Hearns vs McCallum...

Wow what a matchup!!

Hearns wins by late KO or decision by cutting McCallum down with his jag and dropping that lightning right hand.

 

McCallum ate some bombs from Jackson and others and rarely flinched. I don't think Hearns is going to find the number. I see McCallum cutting down the distance in a few rounds, breaking down the body and legs and setting up a late rounds KO.

There is this to go off...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS0Boow5mzo

 

Tommy still looks like a WW in this video but that footage is very cool!!:good

 

I still favour Hearns I think. From experience he'd know all about McCallum's chin and bodypunching, and would box him.

Mike's body of work is very impressive; there is hardly a name that he didn't fight between 154 and 160, and he beat most. Still, I find him slightly laboured. ((I don't know how better to describe him.)

Kalambay beat him by doing little more than circling to his left all evening, using good ring IQ and a nice jab. Mike plodded after him round after round, doing very little until late on when he was hopelessly behind on the cards. He was pretty ineffectual there.
I can't see why Hearns, provided he doesn't try to blitzkrieg Mike, couldn't do the same.

 

Though I don't like reading too much into sparring, he seems to be making Hearns pretty skittish pretty quickly in this session, closing the distance with relative ease. Tommy's legs had a way of betraying him... Mike developed a very high Ring IQ. I think he would know what to do and definitely had the tools to do it.

 

And a superb airtight defense, which is what frustrated McCallum. something Hearns doesn't have.

no doubt he can outbox McCallum though.

 

Both good points. Tommy's legs did indeed seem to betray him sometimes and he did drop his right hand, leaving him more vulnerable to the left hook.

Is this over 15 or 12?

 

Very good match up and very hard to pick a winner. I think it would be a good fight contested mostly at long range. Both fighters would land with the jab and right hand as well as both would land to the body. I`d expect lots of close rounds and them to go pretty much back and forth throughout. I`m leaning slightly towards Hearns by decision just based off him being the harder puncher and getting the nod in a couple more rounds by landing harder punches. I could see McCallum potentially wearing down Hearns eventually and stopping him in the late rounds but I could also see Hearns catching McCallum with a huge right hand and following up finishing off McCallum. Very evenly matched fight.

 

I think McCallum takes him apart. Stops him in ten or under ..

 

The more I think about this the more I am going this way.

 

For all we hear of the Fab 4. None chose to face him. Too much risk and not enough reward. James Toney, stepped up and though he won 2 of 3 with the other a draw, many feel McCallum won the first 2 fights. The casual boxing fan didn't know Mike McCallum.

 

Two of my all-time favs..

Both could win by decision, Hearns most like with handspeed and range. McCallum is the tougher guy by far and I doubt The Hitman could hurt him seriously. If a knockout happens, late would flinch late in the fight.

In a 15 round fight, my money on The Bodysnatcher. In a 12 rounder, advantage Hearns.

 

McCallum breaks through and hurts Hearns in the mid rounds. I think the Bodysnatcher eventually stops him around the 9th.

 

A clear & present danger to all the fab 4 around 83 onwards, Mike was the new up & comer, granite hard & skilful, just waiting for his shot at the title. But as an earlier poster pointed out, facing Mike was not a smart $$$$ move. Duran would have fought him in a blink of an eye if the $$$$ were right. This is an intriguing match-up, you can see both scenarios of both being victorious. I reckon that Mike would have had Tommy on the backfoot by round 5 & then beat him up & stopped him. Hearns stamina here would be the key, once he'd lost the offensive momentum then he's in trouble, easy with hind-site, but back in the day this would have had the wow factor, watching a relatively unknown fighter walk through what Tommy had to offer. Nobody wanted a piece of McCallum. Mike just had the miss fortune to come of age when the banquet table was full with no spare chairs at the feast. Well not for Mike anyway!