Fight of the Year 1981: Leonard/Hearns or Sanchez/Gomez

Leonard -Hearns...no doubt...

 

"The Battle of the Little Giants". I believe that the scoring was relatively close until Sanchez closed the show.

 

Sanchez was always in control overall tho i reckon. It's a credit to Gomez he was able to come back and compete as well as he did.

 

I think Hearns/Leonard was more significant than Sanchez/Gomez

It pitted two established champions in the same division - unifiying the division.
Sanchez/Gomez was for a partial title, with one guy having to rise in weight to a division he was not established in. It was sort of like Gomez/Zarate, except the shoe was on the other foot this time.

I give Leonard full credit. It wasn't like Hearns was dropping down from Junior Middleweight to take the fight. He had been fighting consistently at 147 his whole career. He may have overtrained a bit and come in a pound or two light. That's his problem. As others have said on here, Hearns and Emanuel Steward didn't use it as an excuse at the time. A few on here, Rooster and Foxy, have extrapolated that because Hearns moved up immediately to 154 lbs, he must have been severely weakened by struggling to make 147 lbs. Yes, Hearns had the frame to move up, but, also, there was nothing for him at 147 lbs. Leonard held all the titles and wasn't going to give him an immediate rematch. The fight wasn't really controversial anyway, so the demand for a rematch at 147 lbs. wouldn't have been that high. Hearns had a goal, like most elites, of winning titles in multiple divisions, and the loss to Leonard made moving up in weight immediately, very sensible.

 

it was a good intriguing fight but most people didnt know who he was at the time or what he'd done

it wasnt like the Hagler hearns fight where everyone ( EVERYONE) was asking about it

in fact, I only heard about the Hagler - Hearns deal being done in late 1984 while sharing a cab (discussing sports)

 

Tommy also looked very thin and drawn, not strong at all (like Terry Norris in his winning fight with Leonard). Tommy was most likely suffering from being weight drained

 

Hearns was well established and known widely after the brutal stoppage of the established Pipino Cuevas.

Hearns/Leonard was a hyped super fight.

We are not comparing Hearns/Leonard to Hagler/Hearns, we are comparing it to Sanchez/Gomez.

Of the four fighters, Gomez was probably the least known, at least in the U.S. He had a long list of defenses at 122 but against mostly obscure fighters. Zarate was one of the exceptions.

 

For me Leonard vs hearns is the better fight as it's the more competitive contest of the two. Sanchez performance against Gomez was of the very highest standard and as good as Gomez undoubtedly was as a fighter Sanchez was truly a level above him that great night

 

Hearns came in at 145 lbs for some reason. Hearns at 154 lbs of the the Duran fight, would have been very hard for SRL to handle.

 

wouldve had completely different outcome. Hearns at 145 just didnt have enough power and couldnt make a dent in Leonard which is why people mistakenly believe Leonard's chin is atg status

at 154, it wouldvbe been like Louis- Schmeling rematch and we'd have an early departure

 

Great fights, great fighters. I like Leonard - Hearns, we have two top 10 ATG Welters putting on a clinic. Gomez was not established at Feather tho obviously he was one helluva fighter. I love both fights tho.

 

Caveman Lee-John LoCicero was an awesome fight too.