I've noticed in the SRL v Cuevas thread that a lot of posters rate Cuevas very highly, and also say that Leonard possibly would've lost to Pipino pre Montreal. So how highly do you rate Hearns' 2nd round ko demolition of Cuevas?
If you go back and read the Sports Illustrated coverage of the fight, Cuevas supposed plan was to box Hearns for the first couple of rounds "to find out what Hearns had" then Cuevas was "going to do something". Obviously, that was a bad plan. Plus, Cuevas shoes gave him poor footing on the canvas,....and I never understood why Cuevas would want to defend his title in Hearn's backyard, instead of in Mexico City or Los Angeles. That being said, Hearns fought the perfect fight using his basic advantages in height, reach & speed, and destroyed a very good fighter much like he did to Duran. IMO, it was a great win for Hearns.
great thread. full credit must be given to pipino for taking it in hearns hometown but i still reckon the result would of been the same. this mathup is like the welterweight equivalent of Foreman V Frazier. hearns has the style and skills to blast out cuevas every time
It's a great win, but Ray Leonard would have handled Cuevas fairly well himself. People saying he took the easy option in Duran who was 71-1 at the time are just misinformed.
I rate it as an excellent win. Cuevas hadn't been beaten in five years and he was a tough fighter. That Hearns could have blown an opponent like Cuevas away in just two rounds was a stupendous accomplishment.
But just because Hearns had the right style for Cuevas didn't mean Leonard did. Remeber style's make fights.
It was an excellent win as Hearns was widely tipped to lose the fight - Cuevas was seen as an absolute destroyer at the time. After he won none less than Ali himself called Hearns 'awesome'. Manny Steward should get a lot of credit for the win. He told Tommy to stick out the right arm every time Cuevas threw his potent left hook to block it. That and Tommy's superior reach and speed were the key factors in the fight.
I rate it highly...mainly because it was such a devastating performance. Cuevas was top choice and Hearns screwed him into the ground with one big right hand. It looked like for one second, Cuevas entire skeletal structure melted and he was nothing more than meat with eyes. Amazing stuff.
Hearns beat Cuevas so convincingly and hurt his post fight achievements so much that Cuevas has been damaged quite a bit historically, IMO. Most who weren't following boxing at that very time don't realise just how dangerous and deadly Pipino truly was. He was never the same again.
After the fight in 1980...I remember reading some scribe saying that this Hearns would have beaten SSR at Welterweight...YES?....NO?
Muhammad Ali met Hearns prior to the fight & he told Hearns to keep his Left hand in Cuevas' face to measure for the right. (Incidently, which is an illeagle tactic). If you watch fight, you can see Hearns throw a jab & keep the left out there to measure for the right. Hearns tried it against Leonard & the Ref. immediatly warned Hearns.
Great win because Pipino was a big puncher who had a lot of knockouts and title defenses. Win was a precursor to what Hearns did to Duran. Hearns was wonderful at using his height, reach, and speedy snap against shorter punchers. Cuevas was too slow for Leonard and probably would have gotten hit a lot and picked apart. But his strength and power might have made it a semi-interesting match. I think both Duran and Benitez were superior to Pipino.