 2006. It was his lofty, slender frame that allowed him to compete across so many different divisions for so long.
At 6’ 1”, very lean and tall, Hearns was able to fight at six different weights from welterweight to cruiserweight.
Born in Tennessee, Hearns was moved to Detroit at the age of five, where he soon begun boxing at the age of 10 in the King Solomon Gym.
He later joined Emanuel Steward’s Kronk Gym where he achieved an amateur record of 155-8 and was named 1977’s Most Outstanding National Amateur Boxer in America. This was due to winning both the National Amateur Athletic Union championship and the National Golden Gloves at super-lightweight. It was this same year that he decided to turn pro and racked up 17 straight KOs within just 16 months time.
The local hero became known as the “Motor City Cobra” and put Detroit on the map when he won his first world title in 1980. He retired as a record-breaker, boxing legend, and Hall of Famer with a record of 61-5-1, 48KOs.
How Thomas Hearns Won His Five-Weight World Titles
Thomas Hearns
| Date | Opponent | Result | Title |
| 04/11/1988 | James Kinchen | MD 12 | WBO Super-Middleweight |
| 29/10/1987 | Juan Roldan | KO 4 | WBC Middleweight |
| 07/03/1987 | Dennis Andries | TKO 10 | WBC Light-Heavyweight |
| 03/12/1983 | Wilfred Benitez | MD 15 | WBC Super-Welterweight |
| 02/08/1980 | Jose Cuevas | TKO 2 | WBA Welterweight |
Thomas Hearns vs Jose Cuevas
At the age of 22, a young Thomas Hearns achieved his dream by winning his first world title when he stooped Jose “Pipino” Cuevas in two rounds in his home city, Detroit, on August 2, 1980, just 33 months on from his pro bow.
It was Cuevas who landed the first significant punch in the fight when he launched a looping left hook on Hearns, who then snapped into action to begin loading up with his big right hand.
A one-two from Hearns made the Mexican stumble, so the rangier fighter kept up the pressure, trapping Cuevas on the ropes where he landed 15 unanswered punches. After escaping, Cuevas took another big right and the commentator questioned how many more could he take.
Hearns kept jabbing from distance and Cuevas was unwilling to engage after a torrid start, so the Hitman finished the first round with two big right crosses.
Hearns’ flashy, sharp jab couldn’t miss, and the pair engaged in a shootout in the second round. The Cobra spent about 15 seconds just pawing out his jab looking to line up a big right hand, which he did to drop Cuevas, who became his 27th knockout casualty in 29 fights.
Thomas Hearns vs Wilfred Benitez
In his 37th fight, after losing his WBA welterweight world title in his fourth defence to Sugar Ray Leonard, Hearns moved up to challenge for the WBC super-welterweight belt on December 3, 1982, in New Orleans.
He was up against the youngest ever world champion in boxing, Wilfred Benitez, who became a world champion at just 17.
Hearns begun on the frontfoot, but was struggling to land on the quick, evasive American-born Puerto Rican, until round two when he was able to corner his man several times.
In the third, both boxers were trying to counter the other, but were matched on speed. Hearns received a point deduction right at the end of the round for hitting on the back of the head.
In the fifth, they shared the centre of the ring until a right hand, that was so fast you couldn’t even see it, made Benitez’s legs wobble and both gloves touch the canvas for a split-second, so it was ruled a knockdown.
The middle rounds saw the defending champion caught on the ropes copiously, but was still countering back. Another big right knocked Benitez flying back in the sixth, but the ropes held him up and helped him out as the bell sounded.
Benitez was successful with his right cross in the seventh and eighth rounds, as he started to get into his stride, and begun to get the better of their exchanges, even forcing Hearns backwards.
In the ninth, Hearns was grazed with a left hand that made him lose his balance, falling halfway across the ring for a knockdown. It looked like a slip at first, but Hearns didn’t protest the count and looked disappointed in himself.
In the championship rounds, they exchanged furiously, each man having their own success. Hearns’ pace and potency had dwindled, which allowed Benitez back into the bout, who forced the action down the stretch.
Benitez did well to get a foothold in the fight, but it was not enough to overturn the earlier deficit, losing 146-137, 144-139, 142-142 on the scorecards.
He took the champion’s WBC belt as well as the vacant Ring super-welterweight title.
Thomas Hearns vs Dennis Andries
Having failed to capture the middleweight titles from Marvin Hagler in their 1985 super-fight, Hearns surprisingly jumped up three weight classes to challenge WBC World light-heavyweight champion, Dennis Andries, from England, on March 7, 1987.
Even with the huge leap up in divisions, Hearns still stood taller than the light-heavyweight champion, also sporting a 6” reach advantage.
The Londoner took the fight to Hearns by throwing windmills and loading up on his shots, looking to get him out early, but was caught with a couple of trademark rights in return.
In the second stanza, Andries was caught off-balance so Hearns landed a huge counter right that had him wobbling around for the rest of the round, of which Hearns ended with a cut.
Andries tried roughing up Hearns in the third, but kept getting caught by the quick, counter right cross. In the fourth, they exchanged evenly, despite it looking scrappy at times.
Hearns took the centre of the ring in the sixth, where he confidently slipped a jab to his right side and landed a huge counter right to floor Andries heavily. It was a stunning knockdown. A scrappy exchange saw Andries go down another two times, but remarkably he stayed in the fight by holding on for dear life to somehow get through the round. Hearns was overeager and wrestled him to the ground twice more, but not as knockdowns. Hearns must have been in disbelief at his opponent’s bravery and survival skills.
