ATG: Who Ranks Higher? Tommy Hearns or Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Mayweather imo and it isn't close.

 

Hearns no question about it

 

Easily Hearns's .#1 Cuevas , had defended his title multiple times, one of the few boxing stories where a fighter seemed to get better after they won a championship , if I remember right Cuevas was favored to win.
#2 Duran, coming off a close points loss to a top 3 Middleweight in history, prior to that, a complete destruction of the Jr. Middleweight champion D.Moore. A fight that's a spotlight reminder the difference between good and great.
# 3 Technically, he never beat Leonard, but he did give him hell 2 times. Leonard is only the 2nd best welterweight in history, the 2nd fight, Hearns did enough to win, but only got a draw.

Compare this to Mayweather Jr. #1 Deloyhoya coming off a win of a shop worn Mayorga, prior to that, a ko loss to Hopkins, Deloyhoya hadn't looked good since 2000, they fought in 2007, after a on again- off again career and partying.
#2 Canelo, was unproven against top level competition, while that competition was still relevant in spite of a 40-0 record, the best he fought up into his fight with May, was Mosley, who clearly was beyond his prime which was almost 10 yrs prior. Or, Marquez, who's best fighting weight was Featherweight, and was on the downside of his career.
#3 Pacquiao, a fight that should've happened yrs earlier, but by the time they met, Pac was clearly showing he was slipping, after a loss to Bradley, and blasted out by Marquez. Pac, also was a natural Featherweight and lighter that more than likely was using chemicals to go up in weight successfully.
And I can go on and on on Mayweather's manipulated and managed boxing record. To including a fight against McGregor just to get a safe 50th win. McGregor knew as much about world class BOXING as I know about flying a Space Shuttle.
I know his manicle fans or going to attack with their usual insults and distraction comments.
But, Mayweather's career since leaving lightweight/ jr.light has been smoke and mirrors. And in no way compares to Hearns career against proven ATG's while they were still relevant. Hell, Duran, Leonard and Cuevas beat anyone Mayweather faced at welterweight and above much more convincingly, and Duran and Leonard beat the hell out of Mayweather himself. No comparison.

 

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Excellent Excellent Excellent Good

 

I'll take Hearns. He beat better fighters at their peak.

Floyd has the '0' though, and some pretty good past-prime names, and a green, drained Canelo.

Hearns never had to play games with weights, age and USADA exemptions to get his wins.

 

Hearns by quote some distance. He beat some guys who Floyd wouldn’t even dare considering to fight.

 

No middle ground?

 

Do you discredit Hearns win over the tiny Duran the way you discredit Mayweathers wins?

 

No question Hearns has the better wins.Floyd though is undefeated and has longevity. Both rank somewhere between Top30-Top50 ATGs

 

Hearns was far better at landing shots than Floyd and Mayweather never beat a great defensive fighter like Benitez.

 

No sir

 

This post won't make an awful lot of sense from a narrative point of view. It's me thinking out loud to add some depth to my earlier post.

It's not so much that Hearns isn't great, he really is.

He was second only to SRL at WW, probably the best LMW of all time and he tried his hand at beating the unified MW champion.

After that it's spotty isn't, couple of paper belts at SMW and LHW, losing to Barkley, close fight with Kinchen.

But then he beat Virgil Hill which is an amazing achievement.

Compared with Floyd who was number 1 in every division he fought in aside from LWW, and given how far Tszyu had fallen he was probably the best at that point as well.

130 - 154 as the best fighter over a course of about 20 years.

Hearns goes 147 - 175 as sometimes the bets fighter over a course of about 12 years.

Both criticised for missing certain opponents.

Both great, but I don't see many arguments for Hearns being greater, imo.

If I look at annual rankings in terms of being number 1

1982-1985 Hearns is number 1 LMW
1986 he was the number 1 LMW but left the division.
1987 he is the number 1 MW
1988 he loses to Barkley and struggles with Kinchen
1989 he draws with Leonard and probably should have won the fight (should be number 1 really although there is a lineal argument against him here)
1990 he is the number 1 SMW (although there a lineal argument against him here)
1991 he is the number 1 LHW

From 92 onwards its a bit of a waste land for him.

Compare with Floyd

1998-1999 he is the number 1 SFW
2000 he drops to number 2 (although there is a lineal argument in his favour here)
2001 he is the number 1 SFW
2002-2003 he is the number 1 LW
2004-2005 he's fighting no hopes at LWW
2006-2007 he's the number 1 WW
2008 he's retired
2009-2011 he's considered inferior to Pacquiao
2012-2014 he's the number 1 WW and LMW
2015 he's the number 1 WW but retires

Meh, it's closer than I initially gave it credit for.

Top 5 victories

Hearns: Cuevas, Benitez, Duran, Olajide, Hill
Mayweather: Corrales, Castillo, Cotto, Alvarez, Pacquiao

I stand by my initial assessment that Mayweather is greater, but it is closer than I initially considered.