Cuevas and his winning streak...

The nice thing about Pipino's title reign was that, for the most part, the really good legitimate contenders were dealt with just as conclusively as the also-rans. Harold Weston was legitimate, and had his jaw broken. Pete Ranzany was legit, and was stopped in two. Miguel Campanino probably wasn't as good as his record indicates, but he wasn't bad, and hadn't been stopped prior to meeting Cuevas. Clyde Gray was on the slide, but still viable, and he lasted all of two rounds.

Cuevas was a legitimate power-puncher, and his title run was pretty damned good, all things considered. That, in turn, makes the manner in which he was dispatched by Hearns that much more impressive.

 

Alot of questions have been brought up as to Cuevas' cometition. But who else was there? Cuevas ducked noone. In fact most fighters were reluctant to fight him. If Napoles hung on for another year, he most likely wouldn't have had the skills left to outbox Cuevas & stay away from the hammer blows. Stracey would have been competitive, but he could not have kept Cuevas off either. Armando Muniz would have been an excellent match if he challenged for the WBA title instead of the WBC. Which leavs Palomino, This was a natural. But for some reason it never came off. But Cuevas was all for the proposed unification match. Also Antonio Cervantes could have moved up to challenge Cuevas, but chose not to. And on a last note In Cuevas' first post Hearns fight in Los Angeles, He challenged Bernardo Prado, Who at the time was one of the biggest punchers in the Division, And Cuevas knocked him out in Two rounds.