The light heavy version of Hearns who battered the title out of Dennis Andries in 1987 versus the 1980 version of Eddie. The Hitman would take this one,but Eddie would stay with him,and frustrate him until Hearns stops him between the tenth and thirteenth round.
Hearns couldn't take it to the body. Eddie might break him in half downstairs. We're not discussing the shorter Duran, Cuevas and Hagler here. Eddie can make him miss and pay for it. EMM wouldn't be charging into Tommy's Sunday Punch like Hagler did, nor afford Hearns the opportunity to give chase and unload as he was able to on Cuevas. This one's getting contested in mid ring, where Tommy would be making all the concessions to movement and exertion. By the later rounds, if he's still there, he might be mopping the canvas with his tongue. Eddie had the power to blast him out early, but not the style or temperament. The body work he hammered Marvin Johnson down with was mostly from the outside. Tommy's preferred range is no kind of refuge here. This is a situation where Hearns could hold a substantial and maybe even insurmountable lead by the by the time Eddie stops him, but his eventual protracted demise would never be in doubt, as Eddie systematically tortures him into submission. This would be a cruel, extended ordeal for Tommy to suffer through, trying to survive to the final bell to steal a points win. Meanwhile, Eddie would be like the sadistic boy who catches a housefly alive, then pulls off a wing and watches it buzz in circles on the floor, then pulls off a leg, then another leg, then another leg for his amusement, each time watching it trying to limp and buzz away, then drops it struggling in the web of a live spider or venus fly trap on his desktop, or in a classroom laboratory vial of stomach acid to watch it agitate in futility as it gets digested alive. thinkHmmm...maybe this is too much detail.) Where Tommy would seal the manner of his fate would be during the referee's instructions immediately prior to the bout. Hearns would no doubt attempt to intimidate Eddie with a baleful stare. This would make Eddie mad, never a good idea.
Hearns couldn't be outboxed but he could definetely be brawled into submission. If Leonard, Hagler and Barkley had success with taking him to war, I don't see why Eddie couldn't do it.
Andreis was a few notches below Mustafa Muhammad. Hearns just isn't sturdy enough to last 15 rounds with Spinks, Mustafa or Saad Muhammad. He may have outpointed Qwai, because Dwight would have had alot of trouble reaching him.
:thedevil1Thank you for the feedback. I've provided myself with the most evil laugh I've enjoyed in months thinking about poster reactions to that paragraph. (It's been so long since I've provoked such disturbed imagery with one of my posts, not an easy achievement on a boxing website, especially this one. Must be a backlash against all the Christmas music being forced into my ears.)
Hearns would bust him up and yet somehow manage to get KO'ed in the middle rounds EDIT: On first glance I thought this was about Saad Muhammad, no matter, Eddie stops him as well
Hearns was tuned at 173 for Andries in 1987. But against a dude like E.M. Muhammad in a time machine, well, no, Hearns gets TKO'd in rds 11 thru 15..... MR.BILL
Excellent point you made Duodenem...that Eddie was capable of blasting out Hearns early, like he surely was able to vs Marvin johnson, but his temperment opposed doing this, thereby explaining the artistic, controlled and methodical beatdown and dominance he enjoyed over Johnson...this is what he would do as well to Hearns..only I think Hearns would have been on the deck at the time of the stoppage. In fact, Eddie may have accelerated his process somewhat owing to the potential damage Hearns could do with his gifts early on vs Eddie.
Maybe the post of the year...Very funny. But at the same time, I'm glad that I don't owe you any money!