Would Canelo Alvarez, Danny Jacobs, and GGG be able to compete with the Fabulous 4 from the 80’s?

Ugh, ok let's discuss this

Hagler is arguably the greatest Middleweight of all time, that loss has no shame. ESPECIALLY since Duran held Hagler to a close decision. Which is more impressive than anything Jacobs, GGG or Canelo have done

The Hearns and Sims losses were post Hagler, in which Duran was ruined. Hagler even acknowledge that a fighter was never the same after fighting him. Sims was in 1986, which was later in Duran's career, and Duran STILL held him to an SD. Btw Hearns was a bad stylistic matchup for Duran, and Hearns is also greater than GGG, Canelo and Jacobs

Really? The SRL loss? How past it was Duran at that point? And are we really doubting SRL's ability?

I would say that Barkley is at least Jacob's equivalent. What's even more incredible is that was '89 Duran, AKA past prime.

 

Losing to Hagler is better than double digit title defenses, beating the guy with double digit title defenses, or giving both of those two razor close fights and beating a handful of undefeated contenders/former titlists?

 

Duran is out of his depth here. We’re talking about a great light welterweight whose talents saw him compete at the very pinnacle of the welterweight division, facing two large middleweights and a light heavyweight. I see him shutting down against GGG’s power, having to play defense for the greater portion of the fight. I think he is skilled enough to give Jacobs and Canelo problems (moreso Canelo), but it would be uphill climbing.

 

No basis for this statement at all... First you would have to assume that GGG gets past Hearns' jab and power giving up the height and reach adv... GGG never faced a Hearns caliber before .. it's kinda of a rookie statement TBH …. and GGG doesn't have the resume Tommy does

 

He was stopped by Barkley and rocked by Roldan at 160. I would not call Hearns' resume at 160 better than GGG's.

 

But you very well know the advantages both bring .. GGG is not winning this fight from the outside.. Out of the gate, it's adv. Tommy. The longer the fights goes and into the later rounds, then GGG adv. prevail … This comes down to the Hearns power vs the GGG chin I think is a better way of saying it than GGG starches Tommy

 

The thing about Tommy is that he’d beat Hagler and Barkley every time in fantasy fights because he was so good at boxing behind the jab. Reality wasn’t so nice.

What would most likely happen against GGG if the fight took place is that he’d either get unnecessarily aggressive or get sloppy/lose his legs and GGG would catch him. Keep in mind that GGG closed out the ring noticeably better a few years ago.

 

**** the "Fab Four"...the monsters from earlier decades...the Monzons, the Valdez's, the Griffiths, the Benvenutis, the Tigers, the Giardellos, the Fullmers, SSR, Zale, Steele,....LaMotta,...Bennie Briscoe,....all these fire breathing monsters would have toasted these 0.1 cent punks of today...Canelo's ass!!!

 

I don't think Duran was worse for Hearns and Hagler as far as in shape, he just fought a guy who tested the chin more and hit harder than Hagler. Roldan said Hearns hit much harder than Hagler.
Duran was not diminished in the Hagler fight, and beating Barkley 6 years later proves that. And he fought in the 1990s. The whole decade.

 

Hearns fought better when he had a good challenge. He would know about the power of GGG and use his jab and set up the right hand. GGG is not in Hearns class. I think the unfortunate thing is Hearns fought a lot of contenders in the 1980s and moved up and down in weight, so he was weakened at times. But given a challenge and getting in shape, he usually did well. And remember this about Barkley, had Hearns not gotten careless he would have probably had a TKO between rounds 3 and 4 with Barkley, and he was almost on autopilot in that fight. He was beating him up relaxed.

 

Duran was not this little guy who was out of depth. I think he could compete with GGG and maybe win. He was great on the inside and his instinctive fighting was best if he was in range of someone. To say he would win I am not sure, but he very well could and he would enjoy it. It is styles. With Hearns, Tommy was just too long for Duran and fast. That combination Hearns was going to land and he still had room to land after that, so how was Duran going to absorb that leverage?

 

I don't think Duran was past it as much as people said. I think you have to give credit to the guys who beat him. Benitez, Hearns, Leonard, Hagler. But he beat lesser guys Moore and Barkley. Duran in the 1980s could compete with these guys Jacobs and Canelo and GGG now. Absolutely. In the 1990s? No.. We saw what happened with Joppy.

 

What does resume have to do with fantasy fights? You fight whoever is available. Otherwise why even discuss these fantasy fights. Lets just talk about resumes, right?

GGG has an effective high guard, he's a technically sound fighter. He certainly has enough power to take Hearns out. Does Hearns have similar power at 160? I doubt it. GGG knows how to cut the ring off. Hearns can be hurt and he didn't even clinch. Hearns has a reach advantage and an intelligent jab. He could outbox almost anyone from outside but could he fight on the inside? GGG is a brutal body puncher and he'd batter Hearns when he gets close. GGG is a world-class boxer, just like Hearns. Hearns had the privilege to fight in a great era, it doesn't mean a fighter from lesser era couldn't beat him. Hearns wasn't some great middleweight. How many world class middleweights did Hearns beat? Prime Golovkin can compete with any middleweight ever.

 

He started professionally boxing as a bantamweight 15 years and 81 fights before.

Yeah, I am guessing he was not the same fighter he was as a lightweight in the mid-70's.

 

I'd say they could, certainly. When we consider that these guys are basically 175+ on fight night in the ring (and in Jacobs' case as high as 185) then they have a serious weight advantage too. That said, as complete packages, SRL and Hagler escpecially out of the F4 are probably better. Canelo for example looks fabulous for 5 rounds and then he runs out of gas.