What was the secret to Thomas Hearns?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by dayuum, Apr 23, 2014.


  1. dayuum

    dayuum Active Member Full Member

    800
    1
    May 21, 2011
    Watching some of his fights and the way he throws these flickering punches is unlike anything I've seen in boxing.
     
  2. mcvey

    mcvey VIP Member Full Member

    97,724
    29,075
    Jun 2, 2006
    Fast handed boxer with great power , allied to prodigious wingspan, and height.
    That will take you a long way.
     
  3. Robney

    Robney ᴻᴼ ᴸᴼᴻᴳᴲᴿ ᴲ۷ᴵᴸ Full Member

    93,103
    27,837
    Jan 18, 2010
    Like stated above, wingspan and power = the road to atgness.
     
  4. The Funny Man 7

    The Funny Man 7 Boxing Junkie Full Member

    7,868
    2,048
    Apr 1, 2005
    No secrets: Leverage, speed, accuracy, timing, punch selection, etc.
     
  5. Seamus

    Seamus Proud Kulak Full Member

    61,529
    46,096
    Feb 11, 2005
    He was good at boxing.
     
  6. Bollox

    Bollox Active Member Full Member

    1,484
    9
    Mar 12, 2010
    It's funny to think he was not known for his power as an amateur
     
  7. 9522

    9522 Active Member Full Member

    1,341
    5
    Mar 16, 2014
    Perhaps a tad overly simplistic. Care to elaborate at all :think
     
  8. 9522

    9522 Active Member Full Member

    1,341
    5
    Mar 16, 2014
    :deal
     
  9. Seamus

    Seamus Proud Kulak Full Member

    61,529
    46,096
    Feb 11, 2005
    Sure. Some want to point to some identifiable physical trait and wag their ill-informed fingers. But the truth is that fighters with tiny reaches have become hall of famers, just as those with great wingspans have been horrible. It comes to down to a fighter and his trainer recognizing the fighter's assets and weaknesses and devising and enforcing a game plan to flatter the former and limit the latter. Hearns played to his strengths. He was good at dictated his fights so that his reach, his footwork and his power were the deciding factors. Sometimes, against the very best, this did not work. That's when we saw his opponents push him out of his comfort zone. But not too often.

    Oh, and Hearns was really good at boxing. His boxing skills are very underrated.
     
  10. atberry

    atberry Boxing Junkie banned Full Member

    9,548
    19
    Sep 30, 2009
    He out-feinted and out-boxed Leonard for 12 rounds.
     
  11. atberry

    atberry Boxing Junkie banned Full Member

    9,548
    19
    Sep 30, 2009
    Secret? There is no secret.

    He was incredibly tall and rangey for 147 or 154, he had fast-twitch muscle fibres, a unique jab thrown from an angle you couldn't detect, and he had tremendous varied hard sparring almost every day for decades at his gym.
     
  12. atberry

    atberry Boxing Junkie banned Full Member

    9,548
    19
    Sep 30, 2009
    I think he'd tense his forearms a lot on and off to give more sudden, more snappy effects.
     
  13. SILVER SKULL 66

    SILVER SKULL 66 Well-Known Member Full Member

    2,714
    47
    Oct 6, 2013
    And Leonard stopped him , in the fight that was most remembered...
     
  14. SILVER SKULL 66

    SILVER SKULL 66 Well-Known Member Full Member

    2,714
    47
    Oct 6, 2013
    Solid all around boxer, but his chin was his weakness...

    Will probably be most remembered in the fights he lost, brutally KO'D by Hagler, and stopped by Leonard in the biggest fights in their careers:deal

    I still can't believe Barkley knocked him cold...
     
  15. PernellSweetPea

    PernellSweetPea Boxing Junkie Full Member

    12,116
    5,726
    Feb 26, 2009
    very fast boxer. underrated speed and his jab one of the best ever to the point where it did so much damage, all he had to do later in the fights is feint and work the body and head with his jab. Later in his career he started to land more bodypunches. But with his jab he worked it up and down and when they thought too much about the jab he put in right hands. And he could box. Too bad he was in the era of Leonard and Hagler, he might have gone many years without a loss. A legit ATG and fought everyone. Cuevas,Duran,Leonard,Benitez,Hagler,Barkley,Hill