Sometimes I feel like he's one of the most skilled technicians relative to the actual focus placed on his skills. It's about star-vs-star fights, height/range for a weight, lesser durability to his closest peers, big right hand, less-than-stellar opinions on Barkley's skills, considering the outcomes, etc. But do you not greatly regard his technical ability overall? Where would you place it?
I rate Hearns very very high. His only real weakness was his chin and even that didn't stop him from engaging in the trenches. The man has a true warriors heart and fighting spirit. Hearns will always be a Top favorite of mine.
7 or 8. I gave him 8. Great offensive skill, but not very good defensively. His offense and reach were his defence.
I would give Hearns a 9 because his skill carried through so many different weight classes. Hearns went up and down in weight for 12 years. No one else was doing that. Not a 10 because of his defense, but more importantly bad decisions to slug it out against bigger stronger fighters instead of sitting back and picking his shots. Hearns didn't want to win on points, he wanted to knock you out. And for that, he will always remain one of most exciting boxers to watch of all time.
He was outboxing Leonard in the first fight, and relied a lot on boxing and trickerations later in his career when fighting at high weights with a severely eroded chin. I'd say pretty close to 10 when he wanted to.
I don't think Tommy's weakness was chin. I think is chin was decent. He took the best punches of most of the great fighters.He fought, I think Tommy's biggest weakness was carelessness maybe overconfidence. Looking for the big punch and leaving himself open. He had this great jab.He could have sat back and landed his bright hand with speed on anyone he would have wanted to. But sometimes I wondered why here he is, in the middle of the ring going for broke. And leaving himself open when you didn't have to.That was his greatest weakness. His mindset.
7 for me if just considering pure technical schooling. Hearns had absolutely amazing ATG punch mechanics, punch selection and very good footwork. What lets him down is his defensive ability (lacking compared to other ATGs imo, if you could somehow get past his judgement of distance he was quite open) and his inability to consistently infight, especially when in trouble. If we're considering the application of physical ability to overrule the opponent then it easily goes up to an 8 or even a 9. The combination of extreme length, extreme power alongside great speed is a ridiculously high bar to overcome. So hearns was able to impose himself and his gameplay on damn near anyone.
His defense and infighting was weak. He also choose to have infights against fights he shouldn't have. He should of been more risk averse, but then we likely have a less exciting boxer. His outfighting stick, right and hook were all perfect though
The fact is he was never outboxed in his career so he has to rate highly. He outboxed Virgil Hill in a highly technical jab-fest and this was Hearns past his prime and above his best weight. Hearns outboxed a prime Wilfred Benitez via a wide decision. Outboxed Sugar Ray Leonard twice who was forced to come forward and fight aggressively to have success. Hearns had a great jab, great technique on his punches jab, right hand, left hook to the body. Fantastic at controlling range. I don't see how Hearns could be any lower than an 8 quite honestly. As an outboxer he's almost the perfect fighter with his attributes.
