Kid Chocolate vs Tony Canzoneri is another pick. It feels like watching a 2026 boxer fight some wacko from an alternate dimension. Definitely one of my favorite fights of all time.
Good call, to me it's always been between the Benitez or the Dennis Andries fight where Tommy looked the most complete he's ever been as a fighter. In the Benitez fight he looked to have learned a lot from the first match with Leonard where he now knew how to tie up his opponents whenever they got him cornered in order to terminate their offense. And he seemed to have also learned to pace himself better as he still looked fresh when going the full fifteen. Meanwhile fast foward to the fight with Dennis Andries where he's now against a fighter that although was nowhere near as technical as Benitez, but may have been more dangerous because of his more rugged style. Moreover when considering the weight, this seemed to be when Tommy looked the best physically as this was before he was constantly moving up and down in weight to capture the MW titles, so his body got the chance to settle at the weight. He still had his speed and his power, and needlessly to say he destroyed the strongman Andries.
Thanks and nice post. I'm staying away from the likes of that one as Jel wants a high level of technique and Andries isn't that. It was a fine performance by tommy tho, absolutely HT. I thought about Hearns - Hill, and it was good, but Hill is levels below the likes of Benitez in the technical stakes. Hearns did indeed learn how t clinch properly after the Leonard lesson, and his pacing was better too. As well as clinching when cornered he mastered clinching when hurt to the point where refs had trouble getting him off the opponent. His survival skills were very limited vs Ray as he'd never learnt nor needed them hahaha
Agreed, the win against Hill was another good one. In fact imo its rather underrated when compared alongside the others wins of the Four Kings. It's a shame though Tommy didn't get the chance to fight Bobby Chyz for the other LHW belt. Even bigger shame when the two didn't get to fight again when both were at CW for the actual world title.
It does get forgotten a bit in his rather sizable resume. I do remember he and Czyz almost came together at 190. I liked Czyz, he came back after a mauling by Hamsho to have a reasonable career, if not a strong one.