In April, Showtime Sports announced a four-part docuseries covering a golden era of boxing in the 1980s headlined by Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran, and Thomas Hearns. Known as “The Four Kings,” the fighters competed in nine championship bouts amongst each other.
Approximately two weeks before The Kings premieres on Showtime, the premium cable network has released a trailer and poster art for the docuseries which will air on four consecutive Sunday nights.
As the documentary chronicles, boxing was suffering from decreased interest following Muhammad Ali’s retirement. At the same time, the United States economy was going from recession at the end of Jimmy Carter’s presidency to a rebound while Ronald Reagan was in the White House. Boxing experienced a similar upturn with the emergence of four fighters, each from different backgrounds with compelling backstories.
Check out the trailer for The Kings:
https://youtu.be/_Smml9BovT0
For many longtime boxing fans, the “Four Kings” era is defined by the three fights between Leonard and Duran, the second of which lives in infamy because of Duran’s “No más” surrender in the eighth round.
But Hagler’s 1985 bout with Hearns is considered one of the best of the 1980s, The fight lasted only three rounds, but is remembered for the savage exchanges between the boxers. Two years later, Leonard and Hagler fought in match that ended in a controversial split decision, one that reportedly compelled Hagler to quit boxing.
As mentioned, Showtime also released poster art for the series. Much of it can be seen in the trailer, but here is the image in full:
THE KINGS is produced by Box To Box Film in association with Ingenious Media. The series is executive produced by James Gay-Rees (Amy, Senna, Drive To Survive) and Paul Martin (Diego Maradona, Drive To Survive), produced by Fiona Neilson (Oasis: Supersonic, Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams) and directed by Mat Whitecross (Oasis: Supersonic, Road To Guantanamo, Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams).
Executive producers James Gay-Rees (Amy, Senna) and Paul Martin (Diego Maradona) have impressive documentaries on their respective resumes and also collaborated on Netflix’s Formula 1 docuseries, Drive to Survive. Director Mat Whitecross also has plenty of experience with documentaries with Oasis: Supersonic, The Road to Guantanamo, and Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams on his filmography.
The Kings premieres Sunday, June 6 at 8 p.m. ET on Showtime and will also be available across the premium cable channel’s streaming platforms and on-demand. Subsequent episodes will air in each of the following three weeks.
About Ian Casselberry
Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.