How did Hearns come back so quickly after Leonard 1 fight

Thomas Hearns weighed in the day of the Leonard fight ... not 30 hours before the fight ... like they do now ... the morning of the fight ... at 145 pounds.

He looked like a corpse. He even gave Emanuel Steward a shocked look at the weigh-in because he came in WAY too light. And that was all on Steward. Hearns' weight was a big story after the fight. Because he was supposed to be the bigger man. But Leonard weighed more. And Leonard bossed Hearns during the fight, like he was the bigger man.

If you see training footage leading up to their fight, Hearns looks like a strong middleweight. I don't know why they dried him out so much during the last week or two before the bout, but they messed up.

So Hearns came back THREE MONTHS LATER as a MIDDLEWEIGHT -- two divisions heavier. It was more Steward's doing. And it was more of a panic move. Steward knew he screwed up with Hearns' weight for the Leonard fight. Steward wasn't firmly established as a trainer yet, and he'd screwed up with Hearns' weight for the biggest fight of Hearns' young career.

He wanted Tommy to come back quickly against a middleweight contender to prove Tommy was "the big man." That they should still be feared. They did it again with Geraldo, who was also a middleweight.

They were hoping for some stunning KOs. They didn't get it with Singletary, but they did with Geraldo.

It almost backfired with Singletary. If I remember right, Hearns suffered a bad cut early in that fight and that's why he had to box.

 

Surprised that they didn't have Tommy figthing Dwight Davidson, that would have been a great test.

 

Hearns was an absolute warrior and despite his physical appearance could rebound from a severe loss with aplomb.

 

Stewart wasn't THAT stupid. He knew Davison would chew up and spit out Hearns or any other middleweight he sent against him.

 

Davison would have been comprehensively outboxed.

 

And God forbid learn from a defeat. Had he done a few things differently like clinch when he needed to rest/recover? Maybe he wins or goes the route.

 

Yes the SRL fight sure taught him how to clinch as it was terribly obvious he needed it in his repertoire.

 

I read somewhere Hearns was running twice a day before the Leonard fight. The Singletary fight was also a pretty good fight & he was cut.

 

That matchup may have sold out Joe Louis Arena in 1982.

 

I think it makes sense to put him in three months after. It's not as if he got thrown in the very next month or anything, there's nothing terribly unusual about fighting every three months (well, nowadays maybe, but not then).

What would he do over the span of a 6-8 month layoff? Get bigger and have that much more difficulty getting back into fighting shape? Sit there and mull over the defeat to Leonard and let it work its way into his psyche to the point it mentally and emotionally weighs on him even more?

No. bad idea. Get him back on the horse, treat it like a mere bump in the road, not this huge huge thing that needs to be "recovered from." That puts the idea in his head that it was more of a crushing thing than it needed to be.

 

Great fighters actually wanted the toughest challenges back then Leonard had Benitez, Duran x2, Kalule, and Hearns in a little more than a yr.

 

Ali became a "master at the clinch/hugging". (See Ali v Frazier 2).

 

Tommy was younger then he could do that. He was stopped by Leonard but not put on his back so he and Emanuel felt he was ok. And he was. He resumed his career well, although Singletary and Geraldo were not Leonard or Benitez caliber fighters. Although that was soon after.

 

But then of course he signed to fight Hagler in MAY1982 and sat ringside for Hagler-Lee. Hagler destroyed quickly. Tommy got ickly and all of a sudden a hurt pinky cancelled the fight. Jeez what an EXCUSE! Like Hagler said he'd cut it off to fight. So Tommy frightened stayed away for 3 yrs when Hag was on the downside after DURAN and ROLDAN. Fearless Roberto Duran presumed finished as a draw in 82 fought absolute prime 83 HAGLER and lost a skintight decision. Duran then fearlesssly fought HEARNS. Got slaughtered and retired. But he fought all in their prime after Tommy and Leo pussied out. But thats what great old fighters like Duran do and thats what pussys like HEARNS and LEONARD do.