Fights that ended early but you would have wanted to see a rematch/rubber match

Hagler seemed to think so.
From Roberto Durans best I faced:
"Marvin Hagler, who is a good friend of mine, told Hearns the only reason he knocked me out is because I wasn’t at my best."

Personally, I think he does too. He fought an out of shape, no conviction, riding the high of his last fight Duran. The very same version of him that Leonard clowned on in new orleans. Its no stretch to say he does much better if he fights seriously.

 

Thanks for your opinions on that. Much appreciated.

 

Frias-Mancini
Garza-Meza
Hagler-Hearns
Hamed-Kelley

 

Duran once said he should have fought Hearns at 160, especially when you have to lose weight down from 190. But I don't think it would have made much difference at that time with Roberto's party schedule. Thou the Duran who fought Barkley was far more focused and he'd have done better against the Tommy that Barkley fought but I can't say if it would have been different.

 

Thanks for your take.

I’ll just add that if Duran wasn’t sufficiently focused then Tommy himself was the complete opposite. He was on a mission and appeared as intense as he ever looked.

So steeled, Tommy took a fair right hand from Duran in the 2nd round but it didn’t faze him at all.

Just imo, Duran regrouped amazingly after a nightmare first round. Rarely cut, he was cut. It distracted him. Rarely knocked down, he was knocked down - and that was about 20 seconds after realising that he was cut.

Not fully recovered for round 2 I guess but still much better off than a lot of other fighters might’ve been. He seemed to be thinking, “okay, what am I going to do with this guy (Hearns).

Early in the round (2) he landed the aforementioned right hand on Tommy’s jaw.

However, Tommy got him going all over again shortly thereafter in round 2.

 

Holt-Torres 2 would have been nice to see #3.

 

I don't think Dempsey could have pulled the same defeat on Willard if he had 20 tries. If Jess was more active going into a rematch, he has a good chance of weathering the storm and getting a late stoppage as Jack wilts.

 

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