Jose Napoles vs Thomas Hearns at 147

Hearns PTS. His dimensions and speed make him a hard match for Napoles, although Napoles has as good a chance as anyone at 147. he has the power to keep hearns smart, and the intelligence/chin not to get bombed out

 

hearns fights from range and wins a ud

 

i agree. napoles is as slick and skilled as they come but he was small, even as a welter. and hearns just MASSIVE. he had the power, the skills and the jab to keep napoles at distance and set up the right.

 

For me Napoles is far (maybe) the better and more skilled fighter, but i must say there is a size advantage, even at the equal poundage that favours Hearns. If Heanrs goes on offense and smashes him towards the ropes he can force the ref to intervene after a bloody one has ensued imo.

 

Hearns stays outside and KO's him in the middle rounds

 

Everyone thinks that Heanrs would be better to stay outside because of his longer limbs and height advantage, while i'm not saying this is outright wrong, people must realise that (well what i have always thought personally) likely the best recipe for beating the great Jose Napoles is to use superior strength to back him up and keep his back against the ropes and unload. One of the main reasons i've always thought Carmen Basilio would be a bad match for him, and very possibly Julio Cesar Chavez at 135, though i think Napoles is capable in that one also.

Whilst it is true that Hearns' physical dimensions are not similar to that of Basilio's. Hearns is a fine offensive fighter, and at 147, in my opinion better in that aspect than in his hectic boxing mode, which his defence and such was improved on at 154.

 

you raise a good point-relatively poor physical strength and cuts were always naoples' weaknesses. he could be bullied but as you said, hearns just wasn't that type of fighter. he enjoyed setting up opponents from range, wearing them down with body punches and jabbing the **** out of them until his hooks and right could land with precision. i just see that working on the smaller napoles

 

when i say fight's at range i am not suggesting a defensive display and perhaps i should of made that clear.hearns at 147 would fight with spearing fast hard jabs with thunderbolt rights and no doubt napoles would be badly marked and a stoppage win at welterweight for hearns is never out of the question but napoles was a classy fighter by anyones standards a prime napoles gets my vote to last but its close. a napoles of the stracey fight gets the same treatment hearns gave to cuevas

good post teeto

 

It's very possible Jorodz. I just wanted to make that point because i felt people were simply picking Hearns to outbox his man here because of the physical 'advantages' he enjoys over Napoles. I reckon if Heanrs tries to pound Napoles and not let him start weaving any pure magic he makes his best decision all night, but i'm not saying you're wrong at all.

 

Yeah i agree on the Stracey version comment, and good post by yourslef as well there. I just think that at the very highest level if there is a weakness of Thomas Hearns' stylistic make-up at 147 pounds, it would be likely his defence, not terrible, but someone like Napoles in a chess match might have the skillset to exploit such. Like i say though, even if that type of bout did ensue, he physical advantages of the hitman might still sway that for him. mposing his will i reckon more or less seals it for Hearns, just my opinion.

 

Teeto; I DO believe Hearns has a better chance due to his size, I won't lie to you, and here's why.

Hearns showed in the Leonard fight that if someone could get in on him and throw some serious leather that he could be hurt. Whilst not as fast as Leonard, Napoles was brilliant at throwing hooks, and could easily catch Hearns on the end of one. I wasn't suggesting that Hearns could easily outbox Napoles due to his size (Napoles is no easy fight for ANYBODY as you well know being a fan) but that he SHOULD use his size (i.e second half o the Leonard fight) to avoid getting hurt and put away by someone who, if we're going by the 147 version of Hearns, was a far more intelligent fighter and had amongst the toughest chins of all time at the weight.


I was just trying to stay away from; Hearns cuts him, which is the obvious answer. Sadly, I do think this would probably be the case.

Before there was a 'Who has the best chance of beating Hearns at 147' and I believe I suggested Napoles. He would have a way of countering Hearns' bombs (well, would have a way of avoiding getting hit flush) and was very good at controlling the range. He would be at just the right point to not be quite on the end of Hearns punches IMO.

However, if anyone is going to put Napoles lights out, it's probably Hearns. I think it's doubtful though; it was usually 'sluggers' that got put out by Hearns in devastating fashion from what I can see (not saying Duran was a slugger but he couldn't really employ any other tactics than attempting to fight Hearns, which clearly wasn't a good idea) as Hearns is a bad style match-up for short, aggressive fighters (until he got to MW obviously; different story)

I would like to hear other opinions though, as I'm sure someone could forumulate a plan for Napoles in this one :good

 

Well i agree with you completely. Maybe i never made that clear. Like i said i think that using his size would be a factor as well, i just thought that he would do better to do so in the way that would be imposing his will rather than trying to outbox Napoles, which because of his extreme size advantage might prove a winner anyway but i do think he's susceptible in that regard when sharing the ring with this opponent. I pretty much agree with your post, if Heanrs goes on offense and doesn't give Napoles to start anything special up, then i'd reckon he'd win.

Technically, at long range, Napoles can use his absolutley prolific jusgement pf distance, and head movement, brilliant footwork to slide in and out, at angles, to land counters, when he lands one, as you know, many more come in succession. He might just not have the strength to fully capitalise, that's my assessment of this fight.

 

Hearns is overated on this board. People tend to forget his shakey chin and stamina. In addition he ended his welter career at only 22. I think Napoles takes him apart and wins a decision or by late round TKO ... Napoles was a great welterweight.

 

Well it's not my standpoint outright, but i'm very glad someone said this.