Hearns vs McCallum...

I also pick McCallum but I woudn`t bet the house on it. Hearns certainly could win. He had all the talent to beat anyone on any given night...except Ricky Hatton.

 

Too many people on here talking like McCallum is a pressure fighting beast when he was nothing of the sort.

in fact, when forced to come steadily forward he was often at his worst, as his footwork and footspeed were nothing special in that mode.

He's a natural counterpuncher\ring-centre boxer-puncher that likes to fence and pick off opponents that come onto him or stay in range.He did his best work on the front foot when edging forward very slowly or going balls out against fighters that lacked the power to discourage him.I see him trying to keep things at ring centre initially, as he has the ranginess and skills to compete there-if not win-and allow for time to set up traps that can take advantage of Tommy's low hands and weak defence against fighters of similar height.

I certainly can't see him pressuring Hearns with ease, though what he might do is abandon his usual style after getting hurt or falling behind and do what he did with Jackson(similar to what Hagler did to Tommy), though it would be tougher against Hearns, but he would probably grind out a win in a brutal fight if it does turn into an up close war.

 

He certainly seems to be pressuring Hearns in that sparring footage. Usually, I don't take too much credence from sparring. But it looks to me that Tommy wants little to do with Mike after a couple minutes. He is not gracefully eluding Mike but doing so in a skittish, almost panicked style. Again, maybe I am reading too much into it.

 

Can't say i really took anything to that extent from the sparring footage, though it was very interesting to see.

They both took turns on the backfoot and it was mostly just a fencing match...both barely threw the right hand, especially Hearns

.Hearns did little for the last minute or so though and it started getting pretty sloppy with McCallum trying to rush him a few times.

it's probably not a bad indication of how the quieter moments of the fight would play out, but not much more.

 

I pick Hearns. Only if he goes into Motor City Cobra mode. He was faster and more mobile than McCallum and could have outpointed him. Otherwise The Hitman gets kayoed late in the fight. The Bodysnatcher being more durable.

 

I am not saying that the pressure McCallum would bring is the second coming of Roberto Duran. But a solid chin and pressure enough to get close to dig in those body shots... Hey, I am not even convinced that he could get through enough to do the damage needed to win against Hearns. It really is a damn close fight...

 

So what's Hearns excuse for not fighting him in the mid 80's, when they were both competing and held titles in the same exact division? Was Mark Medal a more credible opponent than McCallum?

 

I think it goes like this. The prime Hearns prior to Hagler beats Mike by decision by boxing and I think easily enough. The post Hagler Hearns could struggle with him.

 

Hearns was waiting for Hagler to make his decision about fighting Hearns in November. Leonard had come out recently and said he wanted to fight Hagler, so Hearns was up in the air about it. He was not thinking about McCallum. No one was. This whole thing about people having to fight McCallum is ridiculous. Mike didn't make a name for himself to get the popularity to fight the Hearns and Duran and Leonard and Hagler names at the time. Like it or not, they fought each other because they were all elite names and the fights sold.. Mark Medal was a tuneup fight to keep Tommy active while he waited for the Hagler rematch. When Hagler picked Leonard, Hearns decided to go up and fight Andries at 175, since he could not really get to 154 easily.

 

Don't know, sounds like a bit of a lame excuse to me. You can fight other lesser fighters for mediocre pay, but you can't fight the next best fighter in your class in fear of him potentially ruining lucrative matchups (that may not even happen) down the line?

 

Let tell you:Because as great a fighter as Mike was he was a Horrible when it came to making decisions about his career.
Hell he turned down a fight with SUGAR RAY SEALES.
Mike was known to be hard to work with-almost impossible at times and outpriced himself many times out of fights.
And last-Remember when Mike got put on HBO against Mannion-a boxer he could have looked great against and made people WANT to see him in future bouts-instead he played it safe and put eveyone to sleep and ALLOWED Mannion to last the distance even know Mike could have stopped him in 7/8 rounds he went the FULL 15.
And for the recored I had Kalambay and Heorl beating Mccallum.

 

Hearns was running away? No. He wanted to fight Hagler in a rematch after he was stopped by him. He fought Shuler at middleweight to get the number one ranking and knocked out Shuler. he was just defending his title to stay sharp waiting for Hagler to decide who he would fight. When he fought out Hagler was going to fight Leonard, he did a tuneup with Dewitt and moved up and won the 175 pound title against Andries in March of 1987. This thing about everyone has to fight Mike McCallum because in retrospect he feels they ducked him is spoken by Mike's perspective. He told Hagler at the Hall of Fame why didn't Marvin fight him, yet Mike doesn't realize that Mike had not even been to middleweight yet when Marvin fought his last fight vs. Leonard. Hearns/Duran/Leonard/Hagler all could fight each other. They didn't need Mike. I think Mike could have entered the fab 4 level had he beaten Kalambay and he lost a decision. Crying over it now does nothing. What does that do? The fab. 4 do have the legacy of fighting each other, and nothing Mike says can change history. Mike was not in thier class because he did not fight them. I agree with him. He lost out. But to be honest, the Hearns of 154 who fought Benitez and Duran would outbox Mike and maybe stop him. The Hearns of post Hagler started to diminish and his legs were not as strong, so he would tire out and get hit more since his legs when he was younger was what got him out of the way of punches.