Yeah, because knocking out Alfonso Gomez and Ryan Rhodes is bulletproof evidence that Canelo is comparable to Hearns.
Hearns could possibly give Floyd trouble but truth be told the guy who gives Mayweather the most fits would be SRL. Think he edges out Hearns in a tough match. Some people say Marciano has superhero status around here but truth be told these four from the 80s are looked at with the biggest set of rose colored glasses. Hearns certainly wasn’t unbeatable. Great fighter but so was Alvarez and Pac and Delahoya
It’s also worth pondering, was Canelo even the same fighter, considering Mayweather had strict testing on opponents (while being allowed IVs and such), Canelo the juiced up freak at 160 & 168 is certainly different from the guy who arguably lost to Trout and quite clearly lost to Lara. Hearns, a guy who without juice beat someone like Hill at 175, is not in those types of struggles in his prime. Canelo is a different animal now with his added “help” and a mistake Mayweather fanboys make is that it’s the same guy because of course it makes their idol better. It’s like saying Al Jovino beat Henry Armstrong so therefore anyone that beat Jovino can beat anyone.
Canelo never KO’d anyone as good as Duran, Cuevas, or never beat anyone as good as Benitez. In fact, nobody even remotely as good as Benitez. Canelo’s best “win” is a “draw” and “win” over an aged GGG, whilst he failed a drug test in the middle. Golovkin wouldn’t win the middleweight title in the 1980s, because he’d never beat Hagler in 10 attempts. You’ve got to put this stuff into context.
Mayweather is the most overrated boxer on this forum. ODH and Alvarez are also not in the same league as Duran, Hearns and Leonard.
Look at the things that caused Mayweather issues - aside from pressure fighters. Zab Judah did very well in the early rounds with nothing but hand-speed. What was the punch that hurt him vs Mosley? Oh, yeah, Tommy's most dangerous punch. DLH's constant, long jab. He was working it from range winning rounds, the narrative of that fight is all wrong. It was very close, and DLH's jab and hand-speed is why. Emanuel Steward also said that he believed the way to beat Mayweather was to start with a great jab. It's pretty clear how he'd have Tommy fighting, and there's no Mayweather on the planet who knows more about boxing than Steward. Floyd's philly shell style is awful vs taller fighters, and faster fighters. Exactly what Hearns was. The arc of the cross coming downward means that rolling the shoulders does nothing to protect it, and it's much harder to time a prime Tommy Hearns' cross than it is a 40 year old Shane Mosley's. Furthermore, Hearns fought Benitez, pitched a near shut out and dropped him while badly injured. A non-injured, 147 version would've shown no respect for Benitez and gone for the KO from the start rather than jabbing his head off. He'd do the exact same to Floyd. Hearns uses his height, reach and speed to jab, jab, jab and starts looking for his cross. It isn't long before he finds it, and follows up with horrid combos and ends it in three.
Yes let's put it into context: The Duran Hearns KOd looked like he was just there to collect a check. Sugar Ray took his heart and soul and it was years before Duran ever got it back. Certainly not against Hearns. Benites was the smaller guy moving up to 154, and cueves, did they even fight at 154?
And let's look at what gave Hearns trouble: Stamina issues in most of his losses and a suseptibility to right hands.... Don't both of those play right into Floyd's hands? That's why I think this would be a split series
Do you seriously think that Mayweather was as good offensively as Leonard and better offensively than Duran?