Carlos Monzon vs Tommy Hearns

I have always heavily disagreed with criticism of Hearns power at 160.

Pulling isolated moments particularly when not looking into them from all angles is flawed and can be used to the detriment of any boxer.

Hearns had sizable problems with his right hand at various junctions of his career, breaking it more than once. Often a period of inactivy above his norm accompanied this which led to a bit of rust as well as well as a potential bedding in period to regain full confidence in the hand. I don't think it unfair to conclude the odd bout may have been somewhat affected by this. After Benitez he wasn't 100% happy with his hand until the end of the Minchillo fight for example.

Looking at a few named -

James Kinchen - This fight was actually fought at 168 but that is fine as i consider Hearns a superb puncher all the way past this weight. Kinchen was a notable contender over a fair period of time. He was also extremely durable and had only ever been stopped on his feet up to this point by Roldan who battered him over many rounds before the ref said enough.

Murray Sutherland - Pretty sure Hearns hurt his hand early in this one again. Never the less Sutherland was an extremely experienced fighter (Saad, Spinks etc) moving down in weight and fought most of the fight in a defensive shell. Hearns hurt him in the first and last rounds.

Ernie Singletary - Impossible to hold this one against him. Hearns was coming off the SRL loss and was 155 going against a 161 Singletary. Ernie had fantastic durability and was only ever stopped via a swollen (closed) eye. Hearns had simply added some weight and was a long way from actually growing into the division as he did later on.

Doug DeWitt - Hearns hit DeWitt with some great shots and he took them, it happens. Same as Barkley. You can't knock everyone out.

Hearns was still knocking people silly all the way to 190.

His power was on full display against the durable Roldan as he hurt him numerous times before leaving him on his face. Roldan was very durable as seen against Hagler before he lost heart.

Hearns utterly obliterated the same chin Hagler couldn't make an impact on in Duran. Duran was just 2 1/2 pounds lighter which would have made zero difference in this case.

The KO of Schuler is extremely impressive as it was a one punch ko and Schuler was left decimated. Absolutely COLD.

From 147 all the way to 190 Hearns KO ratio is a big 72%, huge. Rodrigo Valdes for example sports 59%, the same as Monzon.

Using the same critieria on others that has been used on Hearns -

How did Valdes go 3 fights in a row against poor to average opposition Toro, Greene and Palladin without a stoppage? Palladin was stopped next fight by an ordinary fighter with a 20% career ko record. Greene was stopped a year later. Toro was stopped by Napoles next outing.

Nearing his prime Valdes failed to stop Duncan 13-5-1 then Marks 22-15-1 back to back. Both had been stopped in previous fights and were certainly not superstars.

Corro went 30 rounds with Valdes within 14 months of two of his finest performances.

Whitehurst twice went the distance with a fast improving sonny Liston despite being ko'd multiple times prior. Johansson axed Machen inside a round but he went 12 with Liston.

Everyone has them and the game can be played ad infinitum. Foreman, Arguello, Louis. It happens.