Thomas Hearns

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Anomalocaris, Dec 25, 2024.


  1. Reinhardt

    Reinhardt Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    I agree, Tommy was at his peak at 154 and would be a beast for any opponent
     
  2. Anomalocaris

    Anomalocaris Member banned Full Member

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    Simon Brown.

    For a while he looked incredible.

    But I highly doubt anyone truly remembers his name, certainly not people who are not boxing fans.
     
  3. Flash24

    Flash24 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    King and Arum for all of there faults made
    some excellent fight cards back in the day,
     
  4. Flash24

    Flash24 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    It can be reasonably argued Thomas Hearns
    was the most accomplished of the fab five.
    (I always include Benitez)
    Wasn't the best fighter of the group (Noticed
    I didn't use the word "Boxer".)
    But in accomplishments he tops all of them....
     
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  5. Saad54

    Saad54 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    No

    The upset of Virgill Hill was impressive I have to say.
    So were the wipeouts of Cuevas and Duran.
    The decision over Benitez was great too.

    However, Dennis Andries was very beatable and one cannot dismiss the brutal loss to Iran Barkley and that he simply wasn't durable enough to even last three rounds against Hagler.

    Hearns was great but his durability issues were exposed.

    He's thought of as one of the big four but should be big five

    Benitez is the one who is underrated
     
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  6. Saad54

    Saad54 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    His super cards were great whatever we think about him as a person

    I was at Vincent Pettway v. Simon Brown. What a card

    And the pay per view cards he put on while tyson was in prison were well worth the price
     
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  7. Anomalocaris

    Anomalocaris Member banned Full Member

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    SAAD54.

    Tommy had no durability issues at all below 160. Unless you count exhaustion in the 14th round of the greatest welterweight fight in history (and he came in far too light at 145 as well).

    Oh and the War contained some of the most brutal punches ever seen. Would Hagler go to fight Spinks or Qawi like that and not be stopped?

    I don't think so. Marvin knew his limitations.

    Tommy was moving up.

    As far as Iran goes it was a one in a million fluke and their rematch was when Hearns was truly worn out from all the wars. After all Barkley ended up as a heavyweight.

    Durability?

    Tyson was stopped 5 times and it would have been 6. In his own weight class and no one ever questions his chin.

    Doubke standards.
     
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  8. Lankykong

    Lankykong Member Full Member

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    I think this is in part due to his build. You stun a fire hydrant like Tyson they buckle down or stop for a moment and they're back to normal.

    You catch a telephone pole like hearns and they take noticably longer to regain their balance.


    Even if they they were hurt the same and recovered in the same amount of time the lanky fellow will look worse off.

    When you mix in Hearn's style of movement, seeming lack of coordination, tendency to drop his hands, leaky defense and propensity to trade and he can look in worse shape than he actually is.
     
  9. bolo specialist

    bolo specialist Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Even though Hearns was still a bit raw down @ 147 compared to higher weights, I think he was @ his most physically imposing @ that weight & would've been no less than 50-50 H2h vs. any WW that wasn't either Sugar Ray. Unfortunately for him, he shared the division w/ 1 of those Sugar Rays & he was never going to keep his weight down there for very long anyway.
     
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  10. bolo specialist

    bolo specialist Boxing Addict Full Member

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    I think the problem w/ rating Hearns in a P4P sense is that he jumped thru weight classes so quickly w/o carving out a more extensive/dominant legacy in any single 1. I think his H2h capability far exceeds when he actually had the opportunity to prove down @147.
     
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  11. Anomalocaris

    Anomalocaris Member banned Full Member

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    Good posts Bolo.

    I think if he had started his career about six yeats later it would have been fantastic. I imagine, Curry, Honyghan, Starling, Breland and all the rest being obliterated.

    Apart from the Sugars, Gavilan and Burley would have been very tough but I still see Tommy winning on close points on his very best day.

    He was a total freak at welter.
     
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2024
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  12. ETM

    ETM I thought I did enough to win. Full Member

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    OMG.
    I remember that card. In DC right? In the main event they had a referee that lost control of the situation. I think Pettway's trainer wanted to hit the referee for not taking charge.
    BHop fought underneath I believe against Mercado. Don King almost got knocked out by Butch Lewis.
     
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  13. Greg Price99

    Greg Price99 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    When people talk about Tommy's greatness they most often mention his contests with SRL & Hagler, and his impressive destructions of Cuevas & Duran, which is fair enough.

    I feel he doesn't get enough credit for the Hill win. Iirc, Virgil, an Olympic medalist, was 30-0 at LHW in the pro's including 10 wins in title fights, going into their contest. I'm curious, how many, if any, former WW titlests would you favour to beat that version of Hill?
     
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  14. bolo specialist

    bolo specialist Boxing Addict Full Member

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    His win over Nate Miller, a comparatively only slightly faded ex-CW champ, is also criminally overlooked.
     
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  15. HistoryZero26

    HistoryZero26 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Yes the fact he was the biggest of that group and couldn't beat Barkley is held against him. People will give Duran the benefit of the doubt for the bad H2H against top opponents cause hes small but they aren't going to do the same for Hearns 2-4-1 against the big 4 and Barkley.

    Also tweener divisions split his resume into several pieces as he spent notable time at every division from 147 to CW. His legacy was probably hurt by the existence of tweeners more than any boxer in history. With most of these multi division champs they still spend most of their career in 1 or 2. Duran, Leonard and Hagler have got their ATG resumes at LW/WW/MW. At the top level Hearns split his time between all 6 fairly evenly and his shortest stint was 3 fights at 168. At 154 he was 5-0 with 4 title defenses but thats all he had. In olden times he'd have went WW/MW/LHW and tried a HW run at the end.

    At 175 Hearns win over prime Hill is one of the most elusive wins one can get but thats virtually all he has despite technically being a 2x champion. Besides Barkley who beat him he is probably the single least accomplished lineal champ in 175s history despite having a win over possibly the most accomplished one. Barkleys only other fight at 175 is a loss to Maske. 2 fights in a weight class winning and losing the lineal title against undefeated opponents. Its hard what to make of eithers 175 run.

    Hearns 147 run is the most impressive if viewed in the context of the era before Leonard, Beneitz and Duran. 32-1 with 30 KOs and wins over Pipino, Espada and Gray. But he left there at 23.
     
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2024