Floyd Mayweather vs Thomas Hearns - 147

SRL didn’t throw combos at hearns until Hearns tired late in the fight. Prior to that he picked and popped (I admit not much success). When Hearns tired then he stood in front of him and played more offense.

I’m not ignoring anything. I agree Hearns is one of the most dangerous men ever ag that weight maybe the most dangerous offensively. I don’t think this is an easy fight!

I don’t know why anyone would think the best fighter in the world the last twenty years wouldn’t stand a chance against Hearns? I get it Hearns was amazing. He’s a top 50 fighter ever imo. I just think he losses a very close fight. I actually think SRL gives Mayweather his toughest fight.

 

Hearns would have respected Floyd’s skills, but he wouldn’t have had an ounce of respect for his power.

The Leonard-Hearns fight was a 15 round fight that Leonard turned into a shootout.

This would have been a technical boxing match over 12 rounds.

It wouldn’t have been fought aggressively at a high pace.

 

1. Then why on earth would your beloved Mayweather have success with that strategy?

2. Hearns and Mayweather are both top 50 fighters of all time. Hearns probably a bit ahead. It has been explained to you in depth why Hearns is a nightmare match up for your beloved Mayweather head to head.

 

He boxed with Hearns and got bashed up.

How would Floyd at 5’8 have had any more success using the same strategy?

Ray got bashed up.

Benitez lost a decision.

Yet somehow a smaller Floyd would have done what they couldn’t, to have won the majority of the rounds?

That’s logical to you?

We’ve already explained why Floyd wouldn’t have beaten Hearns.

It doesn’t matter if he was a better fighter.

The only thing relevant is how they’d have matched up stylistically.

To have won enough rounds against Hearns in order to have won a decision, he’d have needed to have gotten inside of his reach to have outboxed him, but without also taking a lot back in return.

Now please explain how that would have been possible?

Please explain how Floyd could have done it, when other great boxers who were bigger than Floyd weren’t able to.

 

If you go back a few posts I did explain it. I’ll go I’ve it more briefly if you don’t feel like searching. Floyd’s not comparable to Benetiz. Floyd’s better in every way not to mention more adaptable. Benetiz used great head movement as opposed to great footwork. Floyd’s footwork and use of angles would be his greatest asset this fight. SRL was able to throw Hearns off balance using angles but couldn’t get more then a pop shot or two. Floyd would do a better job at picking his spots. Floyd would also do a better job at making Hearns miss. I think he tired Hearns out quicker but doesn’t hurt him. Once he tires and his punches aren’t as affective (Hearns lost a lot of speed later rounds against SRL) Floyd will step it up offensively. So to answer your question great defense, great footwork, use of angles, feints will win Floyd this fight.

 

Yep, and in every one of those instances he schooled his opponent off the ropes. One of Floyd's most overlooked and unmentioned skills was his rope a dope he employed over the last few years of his career...just one more arrow in the quiver for Hearns to deal with.

We all know Hearns is taller... we get it. it's not the ideal style matchup for Floyd. but your assertion that he would be like a fish out of water with no way to deal with the adversity is what is so asinine....

I will even concede to you that Hearns should be the favorite at 154...but at 147 Hearns was absolutely frail compared to Mayweather. The loss to Leonard exposed a lot of Hearns vulnerability with stamina and durability.
At the higher weights he was getting knocked out by bigger dudes, so we won't even go there when discussing Floyd..but at 147 Floyd is certainly the more solid and sturdy fighter, and I suspect his stamina is either equal to or greater than Hearns....

Yes Hearns has edge in reach and power , you should be awarded some kind of Lifetime Achievement plaque for pointing that out, but I'd still bet on Floyd's timing and accuracy to be the difference, and if ANYONE wasn't going to finish the fight at 147, I'd suspect it would be Hearns.

Now, put that in your pipe and smoke it

 

Nobody is saying that Floyd and Benitez were exactly the same.

What we’re saying, is that Benitez was also a very technical boxer, with great skills, and who was slightly bigger, but who lost to a version of Hearns who wasn’t at 100%

I’ve already said that the Leonard fight was fought at a fast pace and was scheduled for 15 rounds.

Leonard exhausted him and knocked him out in the 14th round after having gone after him, where he turned the match into a toe to toe shootout.

A fight between Floyd and Hearns would never have played out like that.

