Can Leonard or Hearns Beat Marcel Cerdan?

many of his european opponents were mismatches, but cerdan was a good tough fighter who could potentially stop hearns, and under '49 rules and judges i could see decision over leonard. he would likely have trouble with their (particuarly leonard's) handspeed but in his time he could potentially beat both imo

 

Id make both a massive favourite at either ww or mw.

 

Yes they would beat Cerdan, Zale would of beaten Cerdan but by that time his elbow was almost completely gone as he said it was gone in the 3rd Graziano fight. But yes i believe they could beat him

 

of course. Hearns and Leonard could have given Robinson a good fight. I give Hearns a better chance because of his style.

 

yes they could, but so too Cerdan could beat them.

Hearn's power only if it lands sweet would stop ANY fighter, but in typical battle Cerdan was tough as _uck, and we know Tommy can go down, I'd favour Cerdan more than not.

as for Leonard, well he can be trouble for anyone, but he's nothing Cerdan had'nt seen before, there have always been boxers, slicksters & cuties, I'd favour Leonard, but Cerdan and fighters from that era tended to nullify such activity and take the fight to them, he could beat him too.

But I'd give Leonard more odds than Hearns.

 

I'd have to sit and think about Leonard-Cerdan, but I think I'd make Cerdan a close but clear favourite against Hearns; the styles favour him imo and give him a good chance of dragging Hearns into a fire fight and beating him down.

Hearns' speed, power and accuracy are obviously a problem, as they ever were for any opponent, but Cerdan was quick with good two fisted power and excellent accuracy himself. He was also a decent, fluid punch slipper with quick, coordinated feet and was good at aggressively feinting/punching his way into range with both hands, all of which would be crucial in preventing Hearns from dictating the tempo and distance. And he'd really let rip left and right to both head and body from mid to inside range.

He could be reckless and sloppy sometimes, as many aggressive fighters are, with an occasional tendency to lunge that could spell trouble against Hearn's lethal straight punching if he wasn't careful, but he was tough with it and physically very powerful.

I might get chip in later on Cerdan-Leonard. That one's tougher to interpret for several reasons.

 

no. neither man had the stamina or toughness

 

I think Cerdan would wear Hearns down and knock him out.
Cerdan-Leonard, I don't know. Interesting match-up.

 

Having seen Cerdan fight Georgie Abrams in MSG in 1946, I can attest that Cerdan was a helluva middleweight...If the question to this thread is would Cerdan at MW beat the best of Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns at their best weights welterweights, I say
Cerdan would be too strong for both of them and would wear them down...As a P4P
fighter I think Leonard was better than Cerdan was because of his handspeed. As for Hearns ,a tremendous welterweight with not the sturdiest jaw, I pick Cerdan to wear the taller Hearns down as Marcel was strong even for a middleweight...All 3 of these guys were great fighters at their respective weights...I also believe Marvin Hagler at his best
whips the smaller Leonard...

 

An emphatic NO. Leonard's too small and Hearns' chin would fail him in this one.