I thought Curry was too cautious against Starling in their first fight but won the second in convincing fashion. Hearns would have been a bad match-up for DC but at his best at 147 Curry certainly had a punchers chance.
Harder hitting Tito? Based on what? I've only seen his fights with McCrory and Curry, and he didn't seem too hard hitting to me there. Not on the level of Trinidad. Less talented than Tito sure, but definitely not harder hitting. Again, I don't want to presume I know everything about him only having seen 3 fights, but from what I have seen, again I say no way. Quartey would have set a compubox record for most jabs landed in a fight against him. The way he tucks his elbows in, I doubt Jones has much success with his left rip to the body either. Against Cuevas, he has a chance, but at the same time, Cuevas hits hard back, so I wouldn't be surprised if he busted Jones up either. His skills were good, but I think his speed was pretty average. When you bring speed into the equation there have been many better offensive fighters throughout the ages. It was evident that it was two skilled fighters in there, but really, I felt neither guy was establishing anything substantial til the final round, where they opened up. Curry was too slow to penetrate Starling's guard and Starling never had that good an offense to begin with. I think a much better bout was Whitaker-McGirt 1. They slugged it out on the inside and fought well from the outside as well, and they were landing some meaningful shots in there, all with good technique and better speed than Curry and Starling.
I must admit i'm shocked that anyone could criticise Curry speed wise. The man was considered one of the sharpest and fastest punchers of his era. I've always considered him just below the absolute top rung. The man has brilliant handspeed.
The hook that felled McCrory would have felled Hearns at welterweight. (Manny Steward managed both McCrory & Hearns and probably knew this too). But at Middleweight, the 6'1" Hearns can take the blows from the 5"10" Curry...so Hearns boxes early, then stops Curry after about 10 rounds. (Hearns probably gets wobbled a few times too). Curry's star shown brightest at welterweight.
Maybe maybe not. The thing is Cuevas threw hundreds of hooks that would have dropped most any man at 147 but Hearns massacred him. Curry's faster and a bit more skillful, but he lacks the iron jaw of Cuevas. Never mind Curry's hook, Hearns threw right hands at 147 that would have ended the night for Donald. He was also lightning fast and had the movement, snap, right hand and jab that could keep most anyone at bay at 147. McCrory came in stiff and almost frozen. I'd venture he was intimidated. None of this for Hearns. Curry doesn't have Leonard's durability to last long enough IMO, and i plain think Hearns would outbox Don anyways. Hearns beats him at any weight, Donald will not be able to take Hearns power and Hearns has the tools to outbox him anyway. Certainly, he did bugger all higher. Post Honeyghan he never fought that well again save a few early rounds vs McCallum. Hearns and Manny were sitting at 154 with the title fully prepared for Curry if need be. Curry made quite a bit of noise about fighting Hearns but never seemed to come thru. Admittedly Hearns was aiming higher, but Donald could have easily been accomodated if he made the jump.
I don't find Curry's brilliant defence and patient style to be the right blend to overcome Hearns. Don's counter-punching power would make Tommy aware that he's best boxing safely behind the long jab. Think Tommy vs Benitez and you're just about right. Hearns UD.
Who would you put above him, who would you put him on par with and who would you have below him? Would you disagree with the following ranking: Just dealing with welterweights, I think he is clearly slower than the likes of Robinson, Hearns and Leonard who occupy the top tier. I think he is even slower than the likes of Mosley, McGirt and DLH, who would make a second tier. I'd put his speed in line with say a Kid Gavilan, Jose Napoles or Luis Rodriguez. Now that's above average speed, so I was wrong to categorise it as just average, but I think quite a few guys have better speed, and his speed is nothing special. I think his punching skill compensated quite a bit for his (lack of exceptional) speed.
Hard to compare. I'd say at his sharpest, like the matches with McCrory and LaRocca, i'd grade him 4.5 out of five and have him on the second tier, with a Leonard being on tier one. He's faster than Napoles for me, and i certainly don't think Napoles is slow by any means.
The right hand is the left hook's nemesis, and the left hook is right hand's nemesis. As the ol' Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest said: "Get there firstest with the mostest." Hearns - Cuevas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70xDiciIE-I Curry-McCrory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQrveIA838A At 147 Curry was at his physical maturity, Hearns was still filling out. Obviously at 160 Hearns was huge ,and Curry was out of his league against Tommy.
Curry would give Hearns a few worrisome rounds, but after about the fifth, Tommy finds his range, and Donald takes the ten sometime in the seventh round.
Sweet, you wouldn't think Cuevas it very hard if all you saw were his fights with Shields and Hearns.Jones wasn't special by any means and was one dimensional, he needed to get fighters in front of him so he could land with full leverage. I've seen plenty of his fights and would say he's possibly the hardest hitting Welter since Hearns.a brief career hold him back of course, but like Mugabi you could clearly see just from the type of knockouts and the way opponents react that he was a monster hitter.He'd have done very well against the giys Cuevas defended against.If he'd hung around to take on Honeyghan, Breland Brown and co people might have a greater appreciation of him. Compare how Milton reacts to his punches and the way he fights against him to even much bigger Mike McCallum for instance. Quartey doesn't match up well with that kind of hitter.He doesn't fight well backing up and his own power was nowhere near what his Ko record indicates. Want to see how good he was against a stalking big puncher? Watch the Lopez bout.Ike wins most of the rounds, doesn't look convincing and is way too open to the left hook.he was ragged and strained trying to contain a guy that fights at a sleepwalking pace.Quatey was no menace in the face of real power or aggression. Jones would be on his ass the whole fight pressuring relentlessly and throwing loads of punches.With Quartey's slow feet, unsteadyness in the face of power and open stance to a great crushing left hook, i see him doing great early, getting hit more and more, eventually terribly hurt and rapidly finished off due to his crap movement.Jones wouldn't let him get away like the slow lazy Lopez repeatedly did.Things are going to go bad quick for Ike once those left hooks start landing and they will. Like Lopez, Jones had an excellent chin and no doubt he'd have to take a beating but it's one outcome i'd bet a lot of money on.A styles thing..not a case of being better overall.I can live with anyone picking Frank Bruno, er i mean Ike. We'll have to agree do disagree on the speed issue.Curry didn't throw in extended combination like Leonard i'll agree there.For single shots he was extremely quick, quicker than anyone since except maybe Mosley.Napoles was noticeably slower, while to me Gavilan was very very fast.Starling was hardly slow himself, he threw beatiful triple left hooks a few times and could counter with great speed when the mood took him. As for Whitaker Mcgirt i agree it was a damn good fight-i might put it in second place as far as chessmatches go.Curry would have beaten both on that night comfortably imo.I'd take Whitaker over starling.
Hearns would win via KO. Curry would probably be best trying to force his way inside. I believe he was more well rounded than Hearns inside. Probably just as comfortable at close quarters as he was at long range. However, he was a patient stalker who lived off his accuracy, that style just isn't good enough to beat Hearns. Hearns KO inside 7
Considering what Hearns did to Bruce Curry early on, it's easy to imagine that the brothers Curry discussed Tommy amongst themselves. As Don shared the Curry family chin, he may have had reservations about contending with Tommy, at least until trashing Hearns stablemate McCrory. Jun Suk Hwang had his back to the ropes when he decked Don with a had that showed no signs of coming when Hwang uncorked it. After seeing that, then comparing it to the right hand off the ropes which Tommy blasted Hagler with in the opening seconds of their thriller, I don't see Don doing any better against Tommy than brother Bruce did. Hearns would only need a single lightning right to put him out.
Tho Don's chin seemed substancially better than Bruce's i have to agree that Hearns is a realistic chance of a one punch stoppage at some stage. Never mind Hearn's right hands at 160, his scorching delivery at 147 left many people prone. 147 is the only fair weight to fight at for Curry and many many people think this is where Hearns actually hit the hardest including Dinner and SS from memory.