Jake LaMotta vs Tommy Hearns?

Robinson would never have stopped LaMotta if Jake hadn't been weight drained in 1951. That's not the version of LaMotta I'm considering here.

Tommy buckled badly under SRL's body attack in 1981 and wilted to the point Ray was able to halt him. Hagler's own opening round body attack left Hearns quickly enervated.

Jake tore into Dauthuille, and took him down for the count with 13 seconds left in 1950. Tommy wouldn't last quite that long.

Hearns would have the lead, but wouldn't be able to hang on long enough to reach the final bell. Unlike LaMotta, he never really mastered the survival skills necessary to weather a crisis, and Jake would turn this into a gruelingly brutal war of attrition.

 

you guys are going under the assumption that Jake is Hagler and Leonard and by Hearns losses. If you go by Jake's losses, Hearns wins by TKO. If Tommy fought the right fight and used his jab and counterpunching he would beat Jake and get a TKO win on cuts. Tommy would have to decided if he wanted to fight a smart fight. If he fought a war then Jake would have a chance.

 

Some people have been watching too much Raging Bull.

 

I don't think Hearns can stop him and Lamotta gets stronger as the fight goes on. I think Jake can stop a tired Hearns or if Tommy boxes and moves can win a decision but I think Jake makes Tommy drained and Jake on the inside is a *****....Jake could stop him late

 

I posted on this in British the other day, so I'm just copying and pasting

Well it's a difficult one to pick because you can really go both ways. Both men are not unbeatable when in the company of other greats, and both of these are bona fide greats. This is at 160 pounds right?

Hearns has physical advantages in terms of dimensions but not necessarily physical advantages in terms of size/strength. Jake LaMotta's defense and shoulder rolling ability etc is better than is given credit for. Hearns' arsenal is no ****ing joke nonetheless. One thing that needs to be recognised is that Hearns' defense is not masterful, although once he moved up to 154 he became more composed and matured as a technician and seen as though this fight is at 160 and therefore post his 154 campaign he will be able to put those improvements to good use. He is also one of the best exponents of a good offense being a good defense of all time. His jab is testament to that at every single weight he fought at. Hearns was great with body shots but not necessarily a great inside fighter, not at all. LaMotta was fantastic at applying the pressure and was very skilled up close, rolling with shots, countering. I mean classic countering, not moving out of the way and hitting someone in flashy Hamed fashion, I'm talking about feinting and leading a man onto a shot. That would be difficult to do at range against Tommy because you'd just end up eating the jab, LaMotta wouldn't succeed there. But LaMotta could do that up close, where he would be king in this one. If LaMotta had more power I would definitely take him to stop Hearns.

I'll say this, Hearns is not stopping Jake, he might be able to win a decision in which the emphasis is on the word 'earn'. I might lean towards Lamotta to come through some heavy bombing and edge a decision, hurting his man along the way but Hearns weathers it. Hearns is capable of pulling it off and outboxing him though, his lateral movement is class, but LaMotta's ability to cut down the ring is too, and Hearns wouldn't cope as well as Robinson did along the ropes, that's the only thing that makes me refrain from picking him out right.

 

Middleweight was Hearns weakest division. He was knocked out cold by Hagler and Barkley and bounced off the canvas by Roldan almost as much as the basketball in Dirk (whats his name)'s hands.

LaMotta would wear him down and stop him.

 

:good

Hagler could punch harder than Jake, and showed moving forwards and applying pressure was the foil for Hearns. LaMotta is the greatest pressure fighter in the eyes of the GOAT, SRR. Nobody put pressure on him quite like Jake did.

Jake would get after him around the second half of the fight.

 

People might think I'm crazy for saying this... but. Duran could box and move better than Jake, but I think Jake could fighting going backwards better than Duran could. LaMotta is often described as a bull who never stops moving forward, but some of his later fights at MW and LHW show a fighter with a sound understanding of defense and in-fighting. He does a lot of this fighting by moving backwards at times, in his crouch, and rolling with punches and than striking back with combination to the body & head.

 

lammotta would wear him down slowly attacking the body, while doing this though has going to take some bad punishment in 15 rounds lammotta late stoppage 12 rounds tommy by split decision

 

pff easy win for lamotta, jake takes all from hearns and then stops the spaghetti late

 

lmao

 

This would be a beautiful war to witness.

 

Tommy s jabbing like hell early on. He s not thrown any thing major cos he no s jake s got a concrete chin. Jake s coming in close as he can get which is pretty hard with that jab in his mush. Round s 1 to 8 followed this pattern. Round 9 and jake having more success catching Tommy, he hurts him in the tenth but hearns comes back firing hard. In to the 12 th and jake face is getting busted up bad and hearns is in front. Last round Tommy tired and his corner is urging him to play it safe. With two minutes left to go jake catches Tommy with a right hand over the top of a jab and hearns legs do a crazy dance! Jake goes wild throwing everything at Tommy, and hearns is down!! He gets up grinning at jake. Just before jake can get in to finish him off the bell goes.. Hearns by unanimous Dec but lamotta is cheered the most!

 

Damn good match up. I think Lamotta takes Hearns out late in the fight for reasons already stated.

 

That and being Italian.