Floyd didn’t have the power and the aggressive nature at the higher weights in order to have put Hearns under that kind of pressure.

Floyd could have replicated some of Ray’s shots, using his hand speed and his timing, but after a prolonged period, it was obvious to everyone watching that Hearns couldn’t be outboxed overall. Ray found tiny pockets of success here and there, but in the end, he realised that he couldn’t sustain it, which culminated in him being outboxed and busted up. At which point he went with plan B, which was to turn the boxing match into a fight. A plan B that Floyd wouldn’t have had, as he didn’t possess Ray’s size, strength or firepower.

You’re assuming two huge things here:

1. That Hearns would have tired.

2. That Floyd would have fought offensively.

Those are 2 huge assumptions that are based on nothing.

Floyd was a safety first fighter who would have been extremely worried about Hearns’ huge power.

What if Hearns hadn’t have tired out? (why/how would he have)

Great defence, great angles, feints and footwork couldn’t have won Floyd a decision over Hearns.

He’d have needed to have gotten past the jab, and inside of a 78” reach, whilst he scored shots and not gotten hit and hurt in return.

A great defence and feints doesn’t score points in order to win the majority of the rounds.

He couldn’t have beaten Hearns fighting in that manner.

You needed a great offence to have beaten Hearns.

Floyd at 5’8 with his safety first style, did not possess it.

You are giving Floyd way too much credit here.

You are making huge assumptions, ignoring logic, and are trying to convince us that Floyd could have done something that bigger fighters in Leonard, Benitez, Hagler and Hill couldn’t have done.

It’s both silly and illogical.

A significantly smaller, defensive minded fighter couldn’t have beaten Hearns on a decision.

 

Ha!

Oh my.

Another post.

More waffle.

Zero breakdown of how their styles would have meshed.

Awful.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it? SMH.

You are the guy who thinks that Floyd had more power than Leonard at WW and JMW, on the basis that he achieved more knockouts.

Stop waffling, and give us a breakdown on how the fight would have played out.

This is now the 3rd time that I have asked you.

I’ll wait.

 

1. No. Let's not make out that Mayweather was as good as Duran at in-fighting.

2. You are a complete moron.

3. How would you know that Mayweather was more sturdy at that weight? He never fought an offensive powerhouse like Leonard at that weight like Hearns did.

4. You are just using buzzwords now.

 

Not sure what you’re getting at Hagler and SRL knocked him out. Both weren’t exactly much bigger then Floyd.

everything we are doing here is assuming. Like you’re assuming Floyd’s gonna get ripped up by Hearns jab when no ones ever been able to rip him up. This is all assumptions

 

You are still ignoring that Mayweather's defence would be ineffective against Hearns's height, reach, etc.

 

Your posts are also full of silly assumptions and wishful thinking.

You seriously think that Mayweather had the power of Leonard or Hagler?

 

The great Tommy Hearns would win in my opinion. Physically bigger but had the boxing skills and aggressive style to boot. Max Kellermen spoke about a potential Hearns vs.Floyd fight and said Floyd would never step into the ring with Tommy.

 

Marvin Hagler was a big punching MW.

Ray Leonard had a lot of firepower at WW and JMW, and was even able to knock out a guy up at SMW-LHW.

Both of those guys had considerably more power than Floyd, and both of them were naturally bigger and significantly stronger than what Floyd was.

Both of those guys were also great boxers, with great technical skills.

One of them tried to outbox Hearns but got bashed up, and the other one didn’t even try to employ those tactics at all.

Think about that for a moment.


I never said that Floyd would have been ripped up by the jab.

I am simply telling you 2 things:


1. Floyd didn’t have the power to have gone with the strategies that Ray and Marvin employed.

2. In order to have tried to have won a boxing match, (his only viable option) he’d have needed to have boxed in an offensive manner, whilst negating a jab and getting inside the range of a master boxer who had a 78” reach, whilst also scoring enough rounds to have won a decision without getting hit or hurt.


Again, for the majority of his career at WW-JMW, Floyd was a safety first fighter who had hand issues.

He used his reach and speed to overcome slower, lesser fighters.

A boxing match against a prime Hearns would have been something that he’d never encountered before in his whole life.


If you analyse their styles and how they’d have matched up stylistically, it’s pretty easy to envisage how the fight would have played out.

 

And they wouldn’t have banked him the rounds needed for a decision win.