Could anyone at 160 have used the Hearns plan and beaten Hagler with it?

The difference in skill is exactly why I think Hagler would beat Ketchel (that and because Hagler's chin was good enough to stand up to a lot of what Ketchel could throw at him) but I think Ketchel would be dangerous against any fighter of any era. If Ketchel fought at a later era and had a good trainer that could have refined his technique a bit (or a lot) more, without neglecting the things that made him such a vicious fighter (ie, not trying to turn him into a pure boxer or anything silly like that) he could very well have been the No. 1 middleweight of all time, taking into account his tremendous natural assets and mentality.

 

Fair enough Max. That scenario is entirely possible.

 

"Could" isn't "would".

Do you believe that Jones would have been willing to go ahead and put himself on the line and in jeopardy to try to bomb out Hagler?

 

The reason there's no detail is because you lost my carpet cleaning van, and i don't like you you cocksucker

 

Rodrigo Valdes might be able to hold his own in a tear up with Marvin.As I understand it Hearns original plan was to box ,but Marvin came out so aggressively ,Tommy had to meet fire with fire to get his respect or be run over.I also read that in the dressing room ,[ while Steward was out of the room ],one of Tommy's pals massaged his legs ,[a no no] Manny was distraught about it but kept it to himself .Hearns complained from the beginning,his legs felt weak,so the strategy was probably decided for him..Tiger has been mentioned ,not a bad call except if he started to dominate in that scenario ,Marvin would quickly have switched to boxing ,and there ,he was Tiger's master, imo.Tiger was outboxed by Fullmer in their second fight and Gene was no Whitaker!

 

Meeting Hagler head on ,the man I pick would be Greb,he had the speed and stamina to out work even Hagler,plus though he didnt have great power ,he took a great punch.Knuckle and skull no one beats Greb at 160 imo.

 

Sorry. I meant if Jones had the correct plan. Not the same strategy Hearns adopted.

 

Nobody else could do it.
Hearns is the only man that could do it because he had the required speed,power and reach. In another fight maybe hearns could land his right on the point of the chin a la duran and stop hagler.
Many lesser middles trying this policy will either get countered and eaten up,or hagler will box them after a while. (eg a greb or tiger.)
Also,i dont think hagler would ever try this policy against many other middles,and hearns didnt have this strategy in mind,hagler just forced him to fight. Hagler gambled on being stronger and better defensively than hearns and won. Another time the gamble might not have paid off. On the night however hagler showed tremendous will power and he was the better man.

 

The obvious answer...Hard Rock Green

 

How about the 160 version of 'macho' that 'trounced' 'peak' leonard?!

 

Intelligent aggression is how Watts beat Hagler the first time. He pressed the fight...from the safety of his longer range.:good

 

Monroe went toe-to-toe and gave Hagler a major hiding as we know. Kevin finnegan (first fight) was getting the better of the inside battling but was being cut up from mid to long range, hence the stoppage. The first Antuofermo fight was close but marv deserved the nod, however he boxed far more sensibly in the rematch, behind the jab and double jab and cut Vito to pieces. Wise move as a brawl may have been too close to call again. If Hagler fought Tiger toe-to-toe for 15 rounds he'd lose. This is no paper chinned Hearns we're talkin' here, it's arguably the strongest middleweight of all-time. Hagler has about as much chance of knocking Tiger out as Rooster rating leonard in his all-time Top 100.