Was the Hearns v Shuler blow out one of the greatest in middleweigt history?

Rewatched the Kinchen fight today and can't believe that Kinchen hardly looked bothered by the punches Tommy landed. Absolutely crazy, because Hearns landed some home run punches both to the body and to the head.

 

It was very exciting and dramatic coming off his loss to Hagler .. still, Hearn's loss to Marvin was pretty definitive and conclusive .. I do wonder if the story of his getting a leg massage before the fight weakened him as Emanuel Steward wrote.

 

I believe he was talking about when he had declined some.

 

I won’t say brilliantly, I’d say gamely. Brilliantly would have been to use his jab and reach and dice and cut Marvin up rather than trade with the natural 160 guy with the undeniable chin. Even trading he came close when the ref was checking Haglers cuts. Still, he was flattened after only three rounds. Tommy did not show durability. Great heart. Super exciting. Not a great middleweight.

 

Might have been brilliant if he'd protected his chin better.

 

Didn't Kinchen have a banned substance in his system after the Hearns fight? Might explain how he was able to take all those nukes without flinching. I only really saw him hurt a couple of times despite all the shots he was taking.

 

He did? Never heard that but it would explain a lot. It's almost unreal the punches he just walks right through.

 

I love the win, but I don't think Shuler was proven yet as a top professional. He had been rocked by Kinchen and most of his opponent were either older like Sugar Ray Seales or up and coming like Kinchen. If you look at this record, the fight with Hearns was a huge huge jump up in competition as we all know. I thought it would go longer, but Shuler's chin could not handle that sort of right hand. It was a good night for Hearns also. Different caliber fighter obviously. I don't see this as the greatest blow out in history. It was a good one punch knockout. For a few years I understand Hearns felt guilty about this fight and what happened to Shuler after.

 

yeah lidocaine. I remember that. I don't know what came of it..

 

I think with Hearns he moved up and down in weight too much in those years. Had he stayed at middleweight after Shuler and campaigned there for a few years he would have started to knock guys out more. At 154 he got his punch around the Duran fight. But after Shuler he was up and down to 175 and all over.

 

It could have effected his stamina and punch resistance, yeah. Hard to say with Hearns, since he either dominated or struggled.

 

He made some mistakes when his career got further along. He seemed impatient to win titles and move around. When he was younger he could stay at 154 longer. I still think he should have at the least stayed at one weight for a few years then moved up and fought at 175 a few years. He was always moving around. Canelo is going into that trap now and it will hurt him eventually. Hagler and GGG were helped by staying at a weight a long time. Only the really good fighters can move up and down and still keep winning like that.

 

No. Shuler was Tailor made for him. He stood right in front of Hearns and traded jabs. Hearns had the faster jab, landed first, and followed with his always potent straight right on Shulers below average chin.

A lot of fighters went the full distance with Tommy at 160. They were all more durable than Shuler.

Dewitt went 10 round with Tommy a few months after the Shuler fight, but it was after Tommy dropped back down to 154 to fight Medal. Hearns may have been affected by the weight fluctuations but it was likely more about Hearns not being a huge puncher at 160 combined with the durability of Dewitt. Dewitt did get starched by unheralded Jose Quinones in 87 but that was an aberration. Dewitt showed great durability before and after the Quinones one punch ko loss.

Shuler was badly rocked in the Kinchen fight, but the laid back Kinchen failed to follow up.

Also, Shuler was forced to go the full 10 rounds with trialhorse Jerry Holly in summer 85.

He may have actually been regressing by the time he faced Hearns.