"On this day in 1988" Iran "The Blade" Barkley knocked Thomas Hearns silly out of the blue while scoring the "Upset of the Year" and winning the WBC middleweight title with a 3rd round TKO at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hearns had already won world titles in four divisions coming into the Barkley fight. Losses to "Sugar" Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler hurt, but they were understandable. Plus he recovered to win titles at middleweight and, impressively, light heavyweight.

1M views · 10K reactions | The upset of the year! #OTD in 1988, Iran Barkley stunned Thomas Hearns. | Top Rank Boxing | Facebook

123K views · 1.5K reactions | James Toney DOMINATED Iran Barkley in their Super Middleweight title fight  | Top Rank Boxing | Facebook

Iran Barkley made a statement with this debut 🚀 | Top Rank Boxing: The Vault

Iran Barkley STUNNED Thomas Hearns 🤯 | Top Rank Boxing: The Vault

They didn't call him "The Blade" for nothing ⚔️ Happy birthday to the legendary Iran Barkley 🎂 | Top Rank Boxing

128K views · 956 reactions | Thomas Hearns vs. Iran Barkley, billed...

2.6M views · 26K reactions | #OTD in 1989, Roberto Duran & Iran Barkley gave us the FOTY  Duran edged Barkley via SD for the WBC Middleweight title. | Top Rank Boxing | Facebook

One of the fights everyone should watch. Iran Barkley vs. Roberto Durán, billed as Steel vs. Stone was a professional boxing match contested on February 24, 1989, for the WBC middleweight title. The now-37-year old Durán, who had not had a title fight since being knocked out inside of two rounds by Thomas Hearns in 1984 and had fought mostly unknowns since returning to boxing in 1986, was thought to be washed up and came into the fight as underdog. Durán’s last title win had come against Barkley