Was relooking at old fights I hadn't seen of Tommy and saw this, we all know the classic layup, but a 10-9-2 fighter challenging for the world title? How did Pablo get the shot?
I always had an issue with this one. Emanuel steward was a bit of a cautious manager. One only has to peruse the title defenses of Milton McCrory to know that. But this was Tommy Hearns, an absolute force of nature in the division, who should have only been fighting logical contenders with his pedigree. I blame the WBA more than anything for OK'ing this mismatch.
Pablo got ranked for stopping Zeferino Gonzalez for the California state title after Zeffy made a decent showing in losing to Roberto Duran on the Holmes-Shavers II undercard. That’s practically all Baez, a .500 fighter, ever did. Imagine showcasing Hearns and Ray Leonard on the same card to build up their pending showdown and Leonard stepping up to fight a proven Ayub Kalule for a championship at 154 pounds while Manny finds the easiest possible touch for Hearns. This was a pretty disgraceful title fight for a prime, world-class talent like Hearns.
Which is why it should have been called a non-title fight. I'm one of these guys that still consider a title shot as a sacred bauble, not something distributed like a beach towel. The fight would have gained the same traction to hype the Leonard fight, but don't say Baez was a worthy challenger for a world title.
