I always liked Tommy, but as soon as i saw the dignified and gracious way he accepted that decision he became my favorite fighter of all time. Greatest 154 pounder of all time IMO.
I'd say if he had Calzaghes stamina he would have been in the running for top 5. Doubt Hagler would have stopped him..
Same here, when they read that decision i just felt my heart breaking... Hearns was all class though as usual. Last time my heart broke like that was for the Pac vs Marquez 3 ... it just made me realise no matter how hard they fight and try they will never get the decision they deserve. I suppose in a way Leonard saying Hearns won that one makes it feel a little better. Also some people here need to stop blowing **** out of proportion, Hearns could take a big shot and it took Leonard 14 rounds to put him away. Hearns chin was by no means granite but it was not glass either, at the very worst it was average.
True that. I'm not old enough to have seen it live so knew what was coming when I watched it on youtube but it still hurt. And agreed about Tommy's chin. It wasn't the worst out there, just he could be caught like most fighters can. It was below average for an ATG maybe but not below average for a boxer in general.
I was 9 years old actually when i watched it live at the time, i wasn't quite understanding on how to score fights obviously but i remember knowing Hearns won it clearly... when the decision got anounced i still remember the outrage in the room. Watching the fight later as a adult just made me disgusted with it even more. To this day whenever i watch it again and you look at Hearns face its this odd combination of complete heart break but at the same time he was not surprised that he got robbed.
It was a great fight too, I really enjoyed it until it was soured. There's not been many fighters in history with the skills to outbox Leonard twice.
If Hearns had never campaigned as a Welterweight and only fought at 154, he could have been one of the most dominating champions of all time at that weight. I suspect that if that first fight with Leonard had been at 154 instead of 147, that Hearns would have won. Would Leonard have gone up to 154 to fight Hearns, if Hearns had not ever been in the Welterweight division?