If Hearns had an iron chin.

I don't really think Hearns had a bad chin. He got worn down by Leonard who's one of the greatest boxers of all time and got stopped by a very strong Hagler.

 

In terms of resistance to body punishment, I am indeed comparing Stracey to Hearns. Of course Tommy should have outclassed Palomino [he outclassed everybody], but he was no match for Carlos in terms of stamina or punch resistance to either the head or body.

As thin as Benitez was, Wilfredo could really take it downstairs. Give Hearns an iron chin, and he still has deficits in endurance and body shot resistance. Sure, Tommy would outclass the iron chinned Palomino, but could he outlast Carlos over 15?

 

Agreed.

 

This fellow?

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He had a big upper body. It's his lower body that was smaller than usual.

 

Chin and body... Heavy handed guys could hurt that lean frame of his... If he had those two elements, scary stuff... he had TNT in his fists but he could box like hell too. Boxed Benitez`s ears off and was giving it to Ray Leonard too ...

 

One of THE most amazing things I have ever seen, was watching Hearns do the `pads` with Emanuel Steward in Vegas, preparing for his fight with Hagler ! When he would set down and turn into that right hand into Stewards waiting pad,damn !! The loud pop it made was incredible ! And his fist and wrist would totally rotate upon delivery so thta his thumb was turned towads the floor. The snap, precision and velocity it has was incredible ! And my Dad and I were Hagler fans from MA. but when I saw that fabled right hand, all iI could think of was, oh **** !!!

 

what year was that 1998? Tommy beat him in 1991 when Virgil was 26-7 years before. And Virgil jab was getting to Roy, when it never got to Tommy. Roy pulled a rabbit out of the hat, but Tommy was the first man to beat Virgil. Much more impressive. And also, the fight right before Jones, Virgil lost to Michaelczewski.

 

He would beat Palomino easily probably by TKO in about 10. I never thought Palomino would be any trouble to Hearns. The guys who gave Tommy trouble were diverse fighters who had good defense or had power and made it a brawl. But Palomino would not be able to fight with Hearns, not at welt. or junior middleweight. That I am sure of. No knock on Carlos, but Carlos was a west coast trained fighter. which was ok, but they never worked on defense and never could defend against great eastern fighters. Carlos trained out of the Westminster boxing club in California, which is ok but not great. He worked with Noah Cruz and Jackie McCoy who were no match for Emanuel and Kronk, as well as Thomas Hearns power,as we have seen many times.

 

Robinson woudve had a good shot. It would've been tough for anybody. Sugar Ray might've hurt Hearns downstairs and sucked the stamina out of him. SRR was a vicious bodypuncher.

 

But he was still chinny at middleweight and light-heavyweight too.
Barkley KO'd him at 160, Roldan had him wobbled. Kinchen had him all over the place at 168, a battered exhausted Andries knocked him down (uncredited by the referee).

 

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Yea he never really filled his legs out though, if he'd done enough squats and roadwork he would have done

 

That's true. I agree that building the legs would have upped his punch resistance. Problem is, if he carried his later career upper body on filled-out legs, he'd probably be up at heavyweight.

 

Hearns chin was ok, he was just dropping too much weight. That's was the key problem. Also motivation problems after first loss to SRL. After he accumulated punishment, he moved in weights, but it did not help

 

With respect to resistance to body shots or quality of chin, you really can't go by physique. Panama Al Brown defines first rate toughness, never being stopped in 167 bouts over 20 years with six ounce gloves, and Robinson was never stopped by punches either, in 200 matches over 25 years. Arguello was pretty tough all around also, a sometimes overlooked element of his greatness. Benitez was skinny as a rail, but body shots from Duran and Palomino didn't bother him at all.

Frank Bruno and Tommy Morrison were built like tanks, but both could be stopped and dropped abruptly by head shots.

Hilmer Kenty, another Manny Steward product of the Kronk gym, might be argued for as having a better chin than Hearns. Ernesto Espana was known for a jaw breaking hook at the time (as Johnny Lira discovered), and caught Hilmer cold with an opening round flash knockdown, but Kenty went on to aggressively dominate Espana, not being bothered by that power again. Body shots keyed his only defeats, to O'Grady and Elizondo [if one overlooks Kenty's walking pneumonia against Sean, and claims of potential food poisoning against Roberto]. Like Hearns, Hilmer's ability to take it downstairs seems questionable, and he enervated as quickly against Elizondo as Hearns did against Hagler.