How did Iran Barkley manage to beat Thomas Hearns twice?

Different style of opponent though. Hill didn’t pressure and let him fight pretty much as he pleased. Barkley took advantage of those old legs where Hill was too cautious to do it.

 

I get it but if he was still good enough to decisively decision Hill who was still near the top of his own game then Tommy wasn't shot .. he simply was vulnerable to very strong, tough guys that could survive his early onslaughts and engage him in brawls ...

 

I think you hit the nail on the head.

Some guys can fight.

Some guys can fight back.

Barkley could fight back. Even while getting hit, even while getting bombs dropped on him (detonating to the head and body) he always fired back. He could exchange. So could Hagler, as Hearns found out, but not a lot of guys out there could actually exchange with Hearns.

 

Well, there is a wide spectrum between "a great chin" and "glass," so I am still not sure where you fall in your estimation of Hearn's beard. But for the record, I think it was considerably below average for a world champion-caliber fighter. As for your pointing out his durability during the first Leonard fight, I think the evidence favors my argument there. As I've said, the fight turned twice in the 6th and the 13th on single punches - the left hook on the 6th and the right cross on the 13th. They were hard shots but someone with a decent chin should not have reacted the way Hearns did: His legs were shaky for the rest of the round and a few rounds after that. Also, contrary to some people's impression, Hearns did not get hit flush that much in the rest of the 6th round. Yes, the brutal left to the body, but nothing really flush to the chin. So it was the work of literally single punch - at least to the head region. And this was repeated throughout his career. One punch, if it didn't knock him out, incapacitated him far longer than it should have.

On stamina, this is really a complex issue. I couldn't always figure out whether Hearns' legs looked rubbery because he was tired, hurt, or just awkward. (See, for instance, Hearns' legs from the get-go against Hagler, where he started break-dancing even before getting really hurt, in the opening minutes really.) But I don't think the Benitez fight is a good counter-evidence, because Benitez didn't really pressure Hearns or land heavy punches.

 

Precisely my point.

 

I disagree. It was a tremendous punch, that was similar to how Mike Tyson threw his shots. This video below detailing the punch in their second and first fight, explains it pretty well, skip to 6:35

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1st fight was a lucky punch and the rematch, Hearns’ legs were past it, so Barkley was able to get inside much easier, and he knew that from the off and that’s why he pressured him constantly.

 

This is the reason I believe prime Matthew Saad Muhammad would have flattened any version of Tommy.

 

I guess we will have to agree to disagree; it was a good shot, but Hearns had that reaction pretty much every time he got tagged flush. It's just not a mark of even an average chin to react that way to punches, and for a such a long duration, with every flush shot.

By the way, kudos for watching the Modern Martial Artist. He's a very knowledgeable analyst - I would have thought posters here may be prejudiced against watching boxing analysis from primarily a martial artist guy. But he's really good on boxing, too - though I've had many disagreements with him, both on boxing and the traditional martial arts.

 

MSM wouldn't be the only light heavy - or middle, frankly.

 

Agreed and he's production values too are also what makes his videos really good. Well edited and scripted, gets to the point with interesting storytelling, just great stuff. Shame though that he's not in full ownership of his channel anymore. But anyways, great debating with you man.

 

Absolutely. I like interacting with knowledgeable and polite posters, unlike say... well, I won't name names, especially since most of them seem to have been banned!

 

Very smart and fair post. There were times in his career when Hearns looked unbeatable, albeit against guys he was much bigger than. (He looked fully TWO weight divisions bigger than Benitez in their '82 fight.) And then you'd see him get tagged...
Great fighter in many ways. Great heart. He did not have a great chin.

 

First fight Iran took his legs with body shots and beat the snot out of him, nothing lucky about it… his style was primitive and very physical, Hearns found out what it’s like to be physically overmatched for once in basically every regard.