This has got to be one of the worst matchups for Tommy Hearns surely.? Whilst not as skilled McClellan hit like a bomb ,a dangerous fight for Hearns. 12 round s?
I don’t know how “skilled” Gerald could’ve been or was… it’s been said GM was KO’d by Montell Griffin in the gym shortly before the Nigel Benn bout, he might’ve been in “la la land” a bit going into the fight so I don’t “count” it. I’ll defer to smarter people than me on how good GM was “He stayed with me and it's true I tooted him as the best of the lot. But in hindsight that was wrong because he didn't have the mentality” - MS I’ll sign off on what Manny says here, agreed but only the “best” physically, I don’t know how “skilled” he was he wasn’t tested enough before the injury for me to guess and then also Kronk was ahead of the lot when it came to losing weight look at Hearns, Moorer and McCeallan all massive weight cutters who knows what Gerald would be at 175lbs-190lbs. Per thread question… it’s possible, very possible Gerald physically overpowers Tommy once TH gets dragged into a shoot out.
Tommy was far more skilled than the GMAN but then again, Tommy was far more skilled than Iran Barkley as well and Barkley beat Tommy twice with his aggressive, smothering style. Tommy was his best in space but certain guys like Barkley and Gman fought with a physicality and a pace that would be problematic for Tommy especially since Hearns had the type of heart that wouldn't allow himself to be outmuscled without a fight. We saw that against Hagler where if Tommy could have stood up to that early assault and established his range, he would likely have beaten Hagler with his superior boxing ability. I have also heard the story about Montell dropping Gman in sparring. The MO on Gman is he could be over aggressive and undisciplined at times and he got caught by a counterpunch from the extremely savvy Griffin. Regarding what ultimately happened to Gman, the below story is interesting and likely true like the story about Montell knocking him out. Tarick Salmaci, a Kronk Gym fighter, claimed later in an interview that he had sparred with McClellan over a year before the Benn fight, and that after McClellan was hit by a jab thrown by Salmaci, McClellan started to blink hard and the session had to be stopped. McClellan initially claimed that he was thumbed, but later admitted to Salmaci in the locker room that he was in fact seriously hurt. Salmaci said that he found it strange that a fighter with McClellan's chin wearing headgear was being hurt by a jab, and that when he noticed McClellan blinking during the Benn fight in the same way, Salmaci was immediately aware that McClellan was in serious trouble. Also notable in hindsight was McClellan complaining of getting regular headaches after his first fight with Julian Jackson in May 1993. In the fight, McClellan's chin resisted Jackson's formidable punching power before McClellan won the fight in round 5, but Jackson's punches may have done some damage to McClellan's brain, such as concussions, that were not noticed at the time.[9]
Another great post. Such a tragic ending for The G-Man. That fight with Benn was one of the most exciting in British boxing history for me. I expected a early KO with Benn out before the fifth. He was so damn gutsy that day.
Class post - I agree with most of this, expect Hearns being able to “likely” outbox Hagler to a victory IMO nah not unless Hagler had a bad day at the office. I think the issue was the weight cuts with “Gman”… Gerald didn’t belong at 160lbs-168lbs I think similarly of Hearns and his efforts to stay at 147lbs weakening him, In Gerald’s case while the lights didn’t go out because he was a very tough man I think he was taking a lot of “internal” permanent sort of damage because of the state he entered bouts in.
Anytime McClellan went into the 2nd half of a fight he lost he also got outboxed by the likes of Ralph Ward, Dennis Milton. If Hearns can weather the early storm I feel he could win by decision.
My reason for thinking Hearns would beat Hagler on the outside is mostly due to where Marvin was at in 85'. He was simply starting to get long in the tooth and could be outboxed as Duran showed at times in the their fight and Leonard showed in 87'. Again, this is just speculation on my part. Not many could outbox Tommy especially once he established range. Regarding this subject, I find all if the stories about Gman being compromised physically going into the Benn fight interesting and think that where there is smoke, there is fire. I had heard that same story that you did about Griffin dropping and hurting him bad and then the story from Salmaci as well. If Gman comes into the ring against Hearns att less than 100%, Hearns would get him out of there.
If this fight was actually taking place I would be crossing everything, hoping for Hearns to actually do that. I was (still am)a massive fan of his. I'd want him to survive the initial onslaught from McClellan and hand out his own painful beating.
Personally I see Gerald McCellan as vastly overrated. Because of his injuries , a lot of posters seem to overlook just how suspect his career and competition was. His best "name " opponents that he beat was a well past his best John Mugabi who was also ko'ed by Terry Norris , a few fights earlier also in the 1st rd. Julian Jackson who was past his prime, and looked like a welterweight in comparison to McCellan who looked like a super middleweight. The size difference was that obvious. McCellan landed hard shot after hard shot early in the fight against Nigel Benn yet his "terrifying and destructive" punching power didn't keep him down and ultimately he ended up ko'ed and seriously hurt. Benn was a good puncher and skilled, but he didn't have the greatest chin because he'd been stopped twice by two fighters not known for their power in Eubank and Watson prior to the McCellan fight. The rest of McCellan's competition faced was a who's who of 3rd raters and no hopers, just trying to get a payday.... Yet he somehow loss to two of them!! Personally I see this fight being similar to Hearns's fight with James Shuler, who was almost the same size as McCellan but better skilled. Yet that really didn't help him against Hearns now did it.?
Tommy is by far the superior fighter here and would box Mccellan's head off , just like he did Iran Barkley until....I feel the G- man has to get him inside 4 or 5 rounds or the punishment will begin to add up, he simply has the proverbial punchers chance especially with Tommy . I do agree with the comment that McClellan was overrated, simply on what he actually accomplished
If Gerald did win this----look at those scalps of the other ko artists & add Hearns to it. People would inaccurately rate him as the hardest hitter of all time, based on those results.
