This is a hard one. You had to outfight Hearns to beat him. Outboxing him? Man... SRR? SRL (on his best day)? Hearns was a phenomenal boxer.
Agreed! I think if Hearns had the chin of Robinson, he'd beat anybody that ever lived at that weight.
Not many could outbox him. Hearns was one of precious few fighters who could control an entire fight using only a jab. He used his freakish height and reach as well as you could ask him to, and that meant a lot of noses bent on the end of those long arms that most welters could never get around.
I think of all the other champions and there are many who have great boxing skills I just can't imagine anyone overcoming that reach. I could be wrong though, I can handle it, I've been wrong a lot of times.
Hagler and Leonard overcame that reach. If reach were everything, Julius Long would be King of the Sport.