Hearns vs Kinchen, De Witt, Olajide, Roldan, Barkley............

Shows that Hearns was on the decline after 1985, and that he wasn't at his best above 154 lbs.

 

That level of competition was better than he was facing at 154 as well. You had a Benitiz up from 140 there. And then guys like up from 135 Duran. Fred Hutchings and guys of that ilk.

I did not like Tommy against another guy at 160 either, Singletary. The blast out of Shuler was the only time Tommy looked like he had that old 147 form where he was so devastating.

 

His competition at 147 and 154 was better than at 160 & 168. Barkley lost to that former 135 lber Duran.

 

benitez up from 140? benitez reached his peak at 147~154. hearns was past it. simple as that

 

Hearns's chin looks very vulnerable in back-to-back fights against Roldan, Barkley, Kinchen and Leonard. He looked surprisingly sturdy at 175 against Hill and Barkley (the rematch) in comparison.

 

Benitez was world champ at age 17 at 140. He'd been in there with top 10 competition a long time before he ever fought Hearns. If one of those 2 was on the slippery slope of the ladder it was Wilfred, far more than Hearns.

 

Except neither of them were on the decline. Benitez was looking about as good as he ever did at 154 up to that point.

Kinchen, Olajide, Barkley, DeWitt and Roldan are nothing special, especially skill-wise.

 

i did not say hearns was past it when he fought benitez. i was referring to the topic. hearns vs. benitez happened when they were at their peak, the fight itself shows that. geez.

 

Barkley lost to lots of guys. Plus a ton of tough bouts in some of the one's he did win. And Duran hardly had a spectacular dossier at 154 himself--Benitez/Hearns/Laing. Barkley at middle is a far better match for Roberto and against a guy easy to hit that stands right in front of him.

So I think the level of competiton at the higher weights was better and sure did not have a lot of guys with koby results when the bouts transpired. And Hearns was not overwhelming the bigger guys like he had at welter.

 

difference between duran that fought laing and the one that fought barkley was that in the latter fight duran actually showed up to fight. barkley never looked better than he did in the duran fight either.

 

No, Benitez was not at his peak so that means both guys were not at their peak when they met. 1 guy was and 1 guy wasn't. The guy Hearns did meet at his peak was Leonard #1. And after that Hearns fight, Wilfred sure didn't do too much

 

Size was a factor, no one denied it, but the level of competition was surely not better than at 147 and 154, unless you believe that the likes of DeWitt, Barkley and Olajide were in the class of Benitez and Duran, even Cuevas, which I'm sure you'll admit is an utterly ridiculous notion.

 

I too was not sold on puppies like "Luigi Minchillo, Freddy Hutchings and Mark Medal."

Hearns was forced to fight tuffer dude's above 154......bbb

MR.BILL:hat

 

THe more i think about it the more obvious it is that Hearns was at his very best at Welter.

So he learned to clinch better and had more experience at 160 especially, big deal imo, especially as his lesser defence and reflexes cuts that advantage right back anyway.

hearns was a destoyer and a dominator and never better at that role than as a Welter.He's not a lengthy career slow improver, subtle ringcraft guy.