I've never seen this 1979 fight and wondered if anyone else has. I read a story in a boxing magazine that had Weston coming on in the 5th and 6th round, hammering Hearns to the body. Harold quit before round 7, with a damaged eye he claimed was from a thumb. He never fought again. I've always been intrigued by Weston. I've seen his bouts with Cuevas and Benitez and thought he was a tough, game fighter. He beat many good fighters in his day, including Vito Auntuofermo and Rocky Mattioli. His main problem was that he had no punch. Any observations on the Hearns fight or Harold's career in general?
I have it.... "Mutt and Jeff." Hearns was just too tall, lanky, skilled, fast & powerful for Harry Weston..... I rarely review the tape / fight....... Weston claims a thumb caught his eye and detached his retina, but I've seen worse swelling in other fights in which the victim recovers just fine..... Who knows?? MR.BILL
Weston was a terrific boxer ... he was starting to really test a very young Hearns and he did get stopped on an eye injury. He was through after the bout ... Hearns dodged a bullet with that one as he was on the way to getting schooled ...
I saw it too and agree, he was coming on real well. Also, he did not quit, Gil Clancy stopped it. I recall at the time Clancy saying after the bout about the eye, "I'm not going to let a great fighter like Harold get hurt." Little did he, Harold or anyone else know that there was a detached retina involved and that Weston would never fight again. Scartissue
I've often wondered if the Cuevas camp didn't use this fight as a gameplan for Pipino's fight with Hearns. I read in a Sports Illustated article that Cuevas wanted to lay back and do little for the 1st 3 rounds, let Tommy punch himself out, then go on the attack. Cuevas's handlers may have seen Weston do this and figured they could do the same. atsch, Anyway, it was a shame about Weston's career ending. He would have given a tough fight to anyone.
I know Westons daddy raised him to be a fighter ala Delahoya. He started learning basic's at a very young age. Johnny Bos mentioned Harold is doing very well in his biz as of late. Always a breath of fresh air in this racket.
Well Bill since you have it you should take a second look, Weston was coming on pretty good. Obviously it was bad if he had a detached retina. I remember my dad looking forward to Cuevas knocking out Hearns(so he thought) he was thinking that Tommy didnt look to impressive in this fight,an rationalized based on this fight that Cuevas would beat him.
I haven't seen this fight in a long time. Wow, VERY interesting fight. Two things jump out at me. This fight getting stopped may have hurt Tommy in the long run. If it goes the full 12, I think Weston gives Tommy a serious test, and most importantly, some experience clinching when hurt/tired. With that experience, who knows, maybe he could have fended off Leonard better. Secondly, I see Weston a much shorter fighter, pressing in on Tommy and executing his offense with some confidence. Now granted, this was not the Tommy Hearns who gave Leonard hell over two years later, and Harold Weston, while good, is no Jose Napoles, but this fight kind of gives me an idea what Hearns-Napoles might look like. Am I reaching there?
Thanks for posting "A"! Didn't even know this was on youtube. I was a little surprised at the crowd. You could practically count them it was so small. Considering that Hearns was a promising young fighter with an impressive KO record and Weston was a top rated contender, it looked like the fight was held in a VFW hall. Anyway, Hearns was clearly not the destroyer he eventually morphed into. He seemed a little intimidated by Weston. From watching this, I can see why the Cuevas camp must have felt confident going into their fight with Hearns. This Hearns here seemed a timid, namby pamby boxer, not the monster that destroyed Cuevas. Thanks again for posting this fight. Good stuff!
Hearns didn't bother to clinch until after the Leonard I fight. Literally, Tommy thought he was above using a clinch in the ring. He paid for this act of machismo.
Yep, Cuevas' manager Lupe Sanchez had Cuevas curb his usual aggressiveness until about the fourth round. when Hearns would be more suseptable to a body attack. Two problems, Cuevas cannot fight defensivly and Cuevas had the Mexican boxing shoes, which were notoriously bad for footing. slippery soles. Hearns was also way faster than they had anticipated, the result eas inevitable...