What if it had landed flush on his jaw instead of the top of his head? One punch that very well may have changed the entire 80's fight scene and how we view it today. Hearn's did stun Hagler that night, what if potentially the hardest punch he had thrown during that fight landed clean instead of debilitating Hearn's?
I think it could've stopped him, especially as it stunned him and cut his forehead fairly badly. It also broke Hearns hand, but then again Hearns did have hand trouble. It's just one of those things that people will always talk about, but if Hearns had have stopped him in one it would've been one of the greatest wins of all time.
hearns was taller - he had to punch down - if he didn't want to land high on hagler's head he should have altered his attack. hagler's training took hearns' height into account - he knew he could withstand hearns best punch if it landed high.
There is no what if in this fight. Hearns had plenty of opportunity to land that right of his (and he threw it plenty) but Hagler just walked right through it! I think that right hand Hearns landed gets highly overrated by boxing fans. ......it caught Haglers attention, sure......but I thought Hagler was in full control of his faculties within a millisecond after that shot landed! On that night, Hagler just was'nt going to be denied. The most exciting three rounds by far I've ever seen!
I wonder what the result would of been in a rematch on the Mugabi and Shuler fight nights a year later,instead of the marvelous one and the hit man facing them, if Hagler and Hearns faced one another again,when Hearns peaked and Hagler was slipping.
I like Hearns a lot. But when Hearns cancelled the "first fight" when he fell and broke his "pinkie finger", then Hagler gained the psychological edge he needed. Hagler said: "For the kind of money we are going to make, I would have cut the finger off and fought tomorrow".
