2 dangerous puncher, although Cuevas' power was more fearsome while Forrest was better boxing wise. Does Forrest have the skills and power to stop Cuevas in his tracks like Thomas Hearns did or would he crumble to Cuevas' onslaught?
Nah, I don't think Vernon has Hearn'esque stopping power. Vernon was a hurtful hitter but tough fighters like Baldomir went the distance with him despite dozens of flush power punches landed clean. With Hearns, nobody ever really just took his power. Even Hagler up at middle was stopped in his tracks and buzzed. I think I'd favor Cuevas to land something big in the second half of the bout that changes the trajectory of the bout.
Cuevas confidently. That Hearns loss really tarnished his rep, but he was certainly better & more deadly than someone like Forrest.
I'm going to go with Vernon in this one but I get why some will go with Cuevas and his power especially when Mayorga beat him twice. One thing I remember in the lead up to the Mayorga fights was Forrest really having a hard time making 147 and was also having shoulder problems so I think it's safe to assume that he wasn't his best. In fact, he never really looked like the same guy after those fights and should have lost the decision to Ike Quartey. Prime Forrest would win a wide UD over the aggressive hard hitting Cuevas in my opinion although I think Cuevas has his moments at times. One trend with me is I will almost always go with the boxer in matchups like this especially when the boxer was pretty durable (Only Mayorga stopped him) and has a deep amateur pedigree like Vernon did.
On the flip side Forrest never beat anyone in as devastating fashion as Cuevas routinely did. His punching power and left hook were X-factor game changers.
Doesn’t matter. He was easy to hit and was battering men who were smaller and worse than Vernon. Vernon was a full sized 154 in day before era. Im also amused how posters here have historically found reasons to back Vernon against Floyd but also think Cuevas beats him. Reality check.
It would be competitive until late, when the cumulative effect of Cuevas' punches wears Forrest down.