Andries valiantly took the fight to Hearns in the seventh after being seconds from being stopped in the sixth. Hearns appeared to still be getting his breath back after unloading the tank to no avail earlier.
Andries took some big shots in the ninth, then slipped to the canvas. After missing wildly with a left hook, Hearns took advantage of the opening and leaped into another huge right to floor the Brit yet again.
In the 10th, Hearns looked like he was knocked down by Andries, but was ruled a slip, then Andries slipped over himself only for the referee to issue a count, then a slight wobble in the legs caused him to mercilessly end the one-sided beatdown.
Hearns became a triple word champion but in the rarest of ways with belts at welter, super-welter and light-heavyweight.
Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler’s April 1985 middleweight title fight, lasting just three rounds, is hailed as one of boxing's greatest. The bout was a ferocious shootout, ending at 1:52 of round three when Hearns could no longer continue.
Thomas Hearns vs Juan Roldan
In his very next fight, on October 29, 1987, Hearns dropped 15lbs to come back down to middleweight, where he had tried to win a world title before, but was denied by Mavin Hagler.
The aggressive Argentine, Juan Roldan came flying forward on the opening bell, forcing Hearns to back up and pivot away to his left. But just a few seconds later, a trademark right hand downed the determined Roldan, who instantly came ploughing forward after getting back up again.
The commentators likened the fight to Hagler-Hearns, as the pair engaged in a frenzied firefight for the opening round, which Hearns clearly won when another knockdown was scored exactly on the bell.
Roldan continued swinging wildly in the second segment, but then a short, counter left hook dropped him again in the first 30 seconds. Roldan was just looking to brawl only and had no interest in protecting himself, desperately trying to land one big left or right hook up close.
Roldan was relentless in the third, causing Hearns to hold excessively, but was able to land the most punches in this round, against the run of play.
In the fourth, Hearns got caught with a huge left hook in the corner, but somehow managed to stay standing, albeit on jelly legs. Somehow, the “Hitman” managed to steady himself to land a damaging right hand back on Roldan to send him wobbling. Then two right hands on Roldan decked him so heavily, he made no attempt to get back up, face down and motionless on the canvas.
Collecting the green and gold WBC middleweight title meant he had become a four-weight world champion.
Thomas Hearns vs James Kinchen
Almost 11 years after his pro debut, Hearns was challenging for his fifth divisional world title. Having lost his middleweight championship to Iran Barkley in June 1998, Hearns jumped up to challenge for the inaugural WBO super-middleweight championship against James Kinchen, from San Diego.
Hearns was quick on his jab to begin the bout, taking a big right hook early on, but it was the Hitman who was landing his signature right hand successfully.
Hearns’ left hand was too quick for Kinchen, but was soon warned for a low blow. Hearns was shooting out his straight shots from range to keep the powerful Kinchen away, who constantly applied pressure, which is why he was nicknamed “The Heat”.
Kinchen was successful with his left and right hooks in the third round, but was also warned for low blows.
There was drama in the fourth when a right-left hook combination from Kinchen landed flush, after backing Hearns into the corner, which saw him drop to the canvas, then was forced to hold on for the remainder of the round.
In the fifth, Hearns was bouncing on his toes, landing clean shots from range, still battling to keep the powerful puncher off him, who pressured constantly. Hearns was able to rip in several big left hooks to the ribcage in the sixth, but ended the round covering up wearily.
It was cat and mouse, with Kinchen trying to hunt down Hearns, who skipped away and flicked out jabs and straight rights from a distance.
In the eighth, Hearns looked tired when he stood still to absorb shots, but fired back with some big left hooks to stun Kinchen.
Hearns landed two big straight rights in the ninth, then a huge left hook to the head in the 10th.
Kinchen scored a good left hook in the 11th but failed to capitalise on it.
In the 12th and final round, Hearns rocked Kinchen’s head back with a flush straight right, but then when another powerful punch snapped his head back, he raged forward to land three big blows on Hearns.
The scores were 115-112-, 114-112, and an even 114-114 to the award the win to Hearns, which was met with a mixture of cheers and boos from the crowd, which marred the incredible achievement somewhat. Kinchen, along with half the spectators, thought he had won the fight.
It was a close contest, but he retained the titles with a draw against Sugar Ray Leonard and a win against Michael Olajide, then he won another world title at light-heavyweight in 1991!
Remarkably, Hearns also won two world titles at cruiserweight, but both the WBU and IBO aren’t recognised officially, so is unable to claim to be a legitimate six-weight world champion.
When Thomas Hearns won his fifth-weight world championship on November 4, 1988, he made history as the World Boxing Organisation’s first-ever world champion in its history, after the newest governing body only formed earlier that same year.
Other Quintuple Champions
Sugar Ray Leonard – Amazingly, Sugar Ray Leonard became the next five-weight world champion just three days after Hearns did it!
Oscar De La Hoya – Not only did Oscar De Le Hoya become a five-weight word champion, he went one better to become a sextuple champion.
Floyd Mayweather – Mayweather Jr. won 15 world titles across five divisions, defeating 23 world champions during his lucrative career.
Manny Pacquiao – The Pac-Man stands out the most on this list as he ended his career as an eight-world champion and is the only boxer in history to ever achieve this feat.
Tim has over 27 years experience within the sports industry, working for football clubs Arsenal FC and Millwall FC, and boxing news websites British Boxing News, Boxing Social and Global Boxing News. His boxing articles have been published in Boxing News Magazine, national newspapers, plus many other major news outlets.