Who takes this one? Hearns sometimes had stamina problems in the later rounds. Could that be his undoing against Fullmer?
I make Fullmer the favor, I cant see Hearns with his power knocking out the iron chin Fullmer outside of a Ray Robinson perfect shot. Though it could happen.
Fullmer will GET caught. But he was more about imposeing his Will on the guy, which WILL happen. Hearns is going to be in a war(Assuming we have a Lax Ref of couse) I think Hearns pounds Fullmer early, and Fullmer with his presser wears Hearns out late, as Fullmer has been known to do.
At middleweight: If 10 rounds, Hearns can outpoint Fullmer. If 12 or more Fullmer outpoints Hearns, with Hearns gassed at the end. Fullmer is just really rough & tough and makes most fights a fight of attrition.
Ten rounds will indeed Favor Hearns. One of the reasons why the 12 rounders was hard on fighters like Fullmer. They relly were the type of guys that needed the 3 extral rounds to pull the win vs the best.
I feel this would be a hard contest for both...Thomas Hearns was a proud fighter, who, when he stood his ground in this fight...it would play into more of Fullmer's type of contest...I think Hearns would be able to wobble Fullmer, maybe a knockdown...but as the fight would progress, Fullmer's clinching, pushing, and inside fighting, turns the tide in his favor...Fullmer finds out quickly that fighting on the outside with Hearns is not in his best interest...and presses to stay close. Fullmer by 14th round TKO in a bloody fight.
Fullmer brings to the table, the same stuff Barkley brought... a stylistically tough fight for Tommy Hearns. If they fought five times, Hearns would get at least one clean KO in there, but would be mauled in the other fights.