Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Thomas Hearns

I always consider Hearns a H2H monster in that weight range, and the only way for me to favor someone over him is if they have an iron chin and hit hard. Hagler, for example.

All this said, Floyd always finds a way. I'm willing to bet he has that deep part he can reach down into, come back from half dead to fight on and pull it off. Like Ali, Holmes, Holyfield, etc. I wouldn't want to bet against him. Then again, did he ever face someone with the power of Hearns?

 

I can't think of a worse matchup for FMJ.

 

Mayweather Jr. Would have a much better chance against Robinson or Leonard. Though
he still loses by ko or wide decision.
At least those two are closer in size to
him.
Imagine anytime Mayweather Jr. Attempts his sneaky counters , he hits nothing but air because of Hearns extreme height and reach advantages . And even if he managed to land a few , he'd need to over extend, reducing what little fire power he had at welterweight,
Imagine Hearns catching him with a counter of his own as he is overextended?
This would be as close to a total mismatch as a fight can between two great fighters. ( Mayweather Jr was a great fighter,,,,,, at Jr.lightweight/ lightweight)
But let's be real, if we could Time machine Hearns from 1980-81 to 2008-11where I'd imagine May Jr. Was at his best at welterweight.
He wouldn't get near a boxing ring with Hearns. ( Or any great fighter and serious threat) in the opposite corner.
"Money" Mayweather couldn't be paid enough money.

 

Another way to beat Hearns is by stopping him. He gave Hagler and Leonard all kinds of trouble before they pulled out the stoppages. As good as Mayweather is, he ain't stopping Tommy. When Hearns gets behind his jab with, height and power advantages plus a very good work rate with speed...not to mention he's a very good boxer other than being one of the best boxer punchers of all time..... Equals a bad night for Mayweather.[/QUOTE]

 

Mayweather doesn't have the activity to test Hearns and whilst he will make Tommy miss more than usual, he will not be active enough, nor does he have Leonard's aggressiveness to take the fight to Hearns in the way that he will need to, in order to stop Tommy. This fight could look like the Benitez fight if Floyd plays it safe - if he gets aggressive and pisses off Tommy, I don't fancy his chances of seeing a full 15 rounds.

If Mayweather tries to take the fight to Tommy, he will get caught by a right hand at some point. As good as Floyd is (and those that know me, know that I rank him likely the most consistently brilliant of the elite defensive fighters at defensive manouevres), Tommy's left hand feints to set up the right hand, or the left hook upstairs or downstairs will catch Floyd at some point and Tommy hits too hard and too fast for me to see Floyd surviving.

The only match up worse than this for Floyd at welter is likely a SRR who likely hits as hard as Tommy, when fighting with intent (pre Doyle), but has the better punch resistance and better skills at closer range, which is where Floyd likely has to be to negate Tommy's longer reach and pure outboxing skills and speed.

I can't see how Floyd beats Hearns, Leonard or SRR at welter - Floyd was a 130lb elite - I don't see value in throwing him to the Gods of War at a weight that he didn't face comparable competition to what these three giants would bring to the ring.

 

Hmm? how many men would it take to drag Floyd into the ring with the Manos de Piedra?

 

Haha, many. Duran would beat Mayweather, but Floyd could cause Stone Hands problems. Hearns is an utter nightmare for Floyd.

 

A prime Hagler was an animal, brutal in your face, thudding shots, underrated shot picker, very little respect for anything you throw back, and had an absolute iron chin, and generally was just hard.

In the same way that he was the answer for Hearns, I see Hearns being the answer to Mayweather.

Floyd was a great fighter, unbelievable, has all the skills and then some, but I couldn’t see Tommy respecting his power or being bamboozled in to a chess match, he would be active and throwing hard shots.

I don’t disbelieve that Mayweather could bite down on the gum shield and fight out of adversity, but there’s a difference between turning things around against a Maidana, De La Hoya or Castillo but against a prime Tommy Hearns that’s a whole other level of resolve.

You can never write a proven quality operator like Mayweather out of it, but if my life was on the line I would take Tommy all day long, twice on a Sunday.

 

I think at welterweight Hearns would have to be favored given that mayweather didn’t even ascend to that weight class until later in his career. Tommy’s height, reach, power and speed would be enormous factors for Floyd to overcome. There’s is a slight chance however that Floyd’s defensive skill and crafty offense could see him to the cards and maybe steal a decision but it’s not a safe bet.

 

Don't think Hearns will KO Mayweather, but he has a very good chance of winning a UD.
I feel Hearns will score many points with his jab so Floyd will have to go on the offensive in order to win this match, and that will be very hard for him.

 

Hearns is too big, and punches too hard. Floyd can't outbox him either. Hearns by KO in this one.

 

Nobody ever outboxed Hearns.

 

Hearns’ thoughts on Mayweather:

“Floyd Mayweather Jr. is an excellent fighter. I will give credit where credit is due. I can not take anything away from Floyd Mayweather.

“Floyd Mayweather is a very smart fighter in the ring. He feints well, and he punches pretty good. I mean he’s pretty active while he’s in there.”

On what his strategy would be in a fight against Mayweather:

“Against me, I would have to respect him. I think that he could go the distance with me. I would have to out-think him and definitely out-jab him. He’s a shorter man, so he can’t get to me.

“I would have to keep the jab on him and keep him at a distance and force him to use his head movement all of the time. Somewhere down the line, I would probably hit him with a couple of right hands.

“I would probably get him with a good right hand if not an average right hand. If I was to go to the body, you know that might play into what he is probably trying to do strategically.

“I think that if I got closer to him trying to land a body shot, that would be what he wants. So I think that my best thing would be to stay on the outside and just box him. But I think that he could go the distance with me.”

https://www.ringtv.com/168729-hearns-on-mayweather-pacquiao-against-himself-leonard-hagler/

 

For me, there’s no way that Floyd would have won a decision. Not even in Vegas. Tommy would have put him into a defensive shell. He’d never have been active enough to have won the majority of the rounds.

 

Could very well be the case