Boxing in The 1980s - 1982

1982

• January 24- Eusebio Pedroza retains his WBA world Featherweight title with a fifteen round unanimous decision over Juan Laporte in Atlantic City. The fight proves controversial: many observers thought they had seen Pedroza commit a large amount of infractions which, in their opinion, could have led to points deductions or disqualification.
• January 30- Wilfred Benítez retains his WBC world Jr. Middleweight title with a fifteen round unanimous decision over Roberto Durán in Las Vegas.
• June 11- After one of the most racially charged fight promotions in history, Larry Holmes retains his WBC world Heavyweight title with a thirteen round knockout over the fighter dubbed as the White Hope, Gerry Cooney, in Las Vegas (see: Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney).
• July 21- Salvador Sánchez retains his WBC world Featherweight title with a fifteenth round knockout over Azumah Nelson in New York. It would be Sánchez's last fight.
• August 12- Salvador Sánchez killed in a car accident in Mexico City, Mexico.
• September 21 - The National Football League Players Association launches a strike against the NFL, wiping out seven games. CBS adds additional boxing telecasts during the strike.
• November 9- Sugar Ray Leonard announces the second of multiple retirements in Baltimore. (Leonard's first retirement came after the 1976 Olympic Games).
• November 12- The Battle of The Champions, Aaron Pryor retains his WBA world Jr. Welterweight title with a fourteen round knockout of Alexis Argüello, who was attempting to become boxing's first four division world champion, in Miami.
• November 13- Tragedy in the ring: Ray Mancini retains his WBA world Lightweight title by knockout in round fourteen in Las Vegas over Duk Koo Kim, who passes away five days later, leading to the instituting of twelve rounds at the most as the mandatory fight distance and mandatory eight counts quickly. It was also the last fight to air as part of strike replacement programming on CBS because of the NFL strike, which ended three days later.
• November 26- Larry Holmes retains his WBC world Heavyweight title with a fifteen round unanimous decision over Randall "Tex" Cobb, fight after which Howard Cosell quits as a boxing commentator, disgusted by what he described as mismatches.
• December 3- the Carnival of Champions: Wilfredo Gómez retains his WBC world Super Bantamweight championship with a fourteen round knockout over Lupe Pintor and Thomas Hearns becomes the WBC's world Jr. Middleweight champion with a fifteen round majority decision over Wilfred Benítez.