1980 Roberto Duran vs. Thomas Hearns @welter

How do you see this one going ?

The same Duran who beat Leonard against a welterweight Hearns.

 

Duran's defense in Montreal was far better than what he later showed when he faced Tommy. He made SRL miss even more than Benitez and Shields. As a welterweight in his late 20s, he also dropped Monroe Brooks for the count with a bodyshot. After seeing what Hearns had just done to Cuevas, he would have been more fully prepared mentally and physically for Tommy's firepower.

Hearns could not put down the blade of grass which was a one shouldered Randy Shields (naturally a 140 pounder) despite buckling him repeatedly. (Tommy stopped Shields with repeated accidental headbutts, not punches.) One wonders what might have happened if Shields have not screwed up his shoulder in training, by tripping up while doing roadwork. (I think it may have been over a damned pothole that Randy fell. In the footage of their bout, you can see Shields repeatedly reaching back with his right arm to give his shoulder a quick massage, something that SRL, Ryan and Clancy failed to make mention of on CBS. I believe Sports Illustrated did make reference to it though.)

Roberto was certainly overconfident that Tommy could not hurt him after he'd gone 15 rounds with Hagler, especially since Hearns had not repeated the devastating nature of his ambush of Cuevas in the following four years. That would not have been Duran's mindset in 1980. Like SRL did in his unification match with Tommy, Roberto would have approached Hearns with due caution. It also needs to be remembered that if Duran had met up with Hearns immediately following Montreal, he would have still had Ray Arcel and Freddie Brown in his corner.

Tommy was too strong for an overconfident and aging Duran to handle at 154. But at 147, he wasn't quite as durable, especially to the body. Roberto would not have made the mistake of giving ground and punching room that Cuevas did. (Nor would he have been wearing slippery leather soled footwear like Pipino.) My expectation is that he would slip under Hearns, and bore into Tommy's body.

What Duran expected in 1984 was the Hearns who went the distance with Benitez, Minchillo and Sutherland, not the WW killer who dispatched Cuevas a few years earlier. In 1980, with the fresh understanding of how devastating Tommy could be, a surprisingly different outcome might have unfolded. Either Hearns wins a lopsided decision by keeping Duran away from his skinny frame, or Roberto gets him out late.

I've looked at both Hearns/Duran and Montreal while preparing this post. El Cholo took some massive shots from Ray without flinching. SRL was coming off his starching of Green, where his power had Davey Boy unconscious for several minutes. That was probably the most devastating display of power he ever displayed. Duran took all of Ray's best hooks and uppercuts. He was getting under SRL's rights. Duran showed no upper body movement against Hearns, at least not compared to what he displayed in Montreal. He was clearly fired up against SRL in a way he conspicuously was not with Tommy.

Maybe Duran lost a little incentive by his go with Hearns not being a title unification event. The fire wasn't there. He voluntarily touched gloves with Tommy after getting spun around in round one, following the caution to Hearns from Montreal referee Carlos Padilla. Upon rising from the second knockdown to end the round, he again voluntarily touched gloves with Tommy as they headed to their respective corners. (It would have been only mildly surprising to see Hearns take the hazy Duran by the arm to direct him to his own corner, considering Tommy's temperament, even in that violent situation.) As round two got under way, Hearns extended his glove for Duran to touch again, and Duran reciprocated. Roberto was most effective when he got himself to hate his opponents. He clearly held no hostility towards Hearns, but was evidently just collecting a paycheck.

As for Hearns, regardless of how he approached his foes, he was always a sportsman in the ring, very much in evidence by the glove touching gestures he initiated during their brief and violent ecounter. (I lost count of how many times he offered his gloves to Shields following all those head clashes they had.) Tommy was always an intelligent thinker while competing, very much in keeping with his Hit Man moniker. But Duran generally needed that emotional edge to be at his fiery best. (He did touch gloves at the beginning of each round with DeJesus in Panama, but in much more of a competitively energetic spirit. His conduct with Hearns was more reminiscent of what he showed with Laing.)

Perhaps Tommy would have blasted out Montreal Duran as he did Cuevas that year. But to look at what he withstood from SRL (who Tommy said hit harder than Hagler) it would have been interesting to find out for certain.