He did that with Hill because he was up against a bigger opponent. Against Floyd he might think he could do an early KO as he did against Duran.
was Benitez a bigger guy? He had a hard time hitting Wilfred so he sat back and used his jab and occasional right. Floyd never fought a prime Hearns. He avoided tough fights, and this is why matchups with him against prime greats do not come out well. He should have looked for better competition. It would have helped his legacy.
An 8-10 years past prime DLH exposed Mayweather imo .. Now I very well know that most of DLH jabs were missing and maybe Floyd didn't feel it a threat .. But to me the DLH pressure with the jabs caused him problems .. I look at this fight as the main reason Tommy gets a KO within 8 rounds
It’s pretty hard to beat a guy who has a huge height and reach advantage as well as having equally as fast hands by fighting off the back foot or by trying to stick n move. I could see Floyd surviving against the 147 pound version of Hearns ( but not the 154 pound version ) but I can’t see him winning many rounds. Cheers.
Hearns 6'1" 77" reach Floyd 5'8" 71" reach. Floyd really offers no threat to Hearns, whereas Hearns presents 12/15 rounds of danger to Floyd. Plus Hearns has excellent boxing skills too.
If Hearns had fought Floyd that video would have the image of "TBE" planted face first into the canvas.
At 147 it isn't even as though Floyd had the legs anymore to backtrack and keep shifting laterally to execute a plan of pure survival imo. Fighters with worse footwork than Hearns (and none of his other assets) caught up to him groundless but lacked the overall game to do lasting damage. He'd be dependant on the shoulder roll and cradled manoeuvring, and it's hard to not see the jab and blazing, laser-guided straight bombs (thrown in considerable volume) of a much larger man cutting straight through that shell. Hearns was a debilitating body puncher too, where Floyd was easier to hit than up top. He'd get knocked the **** out, no question in my mind. Not a fair fight really, Mayweather is better matched against super feathers and lightweight.
Hearns is vulnerable to anyone who is able to get inside. If Hearns gets inpatient and tries too hard for an early KO he’ll let his guard down, and Mayweather will surprise him. Hearns will find that Floyd actually hits pretty hard when he wants to.