Roy Jones Jr and Tommy Hearns Chins

Jones was such a athletic freak he very rarely took solid shots from any one he faced. He either rode the punch or made them miss all together.. But when he slowed a little he was getting blasted out by fighters not considered viscous punchers and only considered good at the most but nothing special.
Hearns KO losses were to two ATG' S and a fighter in Barkley that just seemed to have his number and Grant at cruiserweight . Hearns had the better chin. Especially when considering Hearns was a very aggressive fighter who went in looking for the KO. Jones was a safety 1st fighter who was just as happy with a dec as with a ko .

 

Nice post .. Right on the money for me

 

I guess the elephant in the room is that both jones and hearns had long arms, speed, and reflexes and rarely got tagged hard. I love both fighters but we gotta be honest, you dont suffer brutal KO's like they did with granite or even good chins. I think its a simple matter of them simply being too slippery to have gotten tagged often before they got found out. In Hearns case his offense was his defense. He could often simply tie up and reset to maintain whatever distance he preferred against oppoments who were much smaller. Roy, like a prime Ali, simply couldn't be tagged cleanly and didn't have the competition to really push him. Unlike Ali, when he finally did get nailed he didnt get up.

Id say Roy is 5.5/10 in his prime and 4/10 past his prime. Hearns maybe a 6/10 at best. Neither guy survived getting in a war and trading punches for several rounds.

 

Hearns: 8 out of 10

Jones jr: 6.5 out of 10.

Jones jr jaw wasn’t glass, that shot from Tarver would have hurt anyone. Full stop.
However Roy fought too early after that and suffered another brutal ko. This lowered his overall punch resistance so I feel like you can only judge Roy’s jaw BEFORE the Tarver knock out. The few times Roy did get hit he handled it well enough. Hearns was just better.

 

Both did not have a good chin. Jones chin was better in my view.

 

I 2nd that money.

 

Hard to say. Hearns looked for knockouts and Jones did not, so I don't know what that means but Hearns had more confidence in his chin even thought it did not hold up a few times. Hearns was hit more and he usually took the punches, but he was hit more because he looked for the knockout. I think Hearns just gambled too much, but I don't think his chin was a bad chin. I just think he left it out there too much, and it was not the best but it was not bad. Jones? He was not hit clean early. He fought to win and be defensive and counter. But when he was hit he went down later on. I think Hearns had the better chin just by the fact he was willing to test it and was sometimes hit and still hung in there and won..

 

It's the truth ..his chin didn't just turn to china although it may have deteriorated a bit .. his reflexes slowed and he got hit. That second Tarver fight was such a lighting fall from grace it still shocks me .. the moving up and down in weight too much and taking who knows what PEDs along the way may have contributed as well ..

 

Hate to break it to you: To even come close to surviving the KRONK sparring wars you better have a darn good chin.
Jones chin was fine. He got hit in sparring at times and he was fine.
You posters act like Hearns and Jones were getting bounced off the canvss when they werent.

 

Ray Leonard had a great chin. Tough as nails.
He got dropped/rocked in sparring as well and nobody questions his chin.
CAMACHO stopped him does his chin now become suspect?

 

Roy was 35 when he got KO'd and clearly past his prime after moving up 50 pounds from his debut division.


Hearns has been getting rocked throughout his prime, esp at MW where he looked very vulnerable.

 

Jones= 8
Hearns= 6.5

Tommy Hearns lacked recuperative powers to the extent that it cost him fights.

Getting KOd at age 35 after years of dominating 3 divisions doesn't amount to Roy having a weak chin. Some boxers just have expiration dates. He took shots from Toney, Hopkins and even Tarver in their first fight.

 

Not the greatest chins. Not glass either.

 

But Leonard's chin was tested by ATG's in his prime in actual fights. ( Not counting the what happens in "sparring" because sometimes fighters are trying different things. Or just not focused etc) How many fighters considered great at the time Jones fought them actually tested him? How many were as dangerous as Hearns the ultimate boxer puncher between welter and middle at the least top 3 puncher in history between those weights and also had the skill level to get it their . Or Duran the ultimate brawler- boxer who landed 100's of clean punches in Montreal with Leonard really only hurt 3-4 times in that 15 rd fight? I'm not knocking Jones chin , but it is telling when he slowed just a little fighters he wouldve embarrassed a few yrs earlier were knocking him out cold. Jones reflexes were just on a different level than most humans. And his physical abilities gave him the ability to simply overwhelm some very good fighters. But some of his better opponents like McCallum ( his age was beginning to show well before his fight with Jones) Toney ( He became lackadaisical well before his fight with Jones) Hopkins ( Who really didn't come into his own until later in his career) and fighters like Wolfe, Johnson , Gross etc who were good fighters. But nothing special leaves something to be desired TBH. And as his career progressed the opponents became worse for whatever reason. Jones physical abilities maybe the best in boxing history his only rival was Ali. But unlike Ali when he slowed we discovered he wasn't a tough man. ( Different from Ali whom maybe is the toughest man to ever lace them on) So in my opnion their are a lot of questions mark on Jones. Would he have been able to avoid a prime Hagler or Monzon for 15rds. How would he have handled the physical roughness of Dick Tiger? Tony Zale ? Greb ? Or Walker? These questions are very hard to get a read on unlike questions about Leonard. .