How can i fight like Thomas Hearns

Be super tall and have long arms

 

Yeah and you also need crazy fast twitch muscles and huge power.

 

Contact Javan Sugar Hill Steward to train you and base yourself in Detroit Michigan.

 

Sorry, man, we're pulling your leg a little. But Hearns was a bit of a physical outlier in how his style worked.

 

I assume you mean an aggressive, 1-2 artist, boxer-puncher. If so, Hearns isn't the guy to emulate, since his fundamentals could be sloppy and his style was heavily centred around his freakish dimensions and physicality.

Guys like Edwin Rosario, John John Molina, and to a lesser extent Erik Morales, are good placeholders/replacements if you need them.

On a technical level, you wanna make sure you keep your fundamentals polished and make a few tweaks like Hearns did. Angle your feet, work on the flicker jab, angle your punches down (if you're taller) and learn how to stiff arm.

And somewhat importantly watch the fights. I think this might help out:

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/tommy-hearns-the-thread.648849/

 

Use every single advantage God has blessed you with. Give 100% of yourself to the sport in terms of training, learning the craft, footwork, timing, infighting, etc. Get a top notch trainer and listen to him, he sees things you cannot by yourself. Make no excuses and get back on the horse whenever you fall off. And never give up. Ever.

That is what Tommy did.

 

Hearns’s fundamentals were not sloppy at all. He had an excellent 1-2 but he could throw devastating 3-4 punch combinations. The left hook to the body was beautiful.

 

'Every masterpiece has it's flaws. Thomas Hearns was no different. From a technical perspective, he had issues with clinching. He didn't like it; a fighter's fighter. In fact, one of his biggest flaws in the Leonard fight was that he couldn't clinch effectively and so had an another weakness highlighted.

The other technical weakness which Hearns had wasn't his fault. As a lanky fecker, he was often all over the place with his footwork and hands, Leonard and Hagler took advantage of this.'

 

You said he was sloppy which is what I took issue with. He was very good technically and sound fundamentally.

 

Start off being at least 4 inches taller than the average fighter at your weight class, also have a wingspan with an ape index of +5, have fast hands and frightening power.

Have a versatile flicker jab you can throw from different angles to control range and set up the big right hand.

Use that reach and lead left hand to stiff arm opponents framing off their head to control distance and position. Also use that extended left to use a collar tie to pull opponents off balance and move them into the right hand, you'll see other Steward trained fighters like Lewis and Wlad employ these tactics. Also throw jabs but leave your hand extended in front of your opponents face to blind them for the right hand to follow. Also when retracting the jab pull your opponents guard down to open them up.

Develop a chopping right hand like Hearns had, not a traditional straight right hand, he'd arc the right hand, with his elbow pointing upwards, this allowed him to go round his opponents lead hand to land the right. It also allowed him to throw the right had at closer ranger with power.

Use plenty of feints along with jabs to the body which Hearns used against Duran to open him up for that right hand.

Use plenty of movement when needed to create space and stutter steps along with feints to keep your opponent guessing as to when you'll attack. Occasionally when circling, square up and throw a right hand lead before circling away again which was a move Hearn often did and copied off his hero Ali.

Don't give up your reach like some tall fighters do. If you're taller fight tall and fight on the outside. But when inside Hearns was a vicious body puncher, especially with the left hook, the Schuler fight is probably the best example of this. Hearns wasn't a great inside fighter but one thing he did well when in close was work the body.

Learn to clinch, that skill he lacked in the first Leonard fight cost him that fight, in the rematch he'd learned to tie opponents up.

Don't neglect the hooks, while Hearns in known for straight shots, he often threw hooks, usually setting them him by jabbing, seeing his opponent raise a high guard in response then come round the high guard with a hook where a straight would be blocked.

But the best thing you can do to learn to fight like Hearns is train with a Kronk trained trainer like Sugar Hill.

 

I think his biggest technical flaw was his lack or a rear hand defence that's what saw him get caught time and again with the left hook off Leonard in both fights, especially when he was pivoting off from an exchange. If he had just learned to keep that right hand up or after throwing a right switch stances when he was squared up to then block the left hook with his shoulder then he wouldn't of gotten caught by those left hooks by Leonard.

 

If your not lanky and don’t have a natural superb boxing rhythm you shouldn’t really be trying honestly. Just stay consistent with hard work at the gym and develop your own natural style.

 

Hearns set up his straight right with a long jab, sometimes he would use a pawing jab to disguise the right hand, he used to slip a lot of shots too with fast reflexes, awesome boxer.

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