Also, punches change people.

Barkley could have easily been swallowed up by the grim reality of growing up in the Bronx as a teen during the 1970s, but at 13 his older sister guided him toward the swinging bags and musty aroma of a boxing gym. Within a decade, he’d earned a spot on the 1984 U.S. Olympic boxing team and several amateur titles.

The U.S. team went on to have one of its most successful showings at the Olympics in ‘84, and it was without Barkley, who chose to turn professional at 22 when his daughter was born. Promotional outfit Top Rank signed the young, promising fighter to a contract that would feature him on cards in Atlantic City, New Jersey, not far from home, where he was pals with fellow New York upstarts Davey Moore and Mitch “Blood” Green.

The Ring covered Barkley’s ascent from his later amateur days and into his pro career. Then-columnist Nigel Collins was in attendance when “The Blade” Barkley fought on the undercard of Moore’s title defense against Gary Guiden. Barkley, who earned his nickname cutting Moore in sparring, rose from being leveled early in the first round to getting a stoppage late in the same round. It was only his third pro bout, but a perfect representation of how he fought.

Just about anyone with an eye for boxing knew Barkley’s style of fighting, which was to club opponents into submission, probably wouldn’t last long. Trainer Gil Clancy once said of Barkley: “I never saw a fighter achieve so much with so little.”

Despite being an entertaining brawler with a tendency to blurt out hilarious malapropisms, Barkley could be outmaneuvered in the ring, and he was tough, but not tough enough to avoid being stopped by Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s half-brother Robbie Sims in just his ninth pro fight. Shortly thereafter, Top Rank released Barkley and the struggling contender rehabbed his career at the popular Felt Forum, the former name of New York’s Madison Square Garden Theater.

Eventually an opportunity arrived to fight for the vacant WBA middleweight title stripped from Hagler when he chose to face Sugar Ray Leonard. Unfortunately for Barkley, the chance also involved opponent Sumbu Kalambay, a tricky and highly skilled operator from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who has been underappreciated through the decades.

Barkley did better than many expected in losing a decision to Kalambay, and when he got off the deck again to defeat contender Michael Olajide a few months later, it put him in line for the chance he’d been asking for, against Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns.

Author George Kimball’s term for Hearns, Hagler, Leonard and Roberto Durán, “The Four Kings,” is so effective and widely used that even brief association with the group ultimately proves to be a boon to a given fighter. It was no coincidence that all four were prized prospects on their way up, especially Hearns.

Hearns, the fighter perhaps most associated with Detroit boxing, was actually born in Tennessee. He moved to Detroit as a young child, though, and he grew up in “The Motor City,” navigating its tough boxing scene as an amateur. By his mid-teens, Hearns was making it to the finals of most big tournaments before he captured national Golden Gloves and Amateur Athletic Union titles.

The kind of devastating puncher Hearns turned into masked his amateur style, which was that of a lanky, jab-heavy boxer. He was as skilled as anyone and usually much faster with his hands than everyone. Early in his pro career, he began understanding his own potential and scoring frightening stoppages. Hearns became a local Detroit hero, if not something akin to an urban legend. It was said he could leave his car unlocked and travel freely about the city, because he was just that good.

Hearns built up his pro career under the tutelage of trainer and manager Emanuel Steward, leader of Detroit’s Kronk Gym. He won the WBA welterweight title with an unforgettable stoppage of Mexican banger Pipino Cuevas and lost it in his first showdown with Leonard, one of the greatest fights of the 1980s. Next up was taking the junior middleweight title from Wilfred Benítez before losing a three-round collision with Hagler, the middleweight king.

There was always an impressive comeback. Hearns bounced back from the Leonard fight with the Benítez win and by obliterating Duran. And after the Hagler loss, he skipped two divisions to win a light heavyweight title from Dennis Andries. Somehow that wasn’t enough for Hearns, who then stopped Juan Domingo Roldán for the vacant WBC middleweight title, cementing both his quality and stardom.

A tendency to abruptly fade in fights became a nagging issue for Hearns, however. Against Leonard and Hagler, it was completely understandable as the former came on late in a 15-round bout Hearns was winning and the latter in a ferocious brawl. After being forced to clinch his way through rounds against some lesser opponents, Hearns should have worked inside fighting into his repertoire but didn’t.

Nevertheless, The Ring ranked Hearns at No. 1 in the middleweight division, while Barkley barely sat at No. 8 with the title vacant. The obvious gap in skill combined with Hearns winning a title well above middleweight led to oddsmakers making Barkley a 4-to-1 underdog, and those odds looked downright genius early on.

Before the opening round ended, Hearns cut Barkley’s eye and swelled his face with a number of jabs and right hands. The jab was surgical, and Hearns kept the distance well. But something about a wily, unpredictable style is the perfect antidote for a classic upright boxer, and Barkley caught Hearns with enough errant left hooks to keep Hearns careful. In Round 2, Hearns stuck to his jab more before working in body shots that made the audience of about 8,500 at the Las Vegas Hilton gasp and stopped Barkley in his tracks.

Steward confidently ordered Hearns to bring home the ring hand early in Round 3, and Hearns fended off a rush from Barkley to double over the New York man with awful body work. Steward called for more, and Hearns stood inside too long. That’s when Barkley, blood dripping from a swollen eye, clipped Hearns with a right hand that froze him and landed another that sent him crashing to the canvas, nearly out.

The fight could have and should have been ended, but Hearns got to his feet just enough to continue. Barkley charged forward and put Hearns through the ropes with a last series of right hands, and the fight was stopped with Hearns sideways, his legs in the ring and the rest of his body hanging outside of it.

Barkley waited for a chance many felt he didn’t deserve to score a win that shouldn’t have happened. The Ring voted it “Upset of the Year,” and at the time it was the correct call. To Barkley’s credit, he again defeated Hearns a few years later, crushing any claim the win was a fluke.

Interestingly, while neither fighter’s career was done after this, and both went on to accomplish more, they were both changed by the fight and struggled to regain the status they held before it. There was simply no question it was Barkley’s crown jewel, and all it took was a few punches.