i am now convinced Thomas Hearns was the greatest ever!

Hearns could but Robinson was also fast and explosive with both hands. Robinson would get to him and stop him more often than not.

 

You must be trolling.

 

Thank God your view isn't a critical one in the annals of boxing

 

Lack of defense, chin and physical strength when an opponent successfully penetrated his massive reach.

See Barkley, Leonard and Hagler fights Or, even the Kinchen fight.

 

Don't get me wrong, Hearns is an all time great fighter... he just wasn't the best ever, and frankly he's out the top 15-20 for me.

 

And then he won. By TKO.

 

After getting told he was blowing it, and leaving till the last THREE minutes? Do me a favour, mate.

 

What does this bout look like on his record? A win by TKO or a loss?
I'll do you a favor...don't waste your time looking it up. Leonard won.
Which is all that matters.

I suppose you give Ezzard Charles the win over Marciano because he was "schooling"
Marciano until that last crushing punch? Please.... a win is a win.

 

Had he not had that advice, would Ray had won? No. How come he couldn't do it for the previous 14, huh?

 

Last post from me...you can have the final word, IDK. There is a website boxrec. Check it out.
It shows Leonard TKO Hearns in Las Vegas, 16 September, 1981.

Over to you, son.

 

Love Hearns, Possibly the most devastating puncher in the welter/ jr. Middle history, (Maybe Cuevas left hook at welter) Hearns had almost (key word ALMOST) Everything one wants to see in a pro fighter. Power, great skill level, devastating jab, great balance, speed, and had very bad intentions for every opponent. Hearns went out to knock you out. It was his mindset. BUT, BUT, his two biggest fights he failed. Stamina issues, average, maybe below average chin. Drained quickly from body attacks . Sure he broke the right hand agains Hagler, sure he out boxed Leonard. But he did LOSE those fights. Usually if a fighter wins the 1st fight, he usually wins the 2nd easier. I don't see anything changing against Hagler or Leonard esp close too their primes other than Hagler or Leonard getting him out earlier. Hearns in my opnion is the 3rd best welter in history . But the best fighter in history ? I respectively disagree. At Jr.Middle? naybe the g.o.a.t . At Middle? No way, not in the top 10. Same at Lt. Heavy. So no way he is the G.o a.t. top 20 or 30, sure. Could see that.

 

Whilst this is probably true i think it gets overwhelmingly overdone.

People forget how highly regarded Cuevas was and it was a big big fight. Cuevas was going into his 12th title defense over 4 years and only one fighter had lasted the distance. He was a very feared fighter. Post Hearns he was never the same.

The Benitez fight was also a whopping one for Hearns, looking to rebuild his career. Benitez was considered to have found his niche at 154 and many thought he could beat SRL at that weight. Some even thought he had a live chance of beating Hagler, which was being talked about with great interest. From memory Benitez was a 7-5 fave over Tommy.

Then we have Duran, who was coming off a few superb performances. It's up there with the greatest KO's in history and was an extremely important fight.

Even the rematch with SRL with both past prime was a very very important fight, particularly for Hearns. Leonard was coming off his great upset of Hagler and a ko of Lalonde and Hearns was written off.

Then you have Hill, another big big win imo.

There's a lot more to Hearns than Hagler and SRL. Archie Moore kept losing to Charles. You can safely say Hagler lost the biggest fight of his life even if both were on the downside of their careers.

Others like say Larry Holmes and Joe Louis go thru an entire career without having the chance to beat a fellow great when they are in their prime. Hearns would be 2-2 against fellow ATG's.

If Hearns lost to Benitez or Duran we'd be hearing he lost the 3 biggest fights of his life.

 

A truly remarkable fighter and probably just about the best division jumper I can think of. But NOT the greatest fighter of all time.

 

Last six minutes actually. And a fighter of Leonard's skills can do a lot of damage to a fighter in the condition Hearns was in by the 14th.

Doesn't matter if he had to be told he was 'blowing it', either. I don't see how a trainer's geeing him up detracts from Leonard's performance. Emanuel Steward was probably telling Tommy to hold on. Say Tommy had, and got the decision, would there be an asterisk against that because his trainer had given him good advice between rounds?