Did Tommy Hearns have a stamina problem?

I feel it was a combination of perhaps average stamina and less than average durability, combined with the fact he came in too light against Leonard in the first fight.

When I say 'average' I mean average or 'below average' for an all-time great boxer. It was more than fine for beating meat and potatoes contenders.

I believe Tommy was the most naturally gifted of the fab 4. That includes Leonard. He was never outboxed. He's the most exciting fighter I have ever seen.

 

I think he came in at 145 for the 1st leonard fight, incredible!!!! he's 6ft 1in tall, how did he manage to screw up like that, what a shame as he was well ahead in the fight & thats got to haunt Steward.

 

Hearns won a 15 rounder, several 12 rounders and scored late KOs too.
So his stamina wasn't necessarily bad.

He didn't have the stamina to go 14 rounds with Leonard, or 3 rounds with a ferocious animalistic and desperate Marvin Hagler, but that's more a credit to those guys than a serious doubt on Hearns' stamina.

 

What do people mean when they say he was "too light" in the Leonard fight ?

 

He came in at 145lbs.

I have an interview from The Ring magazine not long after the fight and he clearly stated he never had any problems making the weight whatsoever for the fight. He also mentioned that stamina wasn't a problem during the late states of the fight either.

 

He did--pretty crazy. Steward admitted they definitely made some mistakes as a corner in that fight.

Anyway, Tommy's stamina definitely wasn't bad....but it wasn't a strength either. So it's a non-issue. It wasn't a trait that was going to win or cost him a fight.

 

Apparently Steward had to stop him training. He claims that Hearns was so up for the fight he couldn't stop himself. Emmanuel argues that Hearns basically overtrained. Some people at ringside noted that Hearns wasn't sweating at all.

I don't know...but at 145 he was obviously going to be drained. I think that impacted on his stamina to some degree but then i think the late rounds KO loss probably impacted upon him mentally in later fights.

 

:good

He was 145 against Bruce Curry too.
It's often a case that a fighter will be at his lightest when he's in his best shape. So 145 is not necessarily too light.
What exactly do people think he's be doing differently at 146 1/2 ?

 

Hearns said in an interview with The Ring after the fight that by coming in at 145 showed he never had a problem with the weight.

 

I only ever recall Tommy looking to have stamina trouble in the first SRL fight as he came in at 145 - 2 lbs under the max limit - & he supposedly overtrained for that fight too as it was the biggest fight of his career.

I wouldnt put his stamina on the same level as an Armstrong or Salvador Sanchez but he certainly had at least average stamina for an elite level fighter, Ive never seen stamina as a major flaw in his arsenal, personally.

 

Thats the way I was until one day I was bored as **** with lots of time on my hands & I went thru his entire record searching for every full fight of his on the net, there were quite a lot & since then he has become one of my favourites, a real master boxer on the level I never knew he was like... well worth checking out the Hitman in more detail, freighteningly good fighter, seeing Tommy vs the mortals of boxing really makes me respect Leonard & Hagler all the more if thats possible, check him out.

:good