Cuevas vs Shields. Pipino beginning to slip?

Yes. About the worst thing a fighter could do against Hearns was stay cautiously at long range, thinking they could stay out of harm's way while figuring a way to get inside. What actually happens if they play right into Hearns's hands.
To beat Hearns a fighter needs to go forward and brawl him, something Cuevas certainly had the tools to do. And I don't think he lacked courage. He just lacked the brain to figure that out and adjust quick enough.

 

I agree totally. Hagler did it, and Barkley to an extent, but Barkley in the first fight and even more in the rematch took tremendous punishment. I actually think he won the Hearns rematch, but was diminished after by the punches he took. Well the problem is most guys who tried aggression like that with Hearns got knocked out. And Cuevas was knocked out also. I noticed Duran came out in round 2 aggressively and looked like he wanted to engage Hearns, since he was really hurt in round one. And he did ok for a little while, landing a nice right hand. But then Hearns was in punching range and hit Duran with the full leverage, and most guys hit with Hearns leverage don't do very well.

 

For what it's worth, I recently scored this fight. This is how I saw it.

Cuevas-Shields

5 point must system in effect.

Round 1: 5-4 Cuevas
Round 2: 5-4 Cuevas
Round 3: 5-4 Shields
Round 4: 5-4 Shields
Round 5: 5-4 Cuevas
Round 6: 5-5 Even
Round 7: 5-4 Shields
Round 8: 5-4 Cuevas
Round 9: 5-4 Cuevas
Round 10: 5-4 Shields
Round 11: 5-4 Cuevas
Round 12: 5-5 Even
Round 13: 5-4 Cuevas
Round 14: 5-4 Cuevas
Round 15: 5-4 Shields

Total: 70-67 Cuevas

This bout had plenty of shifts, but it really came down to the fact that Cuevas simply had more heft in his shots. Randy was the perfect foil for him - having a great jaw - but he had absolutely no pop in his punches. With so many of them being taps and sometimes even slaps, it was Cuevas' shots that impressed more and who took the lion's share on my card.

 

Although I don't believe I saw their 3rd fight, I did score their 2nd fight. love watching these two in action.

Pipino Cuevas - Angel Espada II

Round 1: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 2: 10-8 Cuevas (Cuevas scores a knockdown)
Round 3: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 4: 10-9 Espada
Round 5: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 6: 10-9 Espada
Round 7: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 8: 10-10 Even
Round 9: 10-10 Even
Round 10: 10-10 Even
Round 11: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 12: Espada could not answer the bell for the 12th round with a broken jaw

Total through 11 completed rounds - 108-103 Cuevas

Official scores were 106-104 Cuevas, 104-104 Even, 108-106 Espada. Don't know what fight that last official was watching but can't quite see that one, even by giving Angel the three even rounds. To begin, Espada really is a beautiful fighter to watch, but he was up against a force of nature in Cuevas. Cuevas will just plug away throwing bombs for however long the fight lasts and couldn't care less if he missed 4 if he could land one. The rounds I gave Espada he fought brilliantly using the ring and going in and out with beautiful counters. And some of those counters would have taken out a lesser man. Amazing that I had 3 consecutive rounds even but that was how the tide was rolling. By the 10th round, although I scored the 10th even, more from Espada preventing Cuevas from doing anything, one could see Espada was really coming apart at the seams and it was just a matter of time. Good fight for purists and for those who also like a bit of mayhem.