I don't know if this has been posted before, it probably has but it's still a damn near perfect matchup you got the fluid and smooth boxing of Jose facing off against THE genetic apex predator of the 147lbs Who wins?
An excellent match up on paper but for me personally I've always been of the belief that Hearns would have been a stylistic nightmare for Napoles. Hearns would have the same height, reach and power advantage over Napoles similar to that of Monzon. I consider Napoles the better technician of the two but he'll be outgunned here. It'll be a combination of the way Hearns beat Benitez by outboxing him at range and then ending it viciously like how he beat Duran.
Hearns, as a welterweight, would lose to napoles, this being the version that lost to Leonard. If he fought Napoles with the same hesitation that he showed against Leonard, he would get knocked out sooner. Welterweight Tommy Hearns approaches the mythical status of Young Foreman. he was also carefully matched, had few rounds of experience and failed in his first big test. Cuevas, like Duran, played into Tommy's strengths. Napoles would slide to his right and make Tommy turn all night; he would get to his body and take his legs and stop him in 8-10 rounds.
Hearns is a tough match for Napoles. SRL struggled mightily with his size, speed and jab and Napoles is considerably shorter than Ray and with less reach. Hearns feasted on shorter guys with short reaches like Ceuvas and Duran. He knew how to cash in on his size, speed and power. Napoles was also prone to cut a bit and Hearns slashing fists would put him under a lot of pressure. Hearns via TKO inside 6.